Catherine Zanbaka Nicolas

Education

University of North Carolina at Charlotte | Charlotte, NC | GPA: 4.0 | Jan 2003 - May 2007
PhD, Information Technology, College of Computing and Informatics
Dissertation Title: Examining Direct and Indirect Social Influence with Virtual Characters
Advisor: Dr. Larry F. Hodges

Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA | GPA: 4.0 | Aug 2001 - Dec 2002
M.S, Human Computer Interaction, Graphics Visualization, and Usability Center, College of Computing
Master's Project: Virtual Environment for Pain and Anxiety Distraction
Advisor: Dr. Larry F. Hodges

Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA | GPA: 3.45
B.S., Computer Science
College of Computing
Sept 1996 - May 2000

Gordon College | Barnesville, GA | GPA: 4.0 | Sept 1995 - May 1996
Joint Enrollment during high school senior year

Current Positions

Computational Social Scientist
BAE Systems, Arlington VA
June 2007 - PresentManaging technical scope and the design and development of a geospatial agent based model for enhanced situational awarenessCreating conceptual design alternatives, design document and system architecture based on client-driven requirementsAnalyzing and deploying applications and toolkits pertaining to spatially integrated agent based modelsDeveloping a project plan based on short and long-term strategic requirements with primary milestones and deliverablesRecruiting both internal and consulting support for performing tasks under mentorship and directionManaging technical team with expertise in the Agent Based Modeling (ABM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and visualization domainsCollaborating with University of Hawaii on sentiment analysis and social and cultural modelingWriting white papers for new concepts to seed potential funding opportunitiesContributing in the preparation and red team reviews of governmental proposals and providing live and web-based presentations to demonstrate capabilitiesManaging client relationships and interfaces during various stages of project initiation, planning, execution and delivery
 
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Division of Human-Centered Computing
Clemson University
June 2009 - Present

Past Experience

Summer Intern
3D Virtual and Mixed Environments Lab
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C.
May 2006 - Aug 2006Designed and developed an application for LEGO assembly in augmented reality where latency can be manipulated.Designed a within-subjects experimental study using the above application to examine how different levels of latency affect task performance in an augmented reality environment.
 
Graduate Research Assistant
Virtual Environments Group, Future Computing Lab
Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Jan 2003 - May 2007Led a study on the effect of travel technique on cognition in virtual environments.Led a series of experiments which replicate classical tests of human social interaction, substituting virtual humans into the human role. This basic research is done to establish whether or not virtual characters produce the same responses as real characters.

Summer Intern
Virtual Reality Lab
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C.
June 2004 - Aug 2004Conducted a task analysis and designed an application to support Marines in target location.Ran an experiment that compared depth perception in augmented reality and in the real world.

Graduate Research Assistant
Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center
College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
Aug 1999 - Dec 2002Designed and implemented an interactive immersive gaming environment in VR for pain and anxiety distraction for children undergoing cancer treatment.

Research and Development Engineer
Intercept Technology Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
May 2000 - July 2001Designed and developed algorithms to optimize the performance of Connex, the company's circuit auto-routing softwareDeveloped and maintained new components for the company's main product, Pantheon, a CAD PCB design software package
 

Skills

Programming: C, C++, C#, Java, MS Visual Studio, OpenGL, Visual Basic, Simple Virtual Environments (SVE).
Graphics: 3D Studio MAX, Maya, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Macromedia Director and Macromedia Flash, Haptek.
ABM: Repast, SWARM, Netlogo.
Platforms: Windows, Unix, Solaris, and MacOS.
Statistics: Minitab, SPSS, R, and other statistical analysis utilities.
WWW: HTML, CGI, DreamWeaver, MS FrontPage, JavaScript, Servelets, and JSP.
Languages: Fluent in Arabic, intermediate in French.
Miscellaneous: CVS - Concurrent Versions System, MS Project, MS Visio

Publications

In Submission
Zanbaka, C., HandUber, J. and Saunders-Newton, D. "An Application of Agent Based Social Modeling in the DoD”. In submission to AAAI, 2010.

Book Chapters and Journal Papers
[1] Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Goolkasian, P., Hodges, L. F. "Lessons Learned in Assessing Human-Virtual Human Interaction". Advances in Virtual Environments Technology: Musings on Design, Evaluation, & Applications, (K. M. Stanney (Ed.)), Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, 2005.
[2] Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Babu, S., Ulinski, A., Hodges, L. F. (2005). Comparison of path visualizations and cognitive measures relative to travel technique in a virtual environment. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 11. 6. pp. 694-705.

Refereed Conference and Workshop Papers
[3] Zanbaka, C., HandUber, J. and Saunders-Newton, D. 2009. Modeling and Simulating Community Sentiments and Interactions at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. To Appear in AAAI Fall Symposium 2009: Complex Adaptive Systems and the Threshold Effect: Views from the Natural and Social Sciences.
[4] Cairco, L., Babu, S., Ulinski, A., Zanbaka, C., and Hodges, L. F. 2007. Shakespearean karaoke. In Proceedings of the 2007 ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, S. N. Spencer, Ed. VRST '07. ACM, New York, NY, 239-240. 
[5] Zanbaka, C., Ulinski, A., Goolkasian, P., Hodges, L. F. "Social responses to virtual humans: Implications for future interface design." Honorable Mention for Best of CHI Award. In Proceedings of CHI 2007, ACM Press, 1561 - 1570.
[6] Ulinski, A., Zanbaka, C., Wartell, Z., Goolkasian, P., Hodges, L. F. "Two handed selection techniques for volumetric data." In Proceedings of 3DUI 2007, IEEE Press, 107-114.
[7] Zanbaka, C., Goolkasian, P., Hodges, L. F. (2006). "Can a virtual cat persuade you? The role of gender and realism in speaker persuasiveness." In Proceedings of CHI 2006, ACM Press, 1153 - 1162. Acceptance rate: 23%
[8] Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Babu, S. Xiao, D., Ulinski, A, and Hodges L.F. (2004). "Effects of Travel Technique on Cognition in Virtual Environments," In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality 2004, 149-156, 286. Acceptance rate: 20.3%
[9] Zanbaka, C. (2005). "Challenges in Virtual Human Research."The Third Young Investigator's Forum in Virtual Reality, February 24-25, 2005, POSTECH, Pohang, South Korea.
[10] Livingston, M., Zanbaka, C., Swan, J. E., Smallman, H. (2005). "Objective Measures for the Effectiveness of Augmented Reality," IEEE Virtual Reality 2005, Bonn, Germany, March 12 - 16. (Poster)
[11] Babu, S., Zanbaka, C., Jackson, J., Chung, T., Lok, B., Shin, M., Hodges, L. F. (2005). "Virtual Human Physiotherapist Framework for Personalized Training and Rehabilitation," Graphics Interface 2005, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, May 9 - 11, 2005. (Poster)
[12] Zanbaka, C., Ulinski, A., Goolkasian, P., Hodges, L. F. (2004). "Effects of Virtual Human Presence on Task Performance," Proceeding of the International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence (ICAT), pp. 174-181.
 
Invited Paper
[13] Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Goolkasian, P., Hodges, L. F. (2005). "Lessons Learned in Assessing Human-Virtual Human Interaction." First International Conference on Virtual Reality, Las Vegas, Nevada 22 - 27 July.
[14] Ziemkiewicz, C., Ulinski, A., Zanbaka, C., Hardin, S., Hodges, L. F. (2005). "Interactive Digital Patient for Triage Nurse Training." First International Conference on Virtual Reality, Las Vegas, Nevada 22 - 27 July.

Videos, Demonstrations, and Panels
[15] Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Babu, S., Xiao, D., Ulinski, A., Hodges, L.F. (2004). "Effects of travel technique on cognition in virtual environments." IEEE Virtual Reality 2004 Video Proceedings.
[16] Ziemkiewicz, C., Zanbaka, C., Ulinski, A., Suma, E., Powell, E., Hodges, L. F., Godwin, A., Chaffin, A., Babu, S. "Let's Talk about UNC Charlotte: A conversation with a Virtual Human." Research Demonstration at the IEEE Virtual Reality 2006 Conference, Alexandria, VA, USA, March 25-29, 2006.
[17] Kyle Johnsen, Catherine Zanbaka, Daniel Acevado, and Sharif Razzaqu. "Building the Future of and a Career in VR". Panel (organizer: Benjamin Lok) at the IEEE Virtual Reality 2007 Conference, Charlotte, NC, USA, March 10-14, 2007.

Technical Reports
[18] J. Edward Swan II, Mark A. Livingston, Harvey S. Smallman, Joseph L. Gabbard, Dennis G. Brown, Yohan Baillot, Simon J. Julier, Greg S. Schmidt, Catherine Zanbaka, Derborah Hix, and Lawrence J. Rosenblum, "A Methodology for Quantifying Medium- and Far-Field Depth Perception in Optical, See-Through Augmented Reality", Technical Report #MSU-05031, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Mississippi State University.

Invited TalksCatherine Zanbaka. "Applications of Computational Social Science in the DoD." Human-Centered Computing Seminar, Clemson University, March 4, 2010.Catherine Zanbaka. "How virtual life can influence you: The study of personality, persuasion, and social facilitation with virtual characters." Human Computer Interaction Seminar, Georgia Institute of Technology, November 10, 2005.Catherine Zanbaka. "Effect of Travel Technique on Cognition in Immersive Virtual Environments." Geometry, Graphics, Vision, Visualization/Simulation Seminar, University of Florida, March 5, 2004.Catherine Zanbaka. "Effects of Virtual Human Presence on Task Performance." Graduate Seminar, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, November 19, 2004.Amy Ulinski and Catherine Zanbaka, "If a digital human gave you a compliment, would it brighten your day?" Center for Human Computer Interaction and 3D Interaction Group, Virginia Tech, October 25, 2004.
 

Honors and Awards
 1st Place in Category II at the 6th Annual Niner Research Across the Disciplines Graduate Research Fair. "Can a virtual cat persuade you? The role of gender and realism in speaker persuasiveness." April 2006, UNC-Charlotte.3rd Place in Category II at the 5th Annual Niner Research Across the Disciplines Graduate Research Fair. "Effects of Virtual Human Presence on Task Performance." April 2005, UNC-Charlotte.

 Selected to attend the Third Young Investigators Forum in Virtual Reality (YVR 2005) held in Pohang, Korea.HOPE Scholar, 1996 - 2000, David J. Arnold Memorial Scholarship, 1996 - 1998Faculty Honors, Georgia Institute of Technology, Fall 1999, Dean's List, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1996 - 2000, 10 times