Post Doctoral Fellow

Join us as a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon's HCI Institute with an exciting project at the intersection of HCI and learning science. By imbuing a programmable robot with social characteristics, and thus positioning the robot as part of the "team", we aim to design a culturally-responsive curriculum for girls who have been excluded by approaches that decouple technical skill and social interaction. This is a large-scale, multi-institution effort. This project investigates the design of a social robot for programming activities. The robot can be programmed using a visual programming language, and can convey emotion with its facial expressions, sounds, and movements. The project will explore whether learning to program with this socially expressive robot improves computer science (CS) outcomes such as attitudes, self-efficacy, and knowledge. We are looking for applicants with expertise and enthusiasm for one or more of these research areas.

Dr. Amy Ogan will be your mentor. Fellows will also regularly interact with other project faculty including Dr. Erin Walker and Dr. Angela Stewart at the University of Pittsburgh.

The positions begin immediately upon availability of the candidate. Fellows will participate in aspects of the research that match their interest and expertise. These include interaction design, designing and running user studies, curriculum design, operationalizing learning theory, data collection, data analysis, and publication of results. We encourage designers to develop their own aspect of the research that builds on your own research interests and that lead to publications and grant applications. All fellows must work individually and as part of multi-site teams, and will be able to supervise undergraduate and graduate research assistants.

Applicants should have a degree in HCI, game design, computer science, learning sciences, psychology, design, or a related field.

We want scholars who have strong methodological backgrounds. Applicants should have a strong interest in social interaction, CS education, robotics, rapport and engagement, conversational agents, and/or equity for underserved populations. We also need candidates with substantive experience using qualitative and quantitative methods including field observations, interviewing, and longitudinal data collection and analysis.

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Applications should include a cover letter describing qualifications, a CV, 2 representative publications, and contact information for 3 references. Please direct questions and interest in the position to aeo@andrew.cmu.edu.