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I am currently finishing my PhD in Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction) and expect to graduate in December of 2007. I will be at Tokyo Institute of Technology (10/07-10/08) working as a SIMOT/COE postdoctorate fellow. Afterwards, I would like to work for a HCI research lab.

My research work involves interdisciplinary collaboration across human-computer interaction, sensing technology and computational perception, psychology and cognition, and industrial design. I am affliated with the everyday computing lab, the aware home, the GVU center, and the College of Computing within the Georgia Institute of Technology.

My thesis committee is comprised of

My particular research interests and skills focus on designing, prototyping, and evaluating information displays (visual or auditory) that provide effective recovery support for lapses in human attention that is also domestically appropriate for the home. In my research, I produced one primary example (Cook's Collage) for in-depth investigation of memory support and three smaller examples (Memory Mirror, Temp Timer, and Music Monitor) for brief explorations in related issues of attentional support. To aid people's memory recall of repeatable actions within an activity, I developed Cook's Collage, a visual summary of annotated image snapshots capturing the ingredient types and counts being added to any recipe of any sequence. To help people distinguish between reoccuring tasks, I have created Memory Mirror, a visual summary of medicines, pet/plant care products, etc. capturing different episodes of an item's frequent use. To help cooks monitor heating durations for multiple stove burners, I created Temp Timer, a visual pacing device per stove burner reflecting the cooking times for the previous hour. To help people balance their attention between two different rooms within a home, I created Music Monitor, an auditory display communicating the level of activity in a different location. Further details of each prototype are described and referenced below.

Contact Information:

[email] quantt AT cc DOT gatech DOT edu

 

Job Application Materials:

  1. Tran, Q., Calcaterra, G., Mynatt, E. "How an Older and a Younger Adult Adopted a Cooking Memory Aid." in the Proceedings of HCII: Human-Computer Interaction International 2005, CD-ROM. [.pdf]
  2. Tran, Q., Calcaterra, G., Mynatt, E."Cook's Collage: Deja Vu Display for a Home Kitchen." in the Proceedings of HOIT: Home-Oriented Informatics and Telematics 2005, 15-32. [.pdf]
  3. Tran, Q., Mynatt, E. "Cook’s Collage: Two exploratory designs." in the Technologies for Families workshop at CHI: Conference on Human Factors 2002. [.pdf]
 

(Selected) Research Projects:
Over the years, I have been fortunate to study many various research aspects of Human-Computer Interaction in Computer Science. The following list, sorted in order of most recently completed, showcases the wide assortment of research projects that I have been directly involved with as either the principal investigator or as an interning student member of the team.

 Cook's Collage (2000-2006): Assuming that smart homes can track household activities such as cooking, can computers help people remember what they were just doing? Can memory aids help cooks answer the questions "Which ingredient did I add?" and "How much of this ingredient have I add?" People forget when they are distracted with interruptions, when they are multitasking, when they are absent-mindedly repeating something familiar, and when their memory abilities decline from aging. I investigate how people cook under varying conditions of distractions and multiple tasks. Do they forget? What do they forget? What memory strategies do they use if any? Would they use and adopt a memory aid such as Cook's Collage? What makes it useful and successful?
  • Tran, Q. "Exploring If, When, and How People Come to Use a Cooking Memory Aid" Ph.D. Thesis, 2007, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology. (pending)

Memory Mirror (2004): People perform many tasks around the house that are easy to do (i.e., requiring only one step) but that are repeated frequently (e.g., taking medication, feeding the pets, watering the plant). Confusion arises when people cannot determine whether they had already completed a task or if they still need to. Confusion can also arise among multiple care-takers remembering turn-taking status. Memory Mirror resolves both issues by reflecting what has been done over a span of time. For example, the Memory Mirror beside the medicine cabinet shows that cough syrup was taken at 9am yesterday and that pain medication was taken today at 8:30am and 6pm the day before yesterday. A Memory Mirror by the pet food can show when the cat, fish, and dog were last fed today. I introduced the original idea and concepts of this project as well as implementing the initial prototype of this system.
(The research prototype has subsequently been redesigned and is being continued by Georgia Tech as a commercial product.)
  • Tran, Q., Mynatt, E. "Memory Mirror" Demonstration at CAST: Center for Aging Services Technologies 2004. Dirksen Senate Building, Washington, DC.

Personal Assets Agents (2001): To build successful working relations, company representatives visit off-site locations to meet individuals and establish personal rapport. Recognizing that personal contacts are important at work, we provide further support of personal contacts as a company asset. We provide a recording system so that visitors can sign their contact information in a video guestbook that is then available to all company members. We augment the toolbar for communication systems (e.g., e-mail, Internet navigators) to highlight established company contacts. We argue that these services facilitate and reinforce connections between company members and visiting representatives.
  • Trevor, J., Hilbert, D., Billsus, D., Vaughan, J., and Tran, Q. "Contextual Contact Retrieval." In the Extended Proceedings of IUI: Intelligent User Interfaces 2004, pp. 337-339. [.pdf]
  • Hibert, D., Tran, Q., Trevor, J., Billsus, D., Vaughan, D. "Context-Based Contact Information Retrieval Systems and Methods."in New U.S. Patent Application, 2003 (pending).

Rememberer (2000): A visit to the science museum is informative, entertaining, and busy. There are many new things to see, do, and learn. In contrast, there is minimal activity and learning after the visit outside of purchasing a memento from the gift shop. I proposed creating a personalized postcard, summarizing the visit for each child. The memento would reinforce the child's recollection of the visit, referencing particular exhibits experienced. The item could also be a conversation piece for the child to tell others about the museum.
(I introduced the original idea for this project, but the bulk of the work was carried by my collaborators at HP Labs who published this work.)
  • Fleck, M., Frid, M., Kindberg, T., O'Brien-Strain, E., Rajani, R., Spasojevich, M. "From Informing to Remembering: Ubiquitous Systems in Interactive Museums" In IEEE Pervasive Computing, Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2002, pp. 13-21. [.pdf]

Music Monitor (1999): The home is a dynamic place with many rooms, each with its own activity and noise levels. However, a person physically can be in only one place at a time. People can multitask between rooms, but this requires the additional physical overhead of going back and forth between rooms to monitor activity in both locations. For example, a dinner party host needs to ensure that guests are entertained in the living room and gaming areas while checking that food and drinks are available in the kitchen and dining areas. Assuming that smart homes will provide sensors to monitor the status of room activity, how can ambient music dynamically inform status of parallel activities in a conducive manner for the party host but in a socially acceptable manner for the party guests?
  • Tran, Q., Mynatt, E. "Music Monitor: Ambient Musical Data for the Home." In the Extended Proceedings of HOIT: Home Oriented Informatics and Telematics 2000, pp. 85-92. [.pdf]
  • Tran, Q., Mynatt, E. "Music Monitor: Dynamic Data Display." In the Proceedings of ICAD: International Conference on Auditory Displays, 2000, pp. 125. [.pdf]

CPU Scheduling Algorithms Animation (1998): Animation has been shown as an effective teaching tool to illustrate difficult concepts in computer algorithms. Learning by example, by doing, and by construction have also been shown as effective teaching methods. The static charts and diagrams standard in textbooks of CPU scheduling algorithms (e.g., round-robin, first-come-first-serve, shortest process next, shortest remaining time, highest response ratio, feedback) for computer classes teaching "operating systems" is animated step-by-step with this customizable visualization tool. Students are able to create input scenarios of different process arriving at various times and requesting various service times. The algorithm will animate the input scenario and generate usage statistics.
(I created this instructional teaching tool for Dr. Yen's operating systems class at UTDallas, and it has been referred by various other universities teaching similar classes.)
  • source code [.zip]