RIT faculty earns NSF CAREER award to study human behavior using machine learning

A Rochester Institute of Technology professor has earned a prestigious National Science Foundation award to use computers to better understand human behavior and social interaction. Ifeoma Nwogu, an assistant professor of computer science, received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award and grant for her five-year project. She aims to study human behavior in a new way, by using machine learning techniques to analyze and find patterns in the many signals that individuals display during social interactions. Her work will specifically look at groups working in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), with the aim of supporting underrepresented groups in STEM. "In a conversation, people are constantly displaying and processing different non-verbal signals, such as how fast someone is talking or the facial expressions they are making," said Nwogu.