President: Grace Waldfogle
Grace Waldfogle was the President of the UCF HFES Student Chapter for the 2020 calendar year. Her research interests include training for vigilance as well as how individual differences contribute to variations in performance. When Grace is not working in the lab, you find her laying on the nearest couch binge watching Netflix and looking at the WeRateDogs (@Dog_Rates) twitter.
Vice-President and Social Chair: Allison Garibaldi
Allison Garibaldi is a 4th year student in the Human Factors and Cognitive Psychology PhD program. She works with Dr. James Szalma in the Performance Research Lab, investigating the effects of the human need to belong on vigilance performance and social media use. She is also known as the Mother of Cats, Queen of the Extroverted Introverts, and Defender of the Real Housewives as Quality Television.
Treasurer: Briana Sobel
Briana Sobel is the Treasurer of the HFES Student Chapter. Her research interests include anthropomorphism of computer interfaces and perceptions of media affordances. Her personal interests include dogs, puns, and contemplating the inevitable heat death of the universe.
Secretary: Gabby Vasquez
Gabby is the secretary for the HFES Student Chapter and a student in the Modeling and Simulation Ph.D. program. Her research interests are in augmented cognition, system transparency, and human-robot/ human-automation teams. When she’s not in the lab, you can find her snuggling with her cats whist contemplating her life choices and head-butting dogs (not all at the same time). She also holds the (personal) record of consuming an entire burrito bowl from Chipotle in 4 minutes.
Webmaster: Fernando Montalvo
Fernando Montalvo mastered the Web and Social Media for the HFES student chapter. Additionally, he created the chapter newsletter, the Monthly Affordance. He is a student in the Human Factors and Cognitive Psychology PhD program. Fernando has a B.S. in Aeronautical Science, a B.A. in Anthropology, and a B.S. in Psychology. His primary research interests include human-robot interaction in the context of loneliness and the metascience of human factors, focusing on the implementation of qualitative data and the quality of online studies. Currently, Fernando is examining embodiment’s influence on third-order social presence, as well as the production of novelty in robotics. When not in the lab, Fernando is being hunted by alligators in some river in Florida.
Outreach Chair: Natalie Paquette
Natalie is a doctoral candidate in Human Factors and Cognitive Psychology at the University of Central Florida. She works with Dr. Joseph Schmidt investigating the neural underpinnings of memory and attention to assess how they affect broader cognitive function. She received her M.A. in Applied Experimental & Human Factors Psychology from UCF while pursuing her PhD. She previously received an M.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from George Mason University. When she is not doing schoolwork you can find her at the gym, outdoors, or binging Gilmore Girls with her black cat Sesame.