George Mason assistant professor Dr. Susan Howard and PhD student Chih Hao Huang “Andy” are attending the annual international Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit in Morocco where over 2000 behavioral scientists and communication experts are gathered from around the world.
Professor Howard is an assistant professor with the School of Integrative Studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Mr. Huang is a doctoral student in bioinformatics and computational biology in the College of Science. Together they are working to ‘’humanize technology” and find applications for social good. Mr. Huang is giving an oral presentation entitled “Can predictive analytics elevate gender equity through precision gaming”. He will present machine learning models used in a digital game app conceived of by Professor Howard for adolescent girls in India. Mr. Huang’s presentation will explore how data and modeling can be used to make correlations, associations, and predict behaviors in real life.
Professor Howard is co-author of two presentations; “Shaping a Theory of Change for A Strategic Pathway to Empower Girls’ Choices through Digital Media”; and “Can a role-play digital game empower girls by nudging negotiation with their boyfriends?” Her work as a practitioner has been informed by her academic doctoral research at GMU where she evaluated the impact of One Health messaging on perceptions of disease causation and compared the differences between game-based learning using simulations and videos with booklets. Professor Howard is delivering a poster presentation on her research. Her presentation is entitled “The Loop Trail Quest: Game-based learning for One Health holds promise for additional public health behavior change applications.” Both Professor Howard and Mr. Huang’s travel and participation are sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.
December 08, 2022
