The Graduate Student Association (GSA) and the Graduate College welcomed all students, faculty and staff to join us for our Books & Bagels: Conversations on Interdisciplinary Research Program held on Friday, April 15, 2016 at 12 p.m. in the Graduate Student Lounge, located in Main 010. We hosted the following excellent graduate student speakers and faculty moderator.

The photos from the event can be found in the April 2016 Books & Bagels photo album and the video can be found in the Books & Bagels video archive.

 
Stephanie Goldstein

Harnessing the Power of Predictive Learning to Promote Health Behavior Change: Developing and Testing Novel Technology
PhD in Clinical Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences

Summary: Failures to adhere to dietary recommendations in a weight loss program have been attributed to the notion that short-term violations of behavioral “rules” (e.g., dietary lapses) can often precipitate a return to prior behavior patterns. Existing studies suggest that lapses are caused by a select group of internal and external cues, indicating that they may be predictable. Just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAI) can utilize mathematical models to learn the way in which triggers (alone or in combination) predict lapse behavior, and then communicate this knowledge to the individual in the form of momentary alerts to risk. The primary aim of the current study was to develop an initial machine learning model (accuracy > 70%, sensitivity > 70%, and specificity > 50%) capable of predicting lapse behavior in a sample of overweight and obese participants following a standardized weight control diet. 

Derek Taylor Parrott

Fusion Fantasy: The United States' Enduring Commitment to Uncertain Energy Research
MS in Science, Technology and Society
College of Arts and Sciences

Summary: This thesis is a historical policy discourse analysis that asks how members of the nuclear fusion research community justify their continued public support despite decades of grand promises of clean, cheap, low-conflict energy, but no tangible results as such. The project aims to explore how researchers engage with existing narratives in the rhetorical work they do to justify their research and how the framing and ideas of what constitutes 'results' varies contextually.

Evan Forman, PhD

Moderator
Director of Graduate Studies
Professor of Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences