I am a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and a research associate in the Interactive Surgical Systems Laboratory (ISSyL) in the department of surgery at Cambridge Health Alliance.

My research interests span the areas of human-computer interaction, computer supported cooperative work, and biomedical informatics.  I specifically focus on engaging in a translational research approach to align coordinated clinical practices and information technology such as gestural interaction in the OR, informal data sharing in the emergency room, and health information sharing between chronically ill patients and their caregivers.  I have employed a variety of methods in my work, but primarily I perform participant observations and interviews throughout a design research process.

My current work is on the design and coordinated use of interactive surgical systems, specifically in minimally invasive surgical practices.  I entail a phenomenologically-oriented lens in the investigation and design of systems for seeing and coordinating around the physical patient body and the digital anatomical images.

In concert with my work in the OR I have also had a successful run at the greater issues of designing for and with gestural/full-body interaction, specifically utilizing the Microsoft Kinect sensor.  For instance, I’ve conducted work on training gestural systems, sensing and perceiving movement qualities, the place for gestural interaction in the home, and designing for somaesthetic awareness through movement in the dark. 

Previously I was a postdoc in the Socio-Digital Systems Group at Microsoft Research Cambridge and a research fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, a postdoc at Mobile Life at the Swedish Institute of Computer Science, a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin, and a researcher at Philips Research.  I received a PhD in Information Sciences and Technology from The Pennsylvania State University in 2010, M.S. in Communication from Cornell in 2004, and B.S. in Psychology from Virginia Tech in 2000.

Contact Me: mentis AT acm DOT org