Dale-Marie Wilson, Ph.D.

UNCC Software and Information Systems

About Me. My story

Dale-Marie Wilson

Dr. Dale-Marie Wilson

I am a native of a small twin island state called Trinidad and Tobago, which is located in the Caribbean. I was born on the island of Trinidad, where I spent my childhood and teen years. I migrated to the United States in 1991 and became a citizen in 2000. I received my Bachelor of Science Degree from New York University in 1995, where I majored in Mathematics and minored in Computer Science. I received my Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees from Auburn University in 2003 and 2006 respectfully. I am currently a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Software and Information Systems at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. My research interests include Human Centered Computing (HCC), Virtual Agents and Speech Technologies.

Contact.

Email. Preferred method

DaleMarie.Wilson@uncc.edu

Phone.

(704) 687-7988

Office. Woodward Hall 323A

Hours: Tue 10:00am - 12:00 pm

Research. My background

My research interests include the topics of affective computing, speech interfaces and virtual agents. Speech has been identified as the most fundamental medium by which humans communicate. As babies, we instinctively develop the skills required to both understand and produce speech. As a result, speech provides one of the most natural forms of interaction. My research investigates conversational question answering and its applications. Affective computing refers to the development of machines that can display and convey emotions to the user. I am interested in the development of machines that can perceive emotions and convey them from one user to another. I am investigating the impact of technology on highly emotional interactions. Virtual agents are currently being used in many venues as: museum guides, real estate agents, armed forces recruiters and patient treatment, to name a few. I am investigating the role that virtual agents can play in highly emotional interactions and social encounters.

Current Projects. My legacy

AVARI (Animated Virtual Agent Retrieving Information)

Avari was developed at an REU program during summer '07. She answers general questions about the computer scientist faculty at UNCC. We are currently investigating the user interactions with Avari.

iTech (Interactive Technical Assistant)

iTech uses an animated agent to provide a more natural medium for manuals. iTech accepts natural questions about the vi editor and displays the solutions. iTech uses a new methodology for conversational question answering called Answers First (A1).

The Dr. C.H.E.S.T.R. Show

Dr. Chestr (Computerized Host Encouraging Students To Review) is the current summer REU project. Dr. Chestr is a virtual game show host. The topic for the game show is based on the introductory course to C++ at UNCC.


Dale-Marie Wilson, Ph.D.

University of North Carolina Charlotte

Department of Software and Information Systems

9201 University City Boulevard Charlotte, NC 28223

(704) 687-7988 (Office)

DaleMarie.Wilson@uncc.edu


Educational Background:

Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science
2006
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama Title: I-Tech: An Interactive Technical Assistant
Focus: Databases, Human- Computer Interaction, Multimodal Interfaces, Voice Interfaces, Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Master of Science in Computer Science
2003
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama Title: Multimodal SQL - An Implementation and Usability Study
Focus: Databases, Voice Interfaces, Multimodal Interfaces, Human-Computer Interaction
Bachelor of Science
1995
New York University, New York, New York Science
Major: Mathematics Minor: Computer

Professional History:

Teaching Associate Professor
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, NC) Software and Information Systems Department
2014 - Present
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, NC) Computer Science Department
2006 - 2014
Graduate Research Assistant
Auburn University (Auburn, AL), Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship (GAANN)
  • Developing Intelligent Tutoring System
  • Guest Instructor (Database Systems, Multimodal User Interfaces, User Interface Design and Evaluation)
2003 - 2006
Graduate Research Assistant
Auburn University (Auburn, AL), NSF-ITR: New Approaches to Human Capital Development through Information Technology Research #0296269
  • Developed Multimodal Applications
  • Conducted Usability Studies
2001 - 2003
Programmer
Sigma Computer Services, Inc. (New York, NY)
  • Program Design and Development in COBOL and Visual Basic
  • Database Management
1996 - 2001
Head Teller/Customer Service Representative
Independence Savings Bank (Brooklyn, NY)
  • Management of 10 – 15 tellers
  • Reconciliation of Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)
  • Management of customer accounts
1991 - 1996

Honors & Awards:

2014
Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
2011
Gray's College Bookstore Faculty Development Award
2008
Essam El-Kwae Student-Faculty Research Award
2004
International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces - (ICMI) Scholarship for the Doctoral Consortium
2004
Auburn University Outstanding Graduate Student Award
2004
Presidential Graduate Opportunities Program Fellowship
2003-2007
Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship (GAANN)
2002
The Coalition to Diversify Computing CDC Conference Support Program
2002
Grace Hopper Scholarship
1994
Dean's List, New York University

Theses:

  1. Wilson, D. (2006) iTech: A Interactive Technical Assistant Advised by Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D.
  2. Wilson, D. (2005) Multimodal SQL Advised by Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D.

Books:

  • (10 - 19% Acceptance Rate) Wilson, Dale-Marie, Aquesha Martin and Juan Gilbert. Tech Open Science Open Minds.

Journal Articles:

  • (10 - 19% Acceptance Rate) Gilbert, J.E. & Wilson, D. & Gupta, P. (2005) Learning C With Adam. International Journal on E-Learning, 4,3, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. pp. 337-350.

Conference Proceedings:

  1. Brearly, T.W., Sakpal, R., Wilson, D., Taber, K.H. (2016, March). Development of a mTBI virtual standardized patient: Enhancing diagnostic reliability through interactive training. Annual University of North Carolina-Charlotte Military Culture Conference, Charlotte, NC.

  2. Raghavi Sakpal, Kieran-Jordine, Dale-Marie Wilson. Emotion Generation for Virtual Agents based on PMC (Personality-Mood- Culture) Cognitive Rules, 6th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2015), July 2015.

  3. Mohammed Ahmed, Raghavi Sakpal, Dale-Marie Wilson, David Cifu, Joel Scholten, Chloe A. Bomberger, Robin A. Hurley, Christine Elnitsky, Katherine H. Taber. (2014) Creating a Virtual Mild TBI Patient: Conceptual Design and Initial Database Development, American Neuropsychiatric Association 2014 (ANPA).

  4. Jordine, K., Wilson, D, and Sakpal, R. (2014) Logic Analyzer of Computer Programs using Relational Model, HCI International 2014.

  5. Jensen, A. S., Wilson, Dale-Marie, Jordine, K. and Sakpal, R. (2012) Detecting Elements of Culture Bias in Student Perceptions of Embodied Pedagogical Agents, World Conference on Educational Media and Technology, 26 - 29 June 2012.

  6. Jordine, K., Wilson, Dale-Marie, Jensen, A. and Sakpal, R. (2012) Embodied Conversational Agents in Online Collaborative Learning Environments, World Conference on Educational Media and Technology, 26 - 29 June 2012.

  7. Jensen, A. S., Jordine, K., Sakpal, R. and Wilson, Dale-Marie. (2012) Using Embodied Pedagogical Agents and Direct Instruction to Improve Learning Outcomes for Young Children with Learning Disabilities, Global Conference on Technology, Innovation, Media & Education, 7 February 2012.

  8. Sakpal, R. and Wilson, D.M. Can Culture Translate to the Virtual World?, HCI International 2011 - Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2011, Volume 173, Part III, 242-246, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-22098-2 49.

  9. Jensen, A. S., Jordine, K., Sakpal, R. and Wilson, Dale-Marie. (2011) Using Embodied Pedagogical Agents to Augment Learning and Cognition in Young Children with Special Needs, ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Child Computer Interaction Workshop, 7 May 2011.

  10. Sakpal, R., Wilson, D.M. Virtual game show host: Dr. Chestr, Virtual Reality Conference (VR), 2011 IEEE , vol., no., pp.237-238, 19-23 March 2011 DOI: 10.1109/VR.2011.5759486.

  11. Wilson, D.M., Martin, A. & Gilbert, J.E. (2010) 'How May I Help You'-Spoken Queries for Technical Assistance. ACM Southeast Conference, Oxford, MS, April 15-17, 2010.

  12. Wilson, D., Sakpal, R. (2010) Dr. C.H.E.S.T.R : Computerized Host Encouraging Students to Review, Computer Games, Multimedia and Allied Technology 09 Conference, Singapore, Japan, May 11 - 13, 2010.

  13. Cairco, L., Wilson, D., Fowler, V., LeBlanc, M. "AVARI: Animated Virtual Agent Retrieving Information" 47th ACM Southeast Conference (ACMSE '09), Clemson, SC, March 2009.

  14. Marshall B, Wilson, D. (2009). The Application of Aggregation Concepts for Effective Image Retrieval. The Tenth IEEE International Conference on Multimedia, Vancouver, Cananda, Jan 5 - 9, 2009.

  15. Wilson, D., Gilbert J. (2008) iTech: An Interactive Technical Assistant. 46th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies, Columbus OH, June 15 - 20, 2008 (Submitted)

  16. Gupta, P., Seals, C. & Wilson, D. (2006) Design and Evaluation of SimBuilder. E-Learn World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare and Higher Education, Honolulu, Hawii, Ocotber 13 - 17, 2006.

  17. Gilbert, J. E. & Wilson, D. (2001). Building Learning Architectures: Domain Instruction Server (DIS). In Proceedings of WebNet 01: World Conference on the WWW and Internet, Orlando, FL: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, pp. 422-426.

  18. Gilbert, J. E & Wilson, D. (2001). Domain Instruction Server (DIS). In Proceedings of ICALT 2001: International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Madison, WI: IEEE Computer Society, pp. 439-440.

Other Publications:

  • Bloom, J., Gilbert, J.E., Houwing, T., Hura, S., Issar, S., Kaiser, L., Larson, J.A., Leppik, D., Mailey, S., Mane, A., McTernan, F., McTear, M., Pollock, S., Shinn, P., Stifelman, L. & Wilson, D. Ten Criteria for Measuring Effective Voice User Interfaces, speechTECHNOLOGY, November/December 2005, pp. 31- 35.

Panels:

  1. (African American Researchers in Computing Sciences 2007 Conference - AARCS) Life of a New Professor, Auburn, Alabama (July 19 - 21, 2007)

  2. (Brothers of the Academy Think Tank 2006) Reaching In and Pulling Out, Atlanta, GA (October 4 - 7, 2006)

  3. (African-American Researchers in Computing Sciences 2006) The Post Ph.D. Job Search, Auburn AL (July 20 - 22, 2006)

  4. (Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference 2005) Making the Journey of Graduate School Your Own: Success at Your Own Risk, Albuquerque, New Mexico (October 19 - 22, 2005)

Poster Presentations:

  1. (CISE REU Sites Meeting 2009) Socially Relevant Computing Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Arlington, VA, March 12, 2009.

  2. (Industrial Advisory Board Poster Session 2005) I-Tech: An Interactive Technical Assistant, Auburn University (September 22, 2005).

  3. (6th International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces - ICMI2004) Multimodal Programming Environment for Students with Learning Disabilities, Penn State University ( October 14 – 15, 2004 ) Doctoral Consortium.

  4. (8th Annual Conference for African-American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences – CAARMS8) African American Distributed Multiple Learning Styles System: A Culture-specific Approach to ELearning, Princeton University (June 18 - 21, 2002).

Invited Talks:

  1. Wilson, D. Answers First: A Human-Centered Approach to Call Centers, 2007 National BDPA Technology Conference, August 15 -18, 2007.

  2. (Presentation) iTech: An Interactive Technical Assistant, Baltimore County, Maryland (April 24 - 25, 2006) University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

  3. (6th Annual Arizona More Graduate Education at Mountain States Alliance (MGE@MSA) Student Research Conference and Graduate Fair) iTech: An Interactive Technical Assistant, Arizona State University ( April 21, 2006 ).

  4. (Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference 2005) I- Assist: An Interactive Technical Assistant, Albuqurque, New Mexico (October 19 - 22, 2005) Doctorial Consortium

  5. (5th Annual Arizona More Graduate Education at Mountain States Alliance (MGE@MSA) Student Research Conference and Graduate Fair) African American Distributed Multiple Learning Styles System: A Culture-specific Approach to ELearning, Arizona State University ( April 18, 2005 ).

Workshops:

  1. Wilson, D. Answers First: A Human-Centered Approach to Call Centers, 2007 National BDPA Technology Conference, August 15 -18, 2007.

  2. Gilbert, J.E., Wilson, D. & Gupta, P, Evaluating Voice User Interfaces Workshop, SpeechTEK Conference, August 1, 2005, (BDPA 2003 25th Annual National Conference).

  3. An Introduction to VoiceXML and SALT: Adding voice to data Philadelphia, PA (August 13 - 17 2003).

  4. (BDPA 2003 25th Annual National Conference) African American Distributed Multiple Learning Styles System: A Culture-specific Approach to ELearning, Philadelphia, PA (August 13 - 17 2003).

Funded Grants:

  1. On the Development of a Virtual Patient with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
    • Dale-Marie Wilson, Ph.D
    • Department of Veteran Affairs
    • $29,928.00
  2. Developing and Utilizing Culturally-Specific Virtual Humans to Increase Cultural Competence
    • Dale-Marie Wilson, Ph.D.
    • Bonnie Cone Fellowship - UNC Charlotte ADVANCE Competitive Awards
    • Program
    • $10,314
    • May 2010 - June 2010.
  3. On Teaching Cultural Competence - The Virtual Patient
    • Dale-Marie Wilson, Ph.D.
    • Chancellor's Diversity Fund Challenge
    • $3,900
    • August 2009 - May 2010.
  4. Addressing the Shrinking Pipeline: On Becoming Dr. Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes in Computer Science
    • Dale-Marie Wilson, Ph.D., UNCC; Jamika D. Burge, Ph.D. Penn State University, University Park; Brandeis Marshall, Ph.D., Purdue University; Tiki L. Suarez-Brown, Ph.D. Florida A&M University.
    • $4,130.38
  5. Advancing Women Faculty Careers in the College of Computing and Informatics
    • PI:Jamie Payton, D.Sc..
    • Co-Pis: Teresa Dahlberg, Ph.D; Tiffany Barnes, Ph.D.; Bruce Long, Ph.D.; Aidong Lu, Ph.D.; Heather Richter, Ph.D.; Dale-Marie Wilson, Ph.D
    • UNC ADVANCE Competitive Awards Program
    • $25,000
    • Fall 2007 - Summer 2008.

External Service:

March 2010
NSF Panel Reviewer
2007 - 2009
Birds Of a Feather Co-Chair, Tapia Conference 2009
2006 - Present
IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Learning Technology - Virtual Instructors Pilot Research Group (VIPRG) Conversational Interface
August 2007
NSF Panel Reviewer
2007 - 2008
BDPA IT Showcase Faculty Advisor
2006 - Present
Reviewer for IEEE Computer Broadening Participation in Computing
2006
Diversity Summit, Renci Computing Institute, Chapel Hill, NC
2005 - Present
Advisory Board of the Center for African American Research and Policy
2004 - 2006
Tallapoosa Assistance Program, Director
2004 - 2006
Cary Woods Elementary School PTA Treasurer
August 8, 2004
Served as a High School and College IT Showcase Judge at the 26th Annual National BDPA Conference
August 2003
Served on Workshop Review Board for the 25th Annual National BDPA Conference
2003 - 2006
Tallapoosa Assistance Program, Tutor
2002 - 2004
Boy Scouts of America Den Leader, Pack 0013

Internal Service:

2009 - Present
Awards Committee
2007 - 2009
Diversity Committee
2006 - 2008
Ph.D. Committee
2006 - 2008
Ph.D. Admissions Committee

Memberships:

  1. ACM (Association for Computing)

  2. BDPA (Black Data Processing Association)

  3. Institute for African American eCulture (iAAEC)

  4. UPE (Upsilon Pi Epsilon)

  5. Sisters Of The Academy (SOTA)

  6. IEEE Virtual Instructor Pilot Research Group (VIPRG)