Engineer is Enhancing Human-Computer Interactions

In this age of information overload Stephanie Guerlain is diligently working to ensure that interactions between humans and technology are as effective as they can be. 

As an associate professor of systems and information engineering at U.Va., Guerlain specializes in human-computer interactions.  As such, she works to solve problems that emerge in everyday work settings due to the rapid and constant exchange of information between people, computers and systems.  “There is such a big flow of information—we are trying to make sure that nothing gets lost.  There are so many details—lots of times there is miscommunication,” Guerlain says. 

Inevitably, miscommunication in a work setting may lead to misunderstanding and thus, inefficiencies or even worse, mistakes.  Guerlain works to remedy this. “I help to design software-user interfaces that are easily and quickly understood,” she notes.  In order to accomplish this, she essentially needs to understand how people do their jobs.  In each case, she looks at the information needs that workers have and the constraints on the overall system, and then determines how technology might assist them in making better decisions.

One of Guerlain’s current projects involves developing an interface to assist with oil delivery truck dispatching in Brazil.  Guerlain is working to maximize the company’s resources by increasing the efficiency of the dispatching system through a decision support system.  This system allows for the tracking of each individual truck and gives dispatchers a visual representation of statistics such as which driver has been waiting the longest.  Guerlain points out that the system is not completely automated, allowing the operator some control—since there are often nuances that a person might understand better than a computer.

Another aspect of Guerlain’s research involves patient safety.  Traditionally, surgeons have been trained through observation, and their eventual practice takes place on live patients.  With this in mind, Guerlain observed laparoscopic surgeries at the U.Va. hospital.  Then she came up with a video-based training to assist medical resident surgeons in recognizing crucial patterns such as anatomy and lines of dissection.  Since there are not yet a lot of realistic simulators for such surgeries, the use of this learning tool could greatly increase the safety of surgery patients.

Aside from her research, Guerlain is invested in supporting female junior engineering faculty.  Since women represent less than 21% of science and engineering faculty in 4-year colleges and universities, women in engineering fields face unique challenges.  Guerlain observes, “If you are hired as an assistant professor, you are lucky to have one other woman in your department.”  U.Va. has received a National Science Foundation ADVANCE (Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers) grant to enable programming for female assistant professors within the mid-Atlantic region.  As part of this, Guerlain recently hosted a leadership and training event at U.Va.  The ultimate goal of ADVANCE is to “increase the number of women and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.”

Visit the Human-Computer Interactions Website