Jasmine McKenzie, Senior
Major: Computer Science
Minor: Psychology
Research: Investigating the effectiveness of brain training programs for older adults and determining the areas of the brain that are most affected by these programs Work is under the supervision of Dr. Karina Lile
Jasmine McKenzie is a Senior Computer Science major and Psychology minor. She is a member of the Alice Carson Tisdale Honors College. Jasmine has conducted research at the University of South Carolina throughout the 2019 and 2020 summers through the South Carolina – Advancing Diversity in Aging Research (SC- ADAR) Program. During the first summer, she conducted research, collected data, and trained an artificial neural network on a smartwatch app that would detect falls and send alert to the proper authorities if needed. During the second summer, she researched the effectiveness of common memory games as they related to cognitive improvement and created games to further test her research. Jasmine currently works with Dr. Karina Liles on investigating the effectiveness of brain training programs for older adults and determining the areas of the brain that are most affected by these programs. She plans to create a website to house a brain training program that she will develop to further test its effectiveness. During her matriculation at Claflin University, Jasmine has taken part in several organizations and has held several leadership positions around the campus. These include, but are not limited to, Friends of the Earth, the National Association of Black Engineers, the Association for Computing Machinery, and her roles as a Resident Advisor, Peer Mentor, and Computer Science and Engineering Tutor. After graduation, Jasmine plans on joining a PhD program in Human Centered Computing or Human Computer Interaction.
I am working on an interactive and educational interface that will teach people about their individual risk factors of developing Alzheimer’s disease. It will provide facts about risk factors like smoking, drinking, specific health issues, and other things. It will also ask questions to determine the likeliness of developing the disease and provide recommendations for decreasing their chances. I will then study the effectiveness, usability, and accessibility of the interface by using a Heuristic evaluation and an accessibility checker.
This summer I will be interning at the Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory in their cybersecurity department. I have been accepted into the computer science Ph.D. program at the University of Alabama and the human-centered computed Ph.D. program at the University of Florida. Both schools have offered me fellowships that would fully fund my research and cost of tuition and teaching assistantships. I am accepting the offer to the University of Florida.
London Thompson, Senior
Hometown: Columbia, SC
Classification: Senior
Major: Computer Engineering
Research: Determining factors of Alzheimer’s disease in African Americans/Building Virtual Learning System to Assist in Educating.
Work is under the supervision of Dr. Karina Liles.
Career Plans: To obtain a PHD in Computer Engineering
Community Service: Orangeburg Recreation and Parks Campus
Organizations: Alice Carson Tisdale Honors College, Men of Valor Emphasizing Respect and Service, Honor Society
Senior, London Thompson is currently completing his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and is on track to graduate in May 2021. He conducts research on determining factors of Alzheimer’s Disease in African Americans and is working on a virtual learning system to assist the community. He has also conducted research at the University of South Carolina in 2019 and returned for a second year in 2020. London has presented his work at the 2019 Gerontological Society of America Conference held in Austin Texas, where he elaborated on his project of the security and privacy of telehealth devices.
Diabetic Risk Simulator
The system I am currently working on will help users to recognize the impact certain foods have on their body, and inform them on possible substitutes for poor food choices. We hope that the development of the system will help to influence healthier eating in our user’s lives. Forming a habit of clean eating will help keep blood sugar levels regulated, and greatly decreases a person’s chances of getting diabetes. This system will support overall health management and be accessible to any patient wanting to identify their risks concerning food intake. This will help to prevent a patient from going down a path of eating that can lead to diabetes. If a patient has already been negatively impacted, we want the system to provide them with foods that will be able to assist them in living a healthier lifestyle that will be beneficial to them.
I have been offered a Teaching Assistantship by the University of Florida, to pursue my PhD in Computer Science. I’m currently waiting to hear back from other schools but as of now, Gainesville is looking like a real possibility for me in the near future.
London’s research has also been published – Privacy and Security for TeleHealth Devices