Events Calendar

PhD Defense - Victor Ardulov

Title: Modeling and Regulating Human Interaction with Control Affine Dynamical Systems

Author: Victor Ardulov

Committee Members: Shrikanth Narayanan (chair), Maja Matarić, Thomas D Lyon

Date: May 5, 2022 3pm Pacific

Location (in-person): Ronald Tutor Hall 320

Virtual Link:
usc.zoom.us/j/98133481247?pwd=d2VqbmNhYWljcnp4d25PVEJvd3U5Zz09
Meeting ID: 981 3348 1247
Passcode: 882255

Abstract:
Human interaction is a vital component to a persons' development and well-being. These interactions enable us to over come obstacles and find resolutions that an individual might not be able to. This subject is particularly well studied in the domains of human psychology, where human behavior is diagnostically categorized and the interaction can be utilized in order to improve somebody's health.

Prior work has explored the use of computational models of human behavior to aide in the diagnostic assessment of behavioral patterns. Most recently, novel machine learning
methods and access data has invited the to study the dynamics of human interaction on a more granular time-resolution. These dynamics have been used to identify specific moments during interactions that are relevant to the over all assessment of a individuals behavior with respect to their interlocutor. By reformulating this system from the perspective of an operator that can be controlled, it invites the possibility to predict how an individual would react to a specific input from their partner, which itself lends the opportunity to plan out interventions and probes more effectively.

This dissertation presents a formulation of human interaction through a systems theoretic paradigm with a control affine element and demonstrates how these frameworks can be utilized to gain insight into improving desired outcomes and approaches towards optimizing interaction strategies. In support of the thesis, we will present the application of these techniques to the domains of forensic interviewing, psychotherapy, and neurodevelopmental diagnostics.

Bio:

Victor is a 5th year Computer Science PhD Candidate with SAIL at the University of Southern California, where his primary research is conducted in the space of modeling and guiding behavioral interactions between people. His work includes analyzing child speaking patterns to determine the truthfulness of their statements during high-stakes interviews, improving screening tools for diagnosing neuro-developmental disorders (e.g. Autism Spectrum Disorder), and building models to improve psychologists-client outcomes during therapy. Besides his work at USC, Victor has experience as a scientific advisor at Calypso AI distilling research to build AI testing software, a research engineer at Hughes Research, working on Human-AI collaborative teams, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on VR tools for science and planning, and received his Bachelor's in Computer/Robotics Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, where he designed and developed assistive exoskeleton to help stroke patients.

Location: 320

WebCast Link: usc.zoom.us/j/98133481247?pwd=d2VqbmNhYWljcnp4d25PVEJvd3U5Zz09

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Lizsl De Leon