About Me, My Research, and My Teaching
Personal Bio
I am a 4th-year MIS doctoral student and research associate in the Center for the Management of Information at the University of Arizona. I am happily married and am the proud father of four beautiful daughters, which I call "my little women," ranging from 18 months to 8 years old. I love spending time with them reading, telling jokes, and playing hide n' seek. I love to garden, but have not found much luck with it in Arizona - in fact, I have considered growing a crop of marijuana to recoup the costs of protecting my garden from wildlife (of course, I'm kidding). Recently, my wife and I have become very interested in preparing delicious, healthy food (not that we ate poorly before). We now enjoy delectables such as whole-wheat peanut butter cookies, green smoothies, and chocolate avocado pudding. Oh! And there's nothing like warm, fresh, homemade, whole-wheat bread with butter and honey. Our recently acquired Blendtec is getting a good workout. In a nutshell, I guess you could describe me as an educated health-nut father of four princesses (did I mention how sick I am of pink?) and seeking to live happily ever after with my wife.
Research Statement
My primary research interest is persuasive technologies – technologies intentionally designed to change users’ attitudes and behaviors. More specifically, my current research investigates how to design embodied agents (EAs, i.e. avatars or virtual humans) to be maximally persuasive in a variety of contexts. Based on theory and prior empirical work, I leverage a mixed design- and behavioral-science approach to explore how characteristics of EAs influence people’s attitudes and behaviors. I also study how individual differences affect the persuasion attempts of EAs in diverse contexts. For example, since user behavior is one of the weakest links in security and information assurance, I seek to apply persuasive EAs tailored to individual differences to encourage secure and responsible behavior. I also leverage persuasive EAs to increase the cooperation and synergy between experts and expert systems (mainly in a credibility assessment context). I am interested in learning, based on Psychology and Communications research, which elements of human-to-human persuasion apply to human-to-computer interactions. I rely primarily on laboratory experiments, but also employ surveys and qualitative methods.
You can find a list of my publications in my curriculum vita.
My dissertation committee chair is Dr. Jay F. Nunamaker (one of the accredited founders of the MIS field). The other members of my dissertation committee are Dr. Joseph S. Valacich, and Dr. Judee Burgoon.
Teaching Statement
My teaching interests are focused on the design and implementation of information systems (including accounting information systems). Specifically, I desire to teach information security, database management and computer/web programming. I have taught an introductory course in operations management and performed teaching assistant responsibilities (including instruction) for a database management course. I was recently selected for the Eller College Teaching Award for Graduate Student Instructors. I will graduate from the University of Arizona's College Teaching Certificate Program this Fall (details for the certificate can be found here). My teaching approach is learner-centered and problem-based. I employ active learning techniques to engage my students and believe learning is more enjoyable and transparent when it is driven by a real-world goal to be achieved (such as creating a profitable online website). I have an extensive track record of teaching excellence in academia (4.6 out of 5.0 for teaching effectiveness), industry (4.6 out of 5.0 for customer satisfaction), and the community. I consider teaching one of the great joys in academia.
You may also be interested in reading my teaching philosophy and looking over my teaching portfolio.
Contact Information
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
[email protected]
520-780-6275 (cell)
I am a 4th-year MIS doctoral student and research associate in the Center for the Management of Information at the University of Arizona. I am happily married and am the proud father of four beautiful daughters, which I call "my little women," ranging from 18 months to 8 years old. I love spending time with them reading, telling jokes, and playing hide n' seek. I love to garden, but have not found much luck with it in Arizona - in fact, I have considered growing a crop of marijuana to recoup the costs of protecting my garden from wildlife (of course, I'm kidding). Recently, my wife and I have become very interested in preparing delicious, healthy food (not that we ate poorly before). We now enjoy delectables such as whole-wheat peanut butter cookies, green smoothies, and chocolate avocado pudding. Oh! And there's nothing like warm, fresh, homemade, whole-wheat bread with butter and honey. Our recently acquired Blendtec is getting a good workout. In a nutshell, I guess you could describe me as an educated health-nut father of four princesses (did I mention how sick I am of pink?) and seeking to live happily ever after with my wife.
Research Statement
My primary research interest is persuasive technologies – technologies intentionally designed to change users’ attitudes and behaviors. More specifically, my current research investigates how to design embodied agents (EAs, i.e. avatars or virtual humans) to be maximally persuasive in a variety of contexts. Based on theory and prior empirical work, I leverage a mixed design- and behavioral-science approach to explore how characteristics of EAs influence people’s attitudes and behaviors. I also study how individual differences affect the persuasion attempts of EAs in diverse contexts. For example, since user behavior is one of the weakest links in security and information assurance, I seek to apply persuasive EAs tailored to individual differences to encourage secure and responsible behavior. I also leverage persuasive EAs to increase the cooperation and synergy between experts and expert systems (mainly in a credibility assessment context). I am interested in learning, based on Psychology and Communications research, which elements of human-to-human persuasion apply to human-to-computer interactions. I rely primarily on laboratory experiments, but also employ surveys and qualitative methods.
You can find a list of my publications in my curriculum vita.
My dissertation committee chair is Dr. Jay F. Nunamaker (one of the accredited founders of the MIS field). The other members of my dissertation committee are Dr. Joseph S. Valacich, and Dr. Judee Burgoon.
Teaching Statement
My teaching interests are focused on the design and implementation of information systems (including accounting information systems). Specifically, I desire to teach information security, database management and computer/web programming. I have taught an introductory course in operations management and performed teaching assistant responsibilities (including instruction) for a database management course. I was recently selected for the Eller College Teaching Award for Graduate Student Instructors. I will graduate from the University of Arizona's College Teaching Certificate Program this Fall (details for the certificate can be found here). My teaching approach is learner-centered and problem-based. I employ active learning techniques to engage my students and believe learning is more enjoyable and transparent when it is driven by a real-world goal to be achieved (such as creating a profitable online website). I have an extensive track record of teaching excellence in academia (4.6 out of 5.0 for teaching effectiveness), industry (4.6 out of 5.0 for customer satisfaction), and the community. I consider teaching one of the great joys in academia.
You may also be interested in reading my teaching philosophy and looking over my teaching portfolio.
Contact Information
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
[email protected]
520-780-6275 (cell)