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Keana R

- Research Program Mentor

PhD at University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

Expertise

social psychology, statistics, economics

Bio

I'm Keana, I just graduated with a PhD in Psychology and am using the skills I learned during graduate school as a Quantitative User Experience Researcher at Google now. In my current job, I use research to understand how to improve the experience while people are using technology. Outside of my passion for research, I love dancing, playing volleyball, and reading in my free time.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

What makes people more trusting of technology?

Nowadays, we use technology everyday - to get around, to relax, to communicate with others, to find information, etc. Although technology is everywhere around us, we still struggle with trusting it - many of us probably know the feeling of receiving an ad for a product right after looking it up, which is likely uncomfortable for many. Many people do not feel like they can trust their technology, which may prevent them from benefitting from technology. Given how much we use technology, it is important to understand what characteristics of technology make people more or less likely to trust it, and in turn, use it. If the student finds questions about trust within the context of technology interesting, we can explore a research project in this space.

How does the use of generative AI (such as ChatGPT) affect our ability to work?

There has been a lot of talk recently about generative AI, especially with the advent of ChatGPT from OpenAI. However, with that, there are a lot of questions around what it can be used for in our lives. Some that come to mind that we could explore together: What are ways we can maximize creativity and learning with the use of tools like ChatGPT? What strategies can we use to address some of the common errors tools like ChatGPT makes while using it for our work?

Coding skills

R

Languages I know

Spanish - fluent

Teaching experience

I served as a teaching assistant over the course of several semesters during graduate school, where I led a few lectures, discussion sections, and exam review sessions. I also participated in a research mentoring program, where I guided a student through a research project from start (i.e., designing project) to finish (i.e., publication).

Credentials

Work experience

Google (2022 - Current)
Quantitative User Experience Researcher

Education

University of Maryland
BA Bachelor of Arts (2017)
Psychology
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
MA Master of Arts (2021)
Statistics
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
MA Master of Arts (2018)
Psychology
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Psychology

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