SRL MS Thesis Defense of Megha Yadav. Monday, June 3. Title: Mitigating Public Speaking Anxiety Using Virtual Reality and Population-Specific Models

Thesis Defense

Monday, June 3

Title:
Mitigating public speaking anxiety using virtual reality and population-specific models.

Abstract: Public speaking is essential in effectively exchanging ideas, persuading others, and making a tangible impact. Yet, public speaking anxiety (PSA) ranks as a top social phobia among many people. This research utilizes wearable technologies and virtual reality (VR) to expose individuals to PSA stimuli and quantify their PSA levels via group-based machine learning models. These machine learning models leverage common information across individuals and fine-tune their decisions based on specific individual and contextual factors. In this way, prediction decisions would be made for clusters of people with common individual-specific factors which would benefit the overall system accuracy. Findings of this study will enable researchers to better understand ante-decedents and causes of PSA contributing to behavioral interventions using VR.

Bio: Megha Yadav is pursuing her Master’s degree in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Manipal Institute of Technology in India in 2013. Megha’s research interest lies in exploring machine learning and deep learning techniques within the health care domain.

Co-Advisor: Dr. Tracy Hammond