Miranda
Galadriel
Capra

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Miranda

Galadriel

Flory

Capra

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SUMMARY

I help select and execute the best user research for the project, such as focus groups and interviews for early conceptual work, walkthroughs and iterative usability testing during development, and benchmark usability tests of finished designs.

• Moderator for 35+ usability, interview and focus group projects
• 6+ years corporate product development, 5 years consulting
• Lab & field research
• Vendor and contract management

WORK EXPERIENCE

BB&T, Raleigh, NC

User Research Manager, September 2013 - Present
Senior User Experience Researcher, May 2011 - August 2013

I am responsible for the User Research program at BB&T's Digital Channel, which includes our company website, web applications such as online banking and online account applications, and mobile apps. I conduct usability tests, interviews, focus groups and surveys; oversee vendors for outsourced research; manage our research budget and vendor contracts; evaluate new vendors and software; and run our usability lab. I support a team of 10 UX designers, helping their product teams incorporate user research into their projects.

HumanCentric Technologies, Cary, NC

Manager and Sr Human Factors Specialist, 2008 - April 2011
Senior Human Factors Specialist, June 2006 - 2008

My focus at HumanCentric was User Research, including usability testing, interviews, focus groups, surveys and other techniques for gathering feedback and requirements. I worked on websites, mobile apps, physical products and hardware.

• Project lead for 68 projects, including 14 international
• Moderated 550+ user sessions
• Primary author for 136 proposals
• Managed vendors for recruiting, facilities, surveys, international research
• Performed experimental design and statistical analysis/modeling for both my own projects and those of my colleagues
• Mentored junior moderators and research assistants
• Designed two usability labs: rooms, one-way mirrors, furniture, equipment, software

Areas of specialization

• IT administration software: computer administration, network security, case management tools for 2nd and 3rd tier technical support
• Input devices: keyboards (desktop/mobile), touchpads, pointsticks
• Web portals
• Smartphones: keyboards, apps
• Gestural interfaces
• Internet TV applications
• Remote controls

Clients included Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, bioMérieux, Dymo/Newell Rubbermaid, Chryler, Cisco, Dell, HP, iContact, Intel, Johnson Controls, Kodak, Lenovo, LexisNexis, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Synaptics, Synovate Korea, User Interface Design - Germany.

SBC Technology Resources (now AT&T Labs), Austin, TX

Senior Member of Technical Staff, January 1999 - May 1999
Senior Member of Technical Staff, October 1996 - December 1998
Consultant, Ajilon, June 1995 - October 1996

• Prototyping, interface design and usability testing for corporate websites and web services
• Corporate advocate for launching SBC's first ecommerce sites and increasing our online presence
• Significant projects: SBC's first online store for wireless accessories, text messaging web interface, web portals for dial-up customers, vendor selection for Southwestern Bell's first electronic yellow pages, web design guidelines for universal access, webmaster for SBC Labs internal and external sites

EDUCATION

VIRGINIA TECH (Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University), Blacksburg, VA

Ph.D. Industrial and Systems Engineering, Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics, May 2006

Title: Usability Problem Description and the Evaluator Effect in Usability Testing

Advisor: Dr. Tonya L. Smith-Jackson (ISE)

Funding: Alexander E. Walter Fellowship, Grado Department of ISE (renewed for three years, 2001-2004)

M.S. Industrial and Systems Engineering, Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics, December 2001

Title: An Exploration of User-Reported Critical Incidents

Advisors: Dr. Robert C. Williges (ISE), Dr. H. Rex Hartson (CS)

Funding: United Parcel Service (UPS) Fellowship, Grado Department of ISE (2000-2001)

GPA: 3.91

GRE (1998): 750 Quantitative, 730 Verbal, 800 Analytical Reasoning

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS, MO

B.S. Computer Science, May 1995
B.A. Spanish, May 1995

GRADUATE COURSEWORK

HCI and Psychology: Usability Engineering, Human-Computer Systems, Visual Displays, Human Information Processing, Cognitive Psychology

Statistics: Human Factors Research Design I & II, Nonparametric Statistics, Applied Multivariate Statistics

Human Factors: Human Factors Systems Design I & II, Auditory Displays, Macroergonomics, Occupational Safety and Hazard Control, Biomechanics, Training Systems Design

ISE: Introduction to ISE, Linear Optimization, Management of Change and Performance in Organizational Systems

HONORS

Alexander E. Walter Fellowship, Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (renewed for three years, 2001-2004)

United Parcel Service (UPS) Fellowship, Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (2000-2001)

Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society

ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), 1999-present

• Carolina Chapter Secretary 2007, 2008
• Virginia Tech Student Chapter Secretary 2001

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 1992-present

• Washington University in St. Louis Student Chapter President, 1992-1993, 1993-1994

PUBLICATIONS

Biesterfeldt, J. and Capra, M (2011). Leading International UX Research Projects. In Design, User Experience, and Usability. Theory, Methods, Tools and Practice Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Proceedings of HCI International 2011) (pp. 368-377). Heidelberg: Springer. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]

Mauney, D., Howarth, J., Wirtanen, A., and Capra, M (2010). Cultural Similarities and Differences in User-Defined Gestures for Touchscreen Interfaces. In Proceedings of CHI EA '10 (CHI '10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems) (pp. 4015-4020). New York: ACM. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]

Capra, M., Andre, T., Collingwood, I., Kempic, J. and Brandt, J. (2009) Practical Tips for Designing a Usability Evaluation Environment: What Equipment and Software Do You Really Need? In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (53:19, pp. 1517-1521). Santa Monica, CA: HFES. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]

Capra, M. G. (2007). Comparing Usability Problem Identification and Description by Practitioners and Students. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 51st Annual Meeting (pp. 474-478). Santa Monica, CA: HFES. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]

Capra, M. G. (2006). Usability Problem Description and the Evaluator Effect in Usability Testing. Unpublished dissertation, Virginia Tech: Blacksburg, VA. Available via http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-03222006-201913/. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]

Capra, M. G. (2005). Factor Analysis of Card Sort Data: An Alternative to Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 49th Annual Meeting (pp. 691-695). Santa Monica, CA: HFES. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]

Capra, M. G. (2002). Contemporaneous versus retrospective user-reported critical incidents in usability evaluation. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46th Annual Meeting (pp. 1973-1977). Santa Monica, CA: HFES. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]

Capra, M. G. (2001). An Exploration of End-User Critical Incident Classification. Unpublished thesis, Virginia Tech: Blacksburg, VA. Available via http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-11122001-143830/. [ abstract ] [ pdf ]