This was a bit of a hectic week! On Monday I finished up the last touches on my presentation in the morning and then we all walked over to the HCC meeting together where I was to give my presentation. The presentation went pretty well I think and I was happy with the feedback that I got.

This week was a little bit more of a relaxed week. Dr. Hofmann was gone on Monday still so I worked from home and continued working on my hadn knitted 3D models and finished my design for a sphere. We didn’t have a ACT lab meeting since Dr. Hofmann was gone and the HCC meeting was canceled so I mainly just worked on the 3D model all day.

The beginning of this week was a little bit wonky. I was supposed to give a presenation at the HCC meeting on Monday on my summer research project so far but I unfortunately woke up with some sort of a stomach bug that took me out both Monday and Tuesday so I had to reschedule my presentation for the last week of the program.

This week I mainly worked on completing the IRB protocal, writng more code for stimming device protoypes and textures, and starting to fill out the consent forms for the study. On Monday, I worked from Northeastern and started the morning off by working on some coding and then we had an ACT Lab meeting where one of the PhD students presented on a systematic review study he’s been working on which was pretty interesting to hear about. Then we finished the day with a HCC meeting about writing Systems papers.

This week mainly consisted of finishing up more CITI training for human subject research and continuing writing code for more stimming devices. On Monday, I went in to Northeastern and finished up the CITI training in the morning and then met with Dr. Hofmann where she helped me fix the final issue with racking in KnitScript that was still there after touching it up last week with her. Then we had an ACT lab group meeting where we discussed a possible group outing for next weekend. We finished the day with an HCC meeting where we talked about the SICHI Conferences and Sub-communities.

This week was a little bit different as we had an HCC retreat all day Wednesday. On Monday I worked from Northeastern and met with one of Dr. Hofmanns PhD students who has worked on making study designs before to help get some direction. After that we had a ACT Lab meeting however this time it was just the students in the lab group meeting since Dr. Hofmann was gone travleing. After that we finished the day with an HCI meeting.

This week I mainly focused on finishing up categorizing the grouped fidget devices, starting to write some code for possible fidget devices, and discussing possible a redirect with my summer research project with Dr. Hofmann if the knitting machine didn’t begin working soon. On Monday, I worked from Northeastern started going through and labeling which of the fidget devices that I grouped last week would be feasible to knit, which ones might be able, and which ones would not. We then had a ACT Lab meeting where Dr. Hofmann gave us advice for writing research papers and submitting them. We then had a HCI meeting after.

This week I mainly focused on working on the transfer planning algorithm implemenation that I started last Friday and also working further categorizing the “coding” of fidget devices that I did last week. On Monday I went into Northeastern and finished the transfer planning algorithm implemenation. I then began to write code that will create a trinity stitch that will use the transfer planning algorithm however I began to realize an issue with managing the stack order of loops that is necessary to create certain designs/stitches. I had a meeting with Dr. Hofmann that day and she helped me problem solve a way to create a variation of the transfer planning alforithm to ensure stack order. I then had a ACT Lab meeting and an HCI meeting after.

My second week consisted of progressing on the first part of my project that I started last Friday and beginning to familiarize myself more with KnitScript. On monday I had a one-on-one meeting with Dr. Hofmann and then after I continued searching for different types of stimming devices/toys that currently exist. We finished the day by having a ACT lab meeting and then a HCC meeting for all the HCC people at Northeastern where I got meet other Professors at Northeastern in this field and learn about their research.

The first week of my DREU experience consisted of completing my onboarding task at both Northeastern and MIT since Dr. Hofmanns temporary lab space is at MIT while her permanent one finishing being built at Northeastern and also beginning to work on my project for the summer. On Monday, I had a great one-on-one meeting with Dr. Megan Hofmann where we discussed the expectations for the summer, my research project, and other general questions I had about PhD programs. We then went on a campus tour where I got to meet another fellow DREU participant that will be working with Dr. Hofmann this summer. We then concluded the day by having a ACT Lab meeting where I got to meet the other PhD students in Dr. Hofmanns lab.