Miranda G. Capra

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

WORK EXPERIENCE

SENIOR HUMAN FACTORS SPECIALIST, June 2006 - present

HumanCentric Technologies, Cary, NC

• Past projects include software for 911 call centers, website usability, desktop/laptop visual appeal, in-vehicle speech recognition, touchpad performance, mobile phone earpiece/handset comfort, mobile phone speaker sound quality, keyboard performance, customer relationship management software, 10-foot user interfaces (couch and remote control)
• Past clients include Motorola, Dell, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Johnson Controls, and Intel

SENIOR MEMBER OF TECHNICAL STAFF, January 1999 - June 1999

MEMBER OF TECHNICAL STAFF, October 1996 - January 1999

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

• Member of human factors teams to design and test user interfaces of websites and internet products
• Responsible for assessment of new internet technologies and their business applications for SBC Communications
  • Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, Southern New England Telecom
• Areas included internet advertising, web usage tracking, electronic commerce, and design for universal access
• Significant projects: SBC/Snap co-branded portal, Southwestern Bell Wireless online store, SBC electronic channel corporate strategy, SMS (wireless text messaging) web interface

CONSULTANT, Ajilon, Austin, TX, June 1995 - October 1996

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

• Technical support for human factors development and usability testing of SBC internet products
• Assessment of new internet technologies and their business applications
• Significant projects: web sites for internet customers of Southwestern Bell and Cellular One Rochester, internal and external websites for SBC Laboratories, vendor selection for electronic yellow pages

WEBMASTER AND UNIX SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR, Engineering Computer Laboratory

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, August 1994 - May 1995

• Designed and administered web server for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
• Installed and maintained Solaris machines for computer science and other engineering departments
• Administered UNIX-based network, mail and productivity software

WEB DESIGNER, University Archives

Department of Special Collections, Olin Library, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, May 1994 - August 1994

• Created campus tour with historical trivia, maps and photos; used on the university homepage through 1997
• Created online guides for collections, and photographic galleries of campus architecture and events

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

GRADUATE RESEARCH, Usability Methods and Research Lab (Dr. H. Rex Hartson, Director)

Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, May 2000 - May 2006

• Designed a training tool to help new usability practitioners identify, diagnose and describe usability problems
• Supervised two undergraduate students and one masters student building training tool
• Helped revise the User Action Framework (UAF), a user-centered usability taxonomy
• Developed screen sketches and a system design for an iterative design team developing UAF-based tools to help usability practitioners collect, analyze, organize and retrieve usability information

GRADUATE RESEARCH, Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (Dr. Robert C. Williges, Director)

Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, August 2000 - May 2001

• Member of Eldercare project team to explore participatory usability methods for senior computer users
• Designed a web portal with health information for the seniors of the Blacksburg Community Center

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT, DNA Mapping Group

Department of Computer Science, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, June 1992 - August 1992

• Designed of modular simulator to produce realistic test data for DNA mapping software
• Created simulator using to interface with existing software architecture

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT, ISE 3624: Industrial Engineering

Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, Fall 2004 and Spring 2005

• Lectured on anthropometry and occupational vibration exposure
• Graded written reports, both for technical content and writing/grammar/style
• Graded exams

INSTRUCTOR, ISE 3614: Introduction to Human Factors Engineering

Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, Summer 2000

• Course topics include: systems design, human information processing, usability, anthropometry, hearing and auditory display design, vision and visual display design, speech and communication, vibration and motion, manual control, work environments, human error and system safety
• Supervised a graduate teaching assistant

GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT, ISE 3614: Introduction to Human Factors Engineering

Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, Fall 1999 and Spring 2000

• Designed and lead interactive laboratory exercises to demonstrate course concepts and graded lab reports
• Wrote and graded class exams and homework assignments
• Lectured for usability and human hearing topics

UNDERGRADUATE GRADER

Department of Computer Science, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, August 1991 - May 1993

• Held office hours and graded assignments for:
  • CS 101 Intro to CS I Abstraction through Scheme
  • CS 102 Intro to CS II Data Structures and Objects
  • CS 455 Programming Systems and Languages
  • CS 511 Artificial Intelligence AI Concepts through Lisp

HONORS

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

Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society

Cabinet award for providing substantial technical leadership, analysis and expertise in selection and contract negotiations for an outsource SBCIS homepage supplier, SBC Laboratories, November 1998

On the spot award for providing significant leadership, dedication and extra effort in making the TRI Echannel Executive Briefing a success, SBC Laboratories, July 1998

Cabinet award for outstanding service and professionalism in the deployment of web based Short Messaging System, SBC Laboratories, December 1997

Cabinet award for outstanding teamwork and technical leadership in the design and implementation of SBC's internet service offering, SBC Laboratories, October 1996

On the spot award for outstanding technical leadership and client support in SBC's interactive advertising venture, Project Branding Iron, SBC Laboratories, October 1995

National Merit Scholarship, 1990

ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS

• HFES Annual Meeting
  • Submission reviewer, 2004 and 2005
  • Session chair, 2001 and 2005
  • Student volunteer, 2002 and 2003
• Leader of the VT HFES mentoring program for prospective and new students, 2001 and 2004
• Panelist and organizer for Increasing Awareness of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) cosponsored by the VT Environmental Health and Safety Services, March 14, 2003
• Secretary, Virginia Tech Student Chapter of the HFES, 2001

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 1992-present

• ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI), 1998-present
• President, Washington University Student Chapter of the ACM, 1992-1994

Washington University Filmboard, a student-run movie theater, Publicity Manager and projectionist 1993-1994

Washington University immersive language program in Madrid, Spain, June - July 2000

GRADUATE COURSEWORK

Classes Taken

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

Other 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

Class Projects

Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) and Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS)
Application for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for performance excellence in education for the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (CGEP) distance education program
Ergonomic Assessement of Pushing Tasks and Cart Design for the Radford Army Ammunitions Plant
Ergonomic Safety Assessment of Hazardous Waste Disposal by the Virginia Tech Environmental Health and Safety Services
Design of Training for Building Your Own Computer

SKILLS

PUBLICATIONS

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. and Smith-Jackson, T. L. (2005). Developing Guidelines for Describing Usability Problems. Technical Report #ACE/HCI-2005-002. Blacksburg: Virginia Tech, Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. [ 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 ]

Smith-Jackson, T., Williges, R. C., Kwahk, J., Capra, M., Durak, T., Nam, C. S., and Ryu, Y. S. (2001). User requirements specification for a prototype healthcare information website and an online assessment tool. Technical Report ACE/HCIL-01-01, prepared for Carilion Biomedical Institute at Roanoke Virginia and Medical Automation Research Center at University of Virginia, June 2001

Smith-Jackson, T. L., Williges, R. C., Kwahk, J., Capra, M., Durak, T. (2001). User Requirements Specification for a Healthcare Website and an Online Assessment Tool. Technical Report # ACE/HCIL 2001-1. Blacksburg: Virginia Tech, Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.