I am a scholar in human-computer interaction and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where I direct the Security and Privacy Experiences (SPEX) research group. I am a faculty mentor for the UNC Charlotte Cybersecurity Clinic, and a member of the Human-Centered Computing (HCC) Lab, Center for Cyber Defense and Network Assurance (CyberDNA), Center for Energy Security and Reliability (CESaR), and Center for Humane AI Studies (CHAIS).
I work in usable privacy and security. My focus is on understanding how people's security attitudes and social environments weigh in their decision to adopt - or not adopt - secure behaviors (such as sharing passwords securely or ignoring UX cues to scams and "fake news"). I employ a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods from social science, computer science, and design. My work also is informed by prior experiences as a journalist, IT/UX specialist, and social media manager.
In 2018-19, I created the SA-6 security attitude scale. SA-6 is a six-item, self-report measure of a person's engagement with and attentiveness to cybersecurity measures. You are free to use it with attribution. Also, see my SA-13 inventory and the associated working paper for items measuring resistance and concernedness.
For Spring 2026, I am teaching one face-to-face course: ITIS 4360/5360: Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (a mixed undergraduate/graduate course that counts for the Human-Centered Computing concentration and the new Artificial Intelligence degree). We are piloting material for a UNC system-wide credential in Generative AI literacy. Curious students can view my revised Syllabus and Weekly Schedule.
Interested in survey research for HCI? Check out (and comment on) my list of books, papers and blog posts that either helped me or are good exemplars (some of them are my own papers) at this link. Also, see my slides on Subjective Methods.
Recent news:
- I will visit the University of Iowa Dept. of Computer Science on April 3 as the featured Colloquium speaker. My talk is titled "From Anxiety to Agency: Empowering Users Against SMiShing and Digital Stress in the Age of AI."
- I have been named an Olin College of Engineering "Reinventing AI" Faculty Fellow for 2026-27. I will attend a week-long workshop in June and assist in their research during the school year. Read about their NSF-funded work.
- First CHI paper AND a new scale paper! Very pleased to have the premier conference in ACM SIGCHI accept "From Fear to Control: Developing a Three-Factor Scale for Cybersecurity Anxiety (CybAS)" (preprint). Many congrats to first authors Nikolaj Dall and Hanno Gustav Hagge and gratitude to Peter Mayer, their advisor and the prime motivator behind this project.
- I joined the papers committee of the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS 2026), which will be held at Leibniz University Hannover in Germany, in collaboration with CISPA, from Feb. 23-27, 2026. SOUPS is my home academic community.