Elizabeth Mynatt

Last updated
Elizabeth D. Mynatt
Born (1966-07-12) July 12, 1966 (age 58)
Knoxville, Tennessee, US
Alma mater Georgia Institute of Technology,
North Carolina State University
Known forhealth informatics, ubiquitous computing, assistive technology
Awards Sloan Fellowship, NSF Career award, CHI Academy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Scientific career
Fields Human-Computer Interaction,
Ubiquitous Computing,
Health Informatics,
Human-Centered Computing
Institutions Georgia Tech,
GVU Center,
Northeastern University
Doctoral advisor James Foley

Elizabeth D. "Beth" Mynatt (born July 12, 1966) is the Dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. [1] She is former executive director of the Institute for People and Technology, director of the GVU Center at Georgia Tech, and Regents' and Distinguished Professor [2] [3] in the School of Interactive Computing, all at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2024, she was elected into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [4] [5]

Contents

She is best known for her research in the fields of human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing, health informatics, and assistive technology. She pioneered creating nonspeech auditory interfaces from graphical interfaces to enable blind computer users to work with modern computer applications. From 2001 to 2005, she was selected to be the associate director of the GVU Center at Georgia Tech, and in 2005 she was appointed director. Her current research explores the implications and opportunities stemming from the pervasive presence of computation in the informal activities of everyday life.

Early life and education

Mynatt was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. She attended North Carolina State University for her undergraduate studies, graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science in 1988. She received a master's degree in 1989 in Information and Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Mynatt went on to receive a Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995 in Computer Science where she was advised by James D. Foley. Her thesis, "Audio GUIs: Transforming Graphical User Interfaces into Auditory Interfaces", was a system which transformed applications into auditory interfaces to enable people to experience what interacting with graphical interfaces might be like for a blind user. [6]

Career

Upon graduation from Georgia Tech, Mynatt accepted a position as a member of the Research Staff at Xerox PARC. In 1998 she returned to Georgia Tech as an assistant professor and in 2002 became associate professor. From 2004 to 2005 she was director of the Aware Home Research Initiative, from 2006 to 2007 was the associate director of the Health Systems Institute, and from 2005 to 2011 directed the GVU Center at Georgia Tech.

She also directed the research program in Everyday Computing, examining the human-computer interface implications of having computation continuously present in many aspects of everyday life. Themes in her research include supporting informal collaboration and awareness in office environments, enabling creative work and visual communication, and augmenting social processes for managing personal information. Mynatt is one of the principal researchers in the Aware Home Research Initiative; investigating the design of future home technologies, especially those that enable older adults to continue living independently as opposed to moving to an institutional care setting. [7] [8]

In home environments, she is interested in using computing technology to increase the independence and capabilities of people and families for domains such as chronic health care, aging in place, and cognitive prosthetics. [9] In office environments, she is interested in supporting fluid collaboration practices by leveraging the integrated design of physical and digital spaces and services with social practices surrounding information sharing.

Mynatt has taught courses in Human-Computer Interaction, Everyday Computing, Mobile and Ubuquitous Computing, and Media Computation. For seven years (2000–07) she played a leadership role in the design and management of two new programs: the Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing and the M.S. program in Human-Computer Interaction. For the HCC Ph.D. program, she co-chaired the first formative committee that charted the possibilities for a new human-centric Ph.D. program, and directed the HCC program from its inception until the fall of 2006. She has published over 100 book chapters, conference publications, and journal articles in top tier locations such as ACM SIGCHI, CSCW, Ubicomp, and Pervasive.

Mynatt is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of ubiquitous computing and assistive technologies. She is a Sloan Research Fellow, and her research is supported by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation, including a five-year NSF CAREER award and a two-year IBM Faculty Partnership Award. She was recently awarded a Google Research Award for studying individual approaches to management of diabetes and she has also received awards from IBM, NASA, the NSF, and Siemens. Other honorary awards include the 2001 College of Computing's Junior Faculty Research award and the 2003 College of Computing's Dean's Award. Her work in healthcare has led to invited lectures at Google, Cornell University, and IBM Research among others.

Mynatt served as program chair for CHI 2010, the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, as well as conference chair for ICAD, UIST, and Ubicomp. She has published dozens of scholarly articles in peer reviewed journals and has given invited presentations at academic conferences such as CHI and Ubicomp. She has over 80 publications in the ACM Digital Library with over 6,000 downloads in the past year. Her visionary article "Charting past, present, and future research in ubiquitous computing" has been cited over 900 times. [10] She has been quoted in a number of major newspapers, including The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal , and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . [11] [12] [13] Mynatt is a member of numerous academic journals and professional societies, including IEEE and ACM. She has held membership on a number of Georgia Tech committees, including the Dean Search Committee, the Dean's Executive Council, the Graduate Committee, and Faculty Program Coordinator for the HCC PhD and MS HCI programs. She holds four patents for her work in user interfaces and audio systems.

In 2015 she was named a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery "for contributions to human-centered computing and to the development of health information technologies." [14] She was named to the 2021 class of Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [15]

In January 2022, she was appointed Dean of the Khoury College for Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. Mynatt introduced her Ethical Oath for Computer Professionals at the Khoury College graduation ceremony that year. [16] The Oath for Computing was introduced to all students at matriculation in 2022 and since then has been embedded in program curricula. At Commencement celebrations, the Oath for Computing is read aloud as a shared pledge by all Khoury graduates.

Selected publications

Personal life

Mynatt was previously married to Mark Bumgardner. [17] She is now married to Blair MacIntyre. They have two children.

Related Research Articles

Ubiquitous computing is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear seamlessly anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing implies use on any device, in any location, and in any format. A user interacts with the computer, which can exist in many different forms, including laptop computers, tablets, smart phones and terminals in everyday objects such as a refrigerator or a pair of glasses. The underlying technologies to support ubiquitous computing include the Internet, advanced middleware, kernels, operating systems, mobile codes, sensors, microprocessors, new I/Os and user interfaces, computer networks, mobile protocols, global navigational systems, and new materials.

Human-centered computing (HCC) studies the design, development, and deployment of mixed-initiative human-computer systems. It is emerged from the convergence of multiple disciplines that are concerned both with understanding human beings and with the design of computational artifacts. Human-centered computing is closely related to human-computer interaction and information science. Human-centered computing is usually concerned with systems and practices of technology use while human-computer interaction is more focused on ergonomics and the usability of computing artifacts and information science is focused on practices surrounding the collection, manipulation, and use of information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GVU Center at Georgia Tech</span>

The GVU Center at Georgia Tech is an interdisciplinary research center located near Technology Square in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was founded by James D. Foley, the Center's first director, on October 15, 1992. According to U.S. News & World Report, it is one of the best such facilities in the world. The GVU Center's current director is W. Keith Edwards, Georgia Tech alum and Professor in the School of Interactive Computing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Dourish</span> British-American computer scientist

Paul Dourish is a computer scientist best known for his work and research at the intersection of computer science and social science. Born in Scotland, he holds the Steckler Endowed Chair of Information and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he joined the faculty in 2000, and where he directs the Steckler Center for Responsible, Ethical, and Accessible Technology. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, the ACM, and the BCS, and is a two-time winner of the ACM CSCW "Lasting Impact" award, in 2016 and 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing</span> Academic department of the Georgia Institute of Technology

The College of Computing is a college of the Georgia Institute of Technology, a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. It is divided into four schools: the School of Computer Science, the School of Interactive Computing, the School of Computational Science & Engineering, and the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy. The College of Computing's programs are consistently ranked among the top 10 computing programs in the nation. In 2022, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Computer Science graduate program #6 in the U.S. In 2016, Times Higher Education and the Wall Street Journal ranked the College #5 in the world.

James David Foley is an American computer scientist and computer graphics researcher. He is a Professor Emeritus and held the Stephen Fleming Chair in Telecommunications in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. He was Interim Dean of Georgia Tech's College of Computing from 2008–2010. He is perhaps best known as the co-author of several widely used textbooks in the field of computer graphics, of which over 400,000 copies are in print and translated in ten languages. Foley most recently conducted research in instructional technologies and distance education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy S. Bruckman</span> American professor (born 1965)

Amy Susan Bruckman is a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology affiliated with the School of Interactive Computing and the GVU Center. She is best known for her pioneering research in the fields of online communities and the learning sciences. In 1999, she was selected as one of MIT Technology Review's TR100 awardees, honoring 100 remarkable innovators under the age of 35.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Abowd</span> American computer scientist

Gregory Dominic Abowd is a computer scientist best known for his work in ubiquitous computing, software engineering, and technologies for autism. He currently serves as the Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University. Previously he was the J.Z. Liang Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he joined the faculty in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anind Dey</span> Canadian academic (born 1970)

Anind Dey is a computer scientist. He is the Dean of the University of Washington Information School. Dey is formerly the director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests lie at the intersection of human–computer interaction and ubiquitous computing, focusing on how to make novel technologies more usable and useful. In particular, he builds tools that make it easier to build useful ubiquitous computing applications and supporting end users in controlling their ubiquitous computing systems.

The School of Interactive Computing is an academic unit located within the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. It conducts both research and teaching activities related to interactive computing at the undergraduate and graduate levels. These activities focus on computing's interaction with users and the environment, as well as how computers impact the quality of people's lives.

Rebecca Elizabeth "Beki" Grinter is a professor in the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is affiliated with the RIM@GT, the GVU Center and the Scheller College of Business. Grinter's research lies generally in the fields of human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). She has chaired and published papers in top-tier academic conferences in these fields. Her research and expert opinion on technology have also been reported in major news media sources.

W. Keith Edwards is a professor in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the GVU Center at Georgia Tech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human–computer interaction</span> Academic discipline studying the relationship between computer systems and their users

Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design technologies that allow humans to interact with computers in novel ways. A device that allows interaction between human being and a computer is known as a "Human-computer Interface".

John Thomas Stasko III is a Regents Professor in the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, where he joined the faculty in 1989. He also is one of the founding members of the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability (GVU) Center there. Stasko is best known for his extensive research in information visualization and visual analytics, including his earlier work in software visualization and algorithm animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khoury College of Computer Sciences</span> Computer science department of an American university

The Khoury College of Computer Sciences is the computer science school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the first college in the United States dedicated to the field of computer science when it was founded in 1982. In addition to computer science, it specializes in data science and cybersecurity. The college was also among the first to offer an information assurance degree program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shwetak Patel</span> American computer scientist and entrepreneur

Shwetak Naran Patel is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur best known for his work on developing novel sensing solutions and ubiquitous computing. He is the Washington Research Foundation Entrepreneurship Endowed Professor at the University of Washington in Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering, where he joined in 2008. His technology start-up company on energy sensing, Zensi, was acquired by Belkin International, Inc. in 2010. He was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow. In 2016, He was elected as an ACM Fellow for contributions to sustainability sensing, low-power wireless sensing and mobile health and received Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). He was named the recipient of the 2018 ACM Prize in Computing for contributions to creative and practical sensing systems for sustainability and health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irfan Essa</span>

Irfan Aziz Essa is a professor in the School of Interactive Computing of the College of Computing, and adjunct professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is an associate dean in Georgia Tech's College of Computing and the director of the new Interdisciplinary Research Center for Machine Learning at Georgia Tech (ML@GT).

Carla E. Brodley is a computer scientist specializing in machine learning. Brodley is a Fellow of the ACM, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is the Dean of Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University, where she serves as the Executive Director for the Center for Inclusive Computing and holds a tenured appointment in Khoury College of Computer Sciences. Brodley served as dean of Khoury College from 2014-2021. She is a proponent for greater enrollment of women and under-represented minorities in computer science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Wilcox</span> American professor and researcher

Lauren G. Wilcox is an American professor and researcher in responsible AI, human–computer interaction, and health informatics, known for research on enabling community participation in technology design and development and her prior contributions to health informatics systems.

Andrea Grimes Parker is an American computer scientist, researcher, and Associate Professor, known for her interdisciplinary study of human computer interaction (HCI) and personal health informatics. Parker is currently an associate professor at Georgia Institute of Technology School of Interactive Computing. She also currently serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

References

  1. ↑ "Northeastern University Appoints Human-Centered Computing Pioneer as Dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences". 15 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Ivy, Susie (2019-06-03). "Five Georgia Tech Faculty Members Receive Regents Recognition". Georgia Tech News Center.
  3. ↑ "Beth Mynatt Named Regents' Professor". Georgia Tech Research Horizons. 2019-06-03.
  4. ↑ "Directory: Elizabeth D. Mynatt". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2024-10-01.
  5. ↑ Lloyd, Noah (2024-04-24). "Northeastern dean and distinguished professor join latest cohort of American Academy of Arts and Sciences". Northeastern Global News.
  6. ↑ Mynatt, Beth (1995). "Audio GUIs: Transforming Graphical User Interfaces into Auditory Interfaces." PhD dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology.
  7. ↑ Bill Husted. New Technology Can Help Elderly Enjoy Their Senior Years. May 10, 2002.
  8. ↑ Max Alexander. Home, Smart Home. Reader's Digest.
  9. ↑ Ernest Holsendolph. Georgia Researchers Explore Possibilities of a Digital Home. May 10, 2000.
  10. ↑ "Citations of "Charting past, present, and future research in ubiquitous computing"". Google Scholar . Retrieved 2010-01-28.
  11. ↑ Shin, Annys (2005-01-30). "Surf City, Here she Comes". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2012-03-18. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  12. ↑ Greene, Kelly (2004-02-23). "Inside the Home of the Future". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  13. ↑ Fernandez, Don (2005-10-09). "The wireless life". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Archived from the original on 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  14. ↑ ACM Fellows Named for Computing Innovations that Are Advancing Technology in the Digital Age, Association for Computing Machinery, 2015, archived from the original on 2015-12-09, retrieved 2015-12-10.
  15. ↑ 2021 Fellows, American Association for the Advancement of Science, retrieved 2022-01-28
  16. ↑ Murphy, Paul (2022-05-13). "Dean Mynatt proposes Oath for Computer Scientists at the Khoury College Graduation". Northeastern University Khoury College of Computer Sciences .
  17. ↑ "Mark Bumgardner Elizabeth Mynatt". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. 1988-05-22. p. E14.
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