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Akanksha Prakash
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Psychology
654 Cherry Street
Atlanta, GA 30332‐0170
Work: (404) 894‐8344
Fax: (404) 894‐8905
Email: aprakash30@gatech.edu
Web: http://hfaging.gatech.edu/prakash.html
EDUCATION
Georgia Institute of Technology- Atlanta, GA
Fulfilling requirements for PhD in Engineering Psychology
Georgia Institute of Technology- Atlanta, GA
M.S. in Engineering Psychology
Thesis: Understanding Younger and Older Adults’ Perceptions of
Humanoid Robots: Effects of Facial Appearance and Task
Committee: Wendy A. Rogers (Advisor), Arthur D. Fisk, & Leslie
A. DeChurch
May 2013-Present
Aug 2010 – May 2013
University of Delhi- Delhi, India
Graduate studies in Psychology (MA- first year coursework)
Aug 2009 – Jun 2010
Indian Institute of Technology- Roorkee, India
Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering
Aug 2003 – Jun 2007
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Ebay Inc.
Designation: Technical Intern – PhD
Responsibilities: Conducted research to understand buyer
perceptions and behaviors.
May 2013 – Aug 2013
Human Factors and Aging Laboratory at Georgia Tech
Designation: Undergraduate Coordinator
Responsibilities: Major duties include recruiting and mentoring
undergraduate student research assistants every semester.
May 2012 – Dec 2013
Schlumberger
Designation: Field Engineer
Responsibilities: Supervising drilling and logging operations on oilrigs and providing state-of-the-art technological services to
Reliance, a leading oil company of India.
Aug 2007– Nov 2008
Bitmapper, Pune: A VLSI Designing Firm
Designation: Intern
Responsibilities: Designing a Camera Link on FPGA (Field
Programmable Gate Array)
May 2006 – July 2006
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RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AND PROJECTS
TOWARDS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF LONELINESS AND SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS
Georgia Institute of Technology (Ongoing)
Assessing how major life transitions (e.g., divorce, retirement) affect perceptions of
loneliness and connectedness. A related goal is to understand how social technologies
support and/or disrupt social connectedness in the older age.
UNDERSTANDING YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF HUMANOID ROBOTS:
EFFECTS OF FACIAL APPEARANCE AND TASK
Georgia Institute of Technology (Master’s Thesis Project)
Investigating how younger and older adults’ perceptions of humanoid robots are influenced
by robot appearance and task.
ASSISTIVE MOBILE MANIPULATION FOR OLDER ADULTS AT HOME
Georgia Institute of Technology (Ongoing)
Identifying needs of older adults and caregivers accommodated by a personal robot’s (PR2)
mobile manipulation capabilities, as well as the factors that will lead to acceptance of such
robotic assistance in a home environment.
UNDERSTANDING MEMORY DEMANDS IN THE HOME
Georgia Institute of Technology (Ongoing)
Understanding the types and aspects of memory demands experienced in the home
environment, and the strategies people use to reduce memory failures.
FPGA BASED ISOLATED AC TO DC CONVERTER FOR LOW VOLTAGE HIGH CURRENT
GENERATION
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (2006-2007)
Generating a regulated supply through a closed loop feedback control using Field
Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
LAB INSTRUCTOR
Georgia Institute of Technology (Spring 2014)
Instructor for Undergraduate Applied Experimental Psychology Lab
Responsible for preparing and delivering presentations and instructional materials, creating
and grading assignments, as well as providing guidance to students regarding a semester long
design project.
TEACHING ASSISTANT
Georgia Institute of Technology (Spring 2012/2011)
Assistant to Dr. Wendy A. Rogers, Applied Experimental Psychology
Duties included grading weekly assignments and providing detailed feedback to students on
writing analysis of research papers and book chapters.
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GUEST LECTURER
Georgia Institute of Technology
 “Human-Robot Interaction”, Undergraduate Engineering Psychology Spring 2014
 “Emotions”, Undergraduate General Psychology Fall 2013
 “Sensation & Perception”, Undergraduate General Psychology Fall 2013
 “Social Psychology”, Undergraduate General Psychology Summer 2012
 “Driving & Talking”, Undergraduate Applied Experimental Psychology Spring 2012
 “Successful Aging”, Undergraduate Applied Experimental Psychology Spring 2012
JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
Prakash, A., & Rogers, W. A. (submitted). Why some humanoid faces are perceived more
positively than others: Effects of human-likeness and task.
Smarr, C.A., Mitzner, T. L., Beer, J. M., Prakash, A., Chen, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers,
W. A. (2014). Domestic robots for older adults: Attitudes, preferences, and
potential. International Journal of Social Robotics, 6(2), 229-247.
PROCEEDINGS PUBLICATIONS
Prakash, A., Mostafa, A., Mitchell, D. B., & Rogers, W. A. (accepted). Understanding older
adults’ health and social memory needs in the home. Proceedings of the Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society 58th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Smarr, C.-A., Long, S. K., Prakash, A., Mitzner, T. L., & Rogers, W. A. (accepted).
Understanding younger and older adults’ needs for home organization
support. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 58th Annual
Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Prakash, A., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers, W. A. (2014). Older adults' reactions to a robot's
appearance in the context of home use. Proceedings of the 9th ACM/IEEE
International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 268-269). ACM.
Prakash, A., & Rogers, W. A. (2013). Younger and older adults’ attitudes toward robot
faces: Effects of task and humanoid appearance. Proceedings of the Human Factors
and Ergonomics Society 57th Annual Meeting (pp. 114-118). Santa Monica, CA:
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Prakash, A., Beer, J. M., Deyle, T., Smarr, C.-A., Chen, T. L., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C.,
& Rogers, W. A. (2013). Older adults' medication management in the home: How can
robots help? Proceedings of the 8th ACM/IEEE International Conference on HumanRobot Interaction (HRI’13; pp. 283-290). New York, NY: Association for Computing
Machinery. 25% acceptance rate.
Smarr, C.-A., Prakash, A., Beer, J. M., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers, W. A.
(2012). Older adults' preferences for and acceptance of robot assistance for everyday
living tasks. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 56th Annual
Meeting (pp. 153-157). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Winner of the HFES Arnold M. Small Aging Technical Group Best Student Paper
Award.
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Beer, J. M., Prakash, A., Smarr, C.-A., Chen, T. L., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers,
W. A. (2012). “Telling your robot what to do”: Older adults' preferences for
controlling home robots. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
56th Annual Meeting (pp. 1263-1267). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society.
Beer, J. M., Smarr, C.-A., Chen, T. L., Prakash, A., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers,
W. A. (2012). The domesticated robot: Design guidelines for assisting older adults to
age in place. Proceedings of the 7th ACM/IEEE International Conference on HumanRobot Interaction (HRI’12; pp. 335-342). New York, NY: Association for Computing
Machinery. 25% acceptance rate.
TECHNICAL REPORTS
Smarr, C.‐A., Long, S. K., Prakash, A., Arnold, G., Mitzner, T. L., & Rogers, W. A. (2014,
March). Home organization across the lifespan (HFA‐TR‐1401). Atlanta, GA:
Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, Human Factors and Aging
Laboratory.
Olson, K. E., Prakash, A., & Rogers, W. A. (2013). Analyzing data from likert scales, likerttype scales, and likert-type items (HFA‐TR‐1303). Atlanta, GA: Georgia Institute of
Technology, School of Psychology, Human Factors and Aging Laboratory.
Smarr, C.‐A., Mitzner, T. L., Beer,J. M., Prakash, A., Rogers, W. A.,&Kemp, C. C. (2013).
Considerations for designing assistive robots for the older adults of 2020
(HFA‐TR‐1301). Atlanta, GA:Georgia Institute of Technology, School of
Psychology, Human Factors and Aging Laboratory.
Beer, J. M., Prakash, A., Mitzner, T. L., & Rogers, W. A. (2011). Understanding robot
acceptance (HFA-TR-1103). Atlanta, GA: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of
Psychology, Human Factors and Aging Laboratory. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/39672
Mitzner, T. L., Smarr, C.-A., Beer, J. M., Chen, T. L., Springman, J. M., Prakash, A., Kemp,
C. C., & Rogers, W. A. (2011). Older adults’ acceptance of assistive robots (HFATR-1105). Atlanta, GA: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology,
Human Factors and Aging Laboratory. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/39671
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Prakash, A., Mostafa, A., Morgan, M. J., Mitchell, D. B., & Rogers, W. A. (2014, April).
Understanding the influence of memory challenges on social and interpersonal
activities. Presented at the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Long, S. K., Prakash, A., Smarr, T. L., Mitzner, T. L., & Rogers, W. A. (2014, April).
Understanding older adults’ satisfaction and challenges with home organization.
Presented at the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Prakash, A., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers, W. A. (2014, March). Older adults' reactions to a
robot's appearance in the context of home use. Presented at the 9th ACM/IEEE
International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI’ 14). Bielefeld,
Germany.
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Prakash, A., & Rogers, W. A. (2013, October). Younger and older adults’ attitudes toward
robot faces: Effects of task and humanoid appearance. Presented at Human Factors
and Ergonomics Society 57th Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA.
Prakash, A., Beer, J. M., Deyle, T., Smarr, C.-A., Chen, T. L., Prakash, A., Mitzner, T. L.,
Kemp, C. C., & Rogers, W. A. (2013, March). Older adults' medication management
in the home: How can robots help? Presented at 8th ACM/IEEE International
Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI’13). Tokyo, Japan.
Rogers, W. A., Mitzner, T. L., Smarr, C.-A., Beer, J. M., Prakash, A., Chen, T. L., & Kemp,
C. C. (2012, November). What do older adults want their personal robots to do?
Presented at the Gerontological Society of America 65th Annual Scientific Meeting.
San Diego, CA.
Smarr, C.-A., Prakash, A., Beer, J. M., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers, W. A. (2012,
October). Older adults' preferences for and acceptance of robot assistance for
everyday living tasks. Presented at Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 56th
Annual Meeting. Boston, MA.
Beer, J. M., Prakash, A., Smarr, C.-A., Chen, T. L., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers,
W. A. (2012, October). “Telling your robot what to do”: Older adults' preferences
for controlling home robots. Presented at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
56th Annual Meeting. Boston, MA.
Prakash, A., Mitchell, D. B., & Rogers, W. A. (2012, April). Toward a taxonomy of memory
demands in the home environment. Presented at the Cognitive Aging Conference,
Atlanta, GA.
Beer, J. M., Smarr, C.-A., Prakash, A., Chen, T. L., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers,
W. A. (2012, April). Older adult preferences for controlling a home-based robot.
Presented at the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Beer, J. M., Smarr, C.-A., Chen, T. L., Prakash, A., Mitzner, T. L., Kemp, C. C., & Rogers,
W. A. (2012, March). The domesticated robot: Design guidelines for assisting older
adults to age in place. Presented at 7th ACM/IEEE International Conference on
Human-Robot Interaction (HRI’12). Boston, MA.
LOCAL PRESENTATIONS
Prakash, A. (2014, December). Older adults’ memory issues in the home. Presentation at the
Georgia Tech Cognitive Aging Brown Bag. Atlanta, GA.
Prakash, A. (2013, February). Younger and older adults’ perceptions of robots: Effects of
facial appearance and task. Engineering Psychology Colloquium Presentation to the
School of Psychology, Georgia Tech. Atlanta, GA.
Smarr, C.-A., Beer, J. M., Prakash, A., Chen, T. L., Rogers, W. A., Kemp, C. C., & Mitzner,
T. L. (2011, November). Older adult preferences for home-based robot assistance.
Presentation to the Program Committee of the 7th ACM/IEEE International
Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. Atlanta, GA.
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Prakash, A. (2011, November). Human factors and aging: The role of technology in aging
in place. Presentation at Merrill Gardens senior living community at Dunwoody.
Atlanta, GA.
Prakash, A. (2011, October). Younger and older adults’ perceptions of robots: Effects of
appearance and task. Presentation at the Georgia Tech Cognitive Aging Brown Bag.
Atlanta, GA.
Prakash, A., & Rogers, W. A. (2011, October). Younger and older adults’ perceptions of
robots: Effects of appearance and task. Presentation at 2011 GVU Demo Days.
Atlanta, GA.
Beer, J. M., Smarr, C.-A., & Prakash, A. (2011, September). Robots in the Aware Home:
Helping older adults age in place. Presentation to the Georgia Institute of Technology
Aware Home Research Initiative Seminar. Atlanta, GA.
Rogers, W. A., Mitzner, T. L., Smarr, C.-A., Prakash, A., & Beer, J. M. (April, 2011).
Understanding the potential for personal robots for older adults. Presentation to the
President and CEO of Willow Garage. Atlanta, GA.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) – Student Member (2010‐current)
Human Factors and Ergonomic Society GT Student Chapter – Member (2010-present)
 Treasurer (2012-2013)
 Secretary (2011-2012)
CERTIFICATIONS AND TRAININGS


Georgia Institute of Technology Institutional Review Board, Protection of Human
Research Subjects course, certified to test human subjects (August, 2010)
University System of Georgia ethics training module
HONORS AND AWARDS

GVU Travel Grant ($500) to support travel to the 9th Human-Robot Conference held
in Bielefeld, Germany in March 2014
GRADUATE COURSEWORK AT GEORGIA TECH
Engineering Psychology
Analysis Techniques
Stressors
Cognitive Ergonomics
Controls & Workspace
Displays
Psychomotor & Cognitive Skills
Core Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Sensation and Perception
Social Psychology
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Quantitative Psychology
Research Methods
Statistics-I (ANOVA)
Statistics-II (Regression)
Multivariate Statistics
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Interactionism at Work
Motivation and Job Attitudes
Team Effectiveness
COURSES COMPLETED AT DELHI UNIVERSITY, INDIA
Applied Psychometry
Qualitative Methods I
Qualitative Methods II
Statistics and Experimental Design
Social Psychology
Basic Organizational Processes
Emotions in Everyday Life
An Experiential Inquiry into Selfhood
COMPUTER SKILLS
Programming Languages: C, C++
Other Packages: SPSS, MAXQDA, Eprime 2.0, Endnote, Adobe InDesign, MS Office
REFERENCES
Wendy A. Rogers, PhD, CHFP
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Psychology
654 Cherry Street
Atlanta, GA, 30332-0170
Wendy@gatech.edu
Leslie A. DeChurch, PhD
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Psychology
654 Cherry Street
Atlanta, GA, 30332-0170
Dechurch@gatech.edu
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