Research Associate Leanne Hirshfield ’02 was named 2011 Young Technologist of the Year by the Mohawk Valley Engineers’ Executive Council (MVEEC). According to the MVEEC, the award acknowledges the winner’s work and “contributions to our area’s knowledge base and to the next generation of technologists.”

Research Associate Leanne Hirshfield ’02 presented a talk titled “This is Your Brain on Computers: Using Non-invasive Cognitive and Physiological Sensors to Enhance Human-Computer Interactions” on Dec. 7 at Syracuse University.

Having received a grant for $458,900 from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Stuart Hirshfield, the Stephen Harper Kirner Chair of Computer Science, and Research Associate Leanne Hirshfield ’02 have begun studying the real-time, quantitative assessment of computer users’ mental states to enhance usability testing and to create adaptive computer systems. They are creating a state-of-the-art usability laboratory that allows them to make concurrent cognitive, physiological and behavioral user measurements.