On Friday, February 17, 2012, Dr. Marcella Wilson was part of a roundtable discussion on cyber-bullying.  It was hosted by Neil Haley of totaltutor.org and co-hosted by Dr. Ernie Dettore, a Pittsburg area school administrator.  Click the link below to hear the discussion.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/totaltutor/2012/02/19/total-education-hour-02-17-12#.T0IvJGDzy8g.gmail

Let’s take a look at some household products and gadgets that help keep the home clean and orderly or assist in the kitchen to make housekeeping fun again.

Voice Activated Coffeemaker, $59.99, HamiltonBeach.com

You talk to the coffee maker, to set it the coffeemaker’s clock and brew timer.  Consumer surveys have found that most people find that programming devices is difficult and don’t use it.  So this coffee machine uses the same touch screens that are on mobile phones.  Using the touch screens, you can set up your coffee machine to be voice-activated.  So, it’s simple to use and set up.

15.6-inch Kitchen Technology Center, $299.99, PanDigital.net

Do you love making recipes from a cookbook but get tired of trying to balance and prop up that cookbook on your kitchen counter?  Or do you hate hitting pause a million times to do a recipe that a cook is showing on television?  Well, those days are over.  This 4-in-1 countertop device allows you to store recipes and family photos, watch television and surf the Web.

iGrill, $99.99. iGrillinc.com

If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and you live to grill, then the iGrill is the gadget for you. The iGrill is a wireless Bluetooth cooking thermometer that syncs up with a free iPhone app to alert you when your meat is cooked — and from up to 200 feet away! Now, you won’t have any more excuses for overcooking your steak.

Taylor Digital Measuring Cup and Scale, $25.00.  Amazon.com

If you are stickler for getting your measurements exact, you’re gonna love the Digital measure cup and scale.  It’s great because all you need is this one measuring cup.  You’ll reduce kitchen clutter because you won’t need a set of measuring cups that takes up space in your cabinets.  This tool converts five pre-set ingredients (flour, sugar, milk, water and oil) from weight to volume, and displays the conversion digitally on the handle. It’s a must for any serious chef!

Wi-Touch, $550. ToToUSA.com

Don’t you love going to those fancy restaurant bathrooms and the water starts automatically when you put your hand under the faucet?  Well, now you can do that at your home.   Wi-Touch is a wireless remote that allows you to convert your faucet into hands-free design.  It is more sanitary and convenient than flipping a lever or turning a knob on your faucet.

Electrolux Vacuum Shoes

Just imagine that everytime you walked through your home, you could be vacuuming it.  Forget about pulling out a vacuum, plugging it in, etc.  Just put on these shoes and get working.  They’ll vacuum your rug but don’t forget about the extra calories you’ll burn doing this.  They are a concept design right now.  Which means that they are not available in stores.

Dr. Wilson is featured in the book, “Beyond Stock Stories and Folktales: African Americans’ Paths to STEM Fields”. More specifically, she can be found in Chapter 9: “PHD Pathways to Advanced STEM Careers for Black Women”, where the ups and downs of her (and other women’s) PhD education is discussed. The chapter was written by 3 amazing women that Dr. Wilson had the priviledge of encountering while in graduate school. Dr. Rutledge, Dr. Carter-Veale and Dr. Tull are amazing individuals who Dr. Wilson looks up to and continue to be a part of her life. Please check the book out. It is nothing less than inspirational.

REFERENCE:
Janet C. Rutledge, Wendy Y. Carter-Veale, Renetta G. Tull (2011), Chapter 9 Successful PHD Pathways to Advanced STEM Careers for Black Women, in Henry T. Frierson, William F. Tate (ed.) Beyond Stock Stories and Folktales: African Americans’ Paths to STEM Fields (Diversity in Higher Education, Volume 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.165-209

Here is the link from the publisher: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?chapterid=1949534&show=pdf

FACULTY POSITION – School of Library and Information Studies/Living Environments Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS; http://www.slis.wisc.edu/) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in partnership with the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (WID; www.discovery.wisc.edu, http://www.discovery.wisc.edu), seeks an exceptional candidate with demonstrated commitment to excellence in research, teaching, and service to join our dynamic learning community as Professor, Associate Professor or Assistant Professor. We invite applications for a full time tenure track or tenured position, beginning fall 2012, to conduct research, teach one course per semester, advise master’s students and supervise doctoral research. The research specialization may be in Human Computer Interaction, Library and Information Studies, Medical Informatics, or related field. Candidates should have a Ph.D. by August 2012. Candidates for tenured appointments must have a record of excellence in teaching, research and service. The position will be 50% in SLIS and 50% in the WID Living Environments Laboratory (LEL) theme area, with a tenure home in SLIS.

We seek applicants with research expertise in human interaction with information and information systems including, but not limited to, user experience design, usability and information use/disuse, cognitive and affective science, psycho-physiology, affective computing, gaming, ecological approaches, distributed cognition, contextual design, impact analysis, and experiential cognitive/cognitive behavioral therapy. Researchers with a current or potential interest in personal care, daily living, well being and health are particularly desirable. We are seeking candidates whose research is socially important, methodologically innovative and theoretically motivated. The successful candidate will
work within and lead collaborative discipline-spanning LEL research teams at WID while also serving as a faculty member in the School of Library and Information Studies, including teaching SLIS courses in the areas of information technology, organization of information or information use and users.

SLIS has approximately 200 masters and 20 doctoral students in LIS. The School is equipped with a newly remodeled instructional computer laboratory, a usability lab, and its own library, in addition to the
resources of the University Libraries. It cooperates actively with the University Library System, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and the Wisconsin Historical Society’s library and archives. It is home to the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, and is a founding member of the interdisciplinary Digital Studies undergraduate initiative (http://www.digitalstudies.wisc.edu/). It occupies a modern classroom building overlooking beautiful Lake Mendota in one of the
world’s finest universities and in one of the United States’ most livable cities.

WID represents a bold new interdisciplinary research initiative funded by the State of Wisconsin, the Morgridge Foundation and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). It provides an exciting opportunity for creative applicants to work in a multi-disciplinary environment while pursuing independent research in a state-of-the-art facility. WID is the public half of a private-public pair of Institutes that promote basic research and facilitate the translation of new discoveries to practice.

The Living Environments Laboratory was created with the vision of its research having a lasting impact on the quality of the creation of healthcare products. The Living Environments Laboratory for Acceleration of Homecare Technologies seeks faculty who will take part in shaping this exceptional venture and blaze new trails in innovative research. The LEL-WID theme aims to accelerate the design and development of personal care technologies through an innovative design space that employs a virtual reality CAVE ©, a chamber that can mimic home-found factors that may alter the function of personal care technologies, such as temperatures, vibrations and particulates, and a fully-instrumented
apartment. These environments will stimulate designers to create solutions that better fit in the home context, and will provide the opportunity to undertake sophisticated user testing. The successful
candidate will have lab space in the state-of-the-art WID research facility designed to spark and support cross-disciplinary collaborations, as well as an office in SLIS. Each candidate will interview both with LEL theme members and SLIS faculty. Candidates will be expected to qualify for a tenure track appointment in SLIS. The candidate will be expected to develop a vigorous, independent research program that capitalizes on the CAVE©; attract and maintain extramural funding for their research program in the Living Environments Laboratory; teach; participate in faculty governance activities in the department, college and/or University; and actively engage with the national and international scientific community.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a world-class academic institution with an international reputation for research. It attracts scholars and students from around the world. Nationally, UW-Madison ranks fourth among all U.S. universities for research and development expenditures, exceeding $950 million annually. The University has a deep culture of collaborative interdisciplinary research, reflected recently by major grants such as the $150 million DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center award (2007) and the $50 million NIH Translational Medicine award (2007). Interdisciplinary and translational centers that are positioning UW at the forefront of collaborative research include the Microbial Sciences Building (2007), the School of Medicine and Public Health’s Interdisciplinary Research Complex (2008), and the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (2010).

Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding the applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. SLIS values and actively seeks to maintain a diverse faculty. A criminal background check will be conducted prior to hiring.

For more information, see http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/pvl/pv_072373.html, or contact Anne Murphy Lom, Department Administrator at ammurphylom@wisc.edu.

To apply, send letter of interest, curriculum vitae, evidence of excellence in teaching, and the names and contact information of three references by March 1st 2012 to Anne Murphy Lom, Department Administrator, ammurphylom@wisc.edu (electronic preferred). Paper mail address: School of Library and Information Studies, 600 N. Park Street, Madison WI 53706.

In this week’s episode of Pop Tech, Dr. Wilson discusses…

1. The week’s top trending topics
2. AnnaLynne McCord and her Twitter Photo Faux Pas
3. The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

Here’s a recap of what you should do if you have a Twitter (or Facebook) photo faux pas:

1. Remove the picture immediately
2. Post an apology for the picture
3. If you see this happening to someone else, contact them and let them know

Thanks for watching.  Feel free to write a comment or ask me a question.  If you liked the video, please feel free to pass it on.

It’s finally here! Dr. Marcella Wilson is in the February 2012 issue of Redbook Magazine.

To view it online, click HERE. Dr. Wilson is a participant in the Wedding Dress Fitness Challenge. The original shoot was done last November. Dr. Wilson is proud to report that she is already down 2 dress sizes. Way to go!

Check out video of the “before” shoot below.

Happy New Year!  I know that New Year’s Day was 10 days ago.  By now, everyone should be back to work, back to school and back to their normal schedules.  Did you make a New Year’s resolution?  It seems like most people I talked to said they shied away from resolutions.   Well, I don’t like to make resolutions like “I’m going to lose 20 pounds” but I do like to spend the holidays reviewing the past year and finding ways I can improve myself in the new year.  But I don’t want to make an unrealistic resolution and then fail.   But I am open to improvement.

But since we are on the topic of resolutions, did you make a tech resolution?  I can read what you are thinking right now.  I have never heard of this.  What is a tech resolution and why do we need one?  Well, a tech resolution is a promise of how you are or are not going to use technology in the coming year.  Need some ideas?  Well, if your tech resolution is something you are going to do this year, maybe it will be to update your computer regularly when it notifies you – don’t put it off.  Or maybe learn how to use Photoshop or iMovie so you can make cool photos and videos the next time you go on vacation.  Did you know that checking and answering your email constantly through the day eats a lot of time?  Maybe your resolution could be only checking your personal email only twice a day – in the morning and before you go to bed.  Maybe you are not a tech person and resolve to be more open to technology and include it a little more into your life.

On the other hand, your tech resolution may be something you don’t want to do this year.  How about we resolve not to use technology while you are watching TV?   I am so guilty of this.  How many times do you text, or browse the internet on your iPad while watching television?  I know most people know not to text while driving but a resolution everyone should have is to not text while walking down the street.  I see people walking down the street with their heads down, looking at their phones.  They are walking into people and stumbling all around.  Just look up and watch where you are going.  Or maybe your tech resolution should be not to visit certain web sites.  The internet can be a very dark place and everything online is not good for us to see.  I made a tech resolution not to spend so much time reading celebrity gossip blogs.  I love pop culture and entertainment but I spend way too much time on the gossip blogs.  Other people don’t see it as a big deal, but I want to stop because I find them to be mostly negative.     

So let me know what you tech resolution for this year is.

Check out Dr. Marcella Wilson’s “Pop Tech – Tech the Halls” episode.  She discusses the year in review on books, movies and more.  Plus she gives advice on how to get your online purchases by Christmas.

The Clemson School of Computing invites applicants for multiple  tenure-track Assistant Professor positions.  Persons with exceptional
qualifications may be considered at a higher rank.  Target areas of  strength include data analytics, graphics, network systems, scientific
computing, software engineering, visualization, and wireless sensor  networks.  We are especially interested in persons with a proven
interest in working collaboratively with researchers outside of computer  science.   Clemson is the land grant University of South Carolina and  ranks Top 25 among U.S. public universities.   For more information,  please see: http://www.clemson.edu/ces/computing/faculty-openings.html

We are seeking candidates for a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Research on Computation and Society (CRCS) at Harvard University.  Ideal candidates would have a demonstrated interest in connecting their research agenda with societal issues.  For this position, we are particularly looking for HCI researchers whose work strives to enable more equitable access to information and communication technologies for people who are currently excluded because of disability, education, socioeconomic status, geography, or other factors. 

CRCS Postdoctoral Fellows are given an annual salary of $60,000 for up to three years to engage in a program of original research, and are provided with additional funds for travel and research support.

The Center for Research on Computation and Society is affiliated with the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society (which, in turn, is affiliated with the Harvard Law School).  CRCS is a perfect vantage point from which to tap into the vast interdisciplinary resources of Harvard and most Fellows reach beyond Computer Science in pursuit of their projects.

CRCS supports several Computer Science projects of relevance to the society, each involving some of the Harvard Computer Science faculty.  Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions relating to this opportunity, of visit the CRCS web site to explore the other projects: http://crcs.seas.harvard.edu/

Krzysztof Gajos
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

P.S. It is common for our fellows to already have faculty positions secured, but to defer for a year to build up new connections and enjoy the intellectual freedom of a postdoc to further develop their research agendas.  So searching for a faculty position is not incompatible with applying for our fellowship.

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More information and application instructions at http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~kgajos/positions/
Deadline: Apply by January 15, 2012
Questions to: Krzysztof Gajos (kgajos@eecs.harvard.edu)
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