Recent News

Congratulations to STIR Lab Ph.D. student Afsaneh Razi on successfully passing her candidacy and being admitted into full doctoral status!

Congratulations to Dr. Pamela Wisniewski (PI, technical lead), Mr. Abhiditya Jha (Entrepreneurial Lead), and Ms. Robin Phelps (Industry Mentor) on being accepted to participate in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) I-Corps Teams program. They will receive $50,000 to conduct customer discovery on a solution to improve risk detection algorithms for...

Congratulations to STIR Lab Ph.D. student Karla Badillo-Urquiola and her advisor Dr. Pamela Wisniewski on being featured in UCF Today for the research "Children Give Their Input on How to Make TikTok a Safer Platform for Youth". Link of the article: https://www.ucf.edu/news/children-give-input-make-tiktok-safer-platform-youth/

Congratulations to STIR Lab PhD student Karla Badillo-Urquiola and her advisor Dr. Pamela Wisniewski on being featured in UCF Today for their research that examined the unique challenges of foster parents when it comes to mediating the technology use of teens in their homes. UCF Today Article: https://today.ucf.edu/foster-parents-teens-face-challenges-surfing-internet/ Karla Badillo-Urquiola...

The STIR lab was invited to English Estates Elementary School's internet safety event. Ph.D. student Karla Badillo-Urquiola gave a talk about the importance of online safety and strategies for technology mediation between parents and their children.  Chhaya Chouhan and Afsaneh Razi facilitated parents and children group discussions. The STIR Lab is...

Dr. Wisniewski gave two invited research talks at the University of Michigan. First, she engaged with researchers from the Michigan Interactive and Social Computing (MISC) Group. Then, she presented her research to the Center for Human Growth and Development. Both were great groups who engaged with the research and its...

Congratulations to Chhaya Chouhan, a first-year Ph.D. student in the STIR Lab. She won the People's Choice Poster Presentation Award at UCF's Graduate Research Forum. Her poster was on, "Community Oversight as a Mechanism for Helping People Make Privacy and Security Decisions," and was partially funded by the Secure and...

Congratulations to Dr. Pamela Wisniewski who was interviewed and quoted in an article published by the Washington Post. Dr. Wisniewski explained, “In some ways we’re treating teens more like children, just because we have technology that allows us to. Just because you can do something does not mean you should....

Congratulations to STIR Lab undergraduate students Christy LaPerriere, Zaina Aljallad, Jaclyn Abraham, Tim Dinh, Thomas Lukas, Amy Godfrey, Hannah Main, Elizabeth Maspoch, and Zach Shea for presenting their posters at the 2019 UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence. Maspoch, E.*, Badillo-Urquiola, K.*, Edwards, J., and Wisniewski, P. †, (2019) “Children’s Evaluations...

The STIR Lab PhD students showcased our current research projects and encouraged undergraduate EXCEL students to get involved in research. Great job Karla Badillo-Urquiola, Afsaneh Razi, Abhiditya Jha, Kevin Pfeil, and Sheikh Nabil Mohammad for running the tours.  Afsaneh, Karla, and Nabil leading a tour Karla and Kevin leading a...

Go team! As part of the UCF Outdoor Adventures program,the STIR Lab completed team building activities and a rigorous high ropes course. Congratulations to Dr. Pamela Wisniewski and the STIR Lab students Afsaneh Razi, Denielle Abaquita, Zach Shea, Irina Lediaeva, Abhiditya Jha, Nabil Mohammad, Thomas Lukas, Karla Badillo-Urquiola,and Chhaya Chouhan...

Congratulations to Dr. Pamela Wisniewski on receiving her National Science Foundation CAREER Award (#1844881) for her work entitled, "Safety by Design; Protecting Adolescents from Online Risks. She will receive $550,000 over the span of five years to complete this important project.