Write! Draw! Move!: Investigating the Effects of Self-Expression Modalities on Positive and Negative Self-Reflection for Emotional Well-Being

We studied three self-expression modalities—writing, drawing, and body movement—as reflective tools to understand how graduate students process positive and negative experiences. Results show writing fosters introspection, visual art sparks creativity, and movement enables embodied release.

  • My role: Co-lead researcher (study design, facilitation, analysis, writing)

  • Keywords: Self-reflection; positive and negative affect; PANAS; self-expression; graduate students

  • Methods: quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, within-subjects design, video + artifact capture

  • Status: Published, ICMI 2025 (ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction)

  • Links: Pre-Print

Making Without Purpose, Growing With Intention: Tactile Creativity for Emotional Resilience in Graduate Students

This study investigated how creating tangible, non-functional artifacts fosters emotional resilience and reflection in STEM graduate students. Findings show that making without purpose reduces negative affect, deepens definitions of creativity, and strengthens the link between perceived creativity and personal growth.

  • My role: Co-lead researcher (study design, facilitation, analysis, writing)

  • Keywords: embodied interaction, tactile making, emotional well-being, creativity, personal growth

  • Methods: quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, within-subjects design, video + artifact capture

  • Status: In preparation for CHI 20206

  • Links: Coming Soon

SIVAM: Robot Dance Partner for Emotional Well-Being

Exploring how humanoid robots and avatars can act as dance partners to support emotional expression, mental health, and stress reduction.
This interdisciplinary project combines robotics, dance, and affective computing to study whether movement with a robot or avatar can promote relaxation, resilience, and therapeutic reflection.

  • My role: Contributing researcher (study design, data analysis, performance demo support)

  • Keywords: embodied interaction, robot dance, affective computing, emotional well-being, movement therapy

  • Methods: Motion capture (markerless tracking), EEG, physiological sensors (EDA, heart rate, temperature), humanoid robot + avatar simulation

  • Status: In progress

  • Links: Project

MillerKnoll Healthcare Furniture Research

Investigating how materials, finishes, and furniture offerings in healthcare environments impact cleanability, maintenance, and user experience.
Through mixed-methods research, I explored gaps in MillerKnoll’s healthcare material resources, identified communication challenges among stakeholders, and generated evidence-based opportunities for improving product offerings and support tools.

  • My role: Lead intern researcher (mixed-methods design, interviews, data analysis, reporting)

  • Keywords: healthcare design, materials research, mixed-methods, user experience, cleanability

  • Methods: 15 stakeholder interviews, 6 dealer/designer interviews, 3 end-customer interviews, focus groups, site visits (Corewell Health), observation, survey analysis, Dovetail qualitative coding

  • Status: Completed, Summer 2024 (Internship Project)

Contact

golnazm1@umbc.edu

golnazmoharrer@gmail.com