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Christopher L. Dancy II
Education
Ph.D. in Information Sciences and Technology, Cognitive Science & AI option
College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University – University Park, PA Graduation Date: May, 2014; GPA: 3.83
Dissertation Title: Why the change of heart? Understanding the interactions between physiology, affect, and cognition and their effects on decision-making
B.S. in Computer Science
College of Engineering
The Pennsylvania State University – University Park, PA Graduation Date: May, 2010
Research Interests
My primary interests are in studying the interaction of cognition, affect, and physiology and how these interactions relate to human information processing and decision-making by developing computational cognitive agents and simulations, and running experiments. I model such interactions in computational cognitive architectures that attempt to substantiate a unified theory of cognition and computational models of physiology. I also am interested in higher-level cognitive models that provide representations of macro cognition. I apply subsequent models of cognition, affect, and physiology for behavior simulation, theory exploration, HCI, and systems engineering purposes.
Awards and Honors
Awards
Robert J. Glushko Dissertation Prize (Nominated), 2015
The Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award (Nominated), 2014
Best Paper – Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (BRIMS) Conference, 2012 Best Student Paper – Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (BRIMS) Conference, 2012
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Fellowships/Scholarships
During Graduate Degree
The Sloan Scholarship (32k for research activities), 2013
The Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Honorable Mention, 2013
The Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship (10k for graduate work), 2011 CNA Corporate Scholarship (5k for graduate work), 2011
Bunton-Waller Graduate Fellowship, 2010
During Undergraduate Degree
The Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (S.M.A.R.T.) Scholarship, 2008 General Electric African American Forum Scholarship, 2008
The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Fellows Scholarship, 2007 Argon ST Scholarship, 2007
Bunton-Waller Scholarship, 2006
Refereed Journal and Scholarly Articles
Dancy, C. L., Ritter, F. E., & Berry, K. (In press). Using a cognitive architecture with a physiological substrate to
represent effects of psychological stress on cognition. Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory.Dancy, C. L. (2013). ACT-RΦ: A cognitive architecture with physiology and affect.
Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, 6: 40–45.Peer Reviewed Conference Publications
(presenter in bold) *Denotes an award winning paperDancy, C. L.,
Ritter, F. E., & Gunzelmann, G. (2015). Two ways to model the effects of sleep fatigue on cognition. In Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Cognitive Modeling: Groningen, Netherlands.Dancy, C. L.
& Kaulakis, R. (2013). Towards adding bottom-up homeostatic affect to ACT-R. Proceedings of theTwelfth International Conference on Cognitive Modeling: Ottawa, Canada.
*
Dancy, C. L.
, Ritter, F. E., & Berry, K. (2012). Towards adding a physiological substrate to ACT-R. In Proceedings of the 21st Conference on Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation, 78-85. The BRiMS Society: Amelia Island, FL.3 of 8 Tyworth, M., Giacobe, N. A., Mancuso, V., Dancy, C.L. (2012)The Distributed Nature of Cyber Situation Awareness. IEEE 2nd International Multi-Disciplinary Conference on Cognitive Methods in Situation Awareness and Decision Support (CogSIMA). New Orleans, LA.
Ritter, F. E.
, Dancy, C., &
Berry, K. (2011). The case for including physiology in cognitive modeling.
In Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, 303. IOS Press: Amsterdam.Invited Colloquia
Understanding and modeling the interactions between physiology, affect, and cognition using a hybrid cognitive architecture. Army Research Laboratory, Human Research and Engineering Directorate, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (August 2014).
Talks and Presentations
(presenter in bold)Dancy, C.L. (2015) A Hybrid Cognitive System with a Physiological Substrate. (Extended Abstract) Talk and Poster presented at ACM SIGAI CNC.
Ritter, F.E.
& Dancy, C.L.
(2014) An update on tying cognitive architectures to physiological architectures.Invited talk at the Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures Conference.
Dancy, C.L.
& Ritter, F.E. (2014). Subliminal images affect males and females differently during the IGT: Effectsof Non-Integral Subliminal Stimuli on Complex Decision-Making. (Abstract) Poster presented at the 1st Annual Meeting of the Society for Affective Science.
Dancy, C.L.
(2014). Effects of non-integral subliminal stimuli on complex decision-making. Poster presented atthe Pennsylvania State University Graduate Research Exhibition.
Dancy, C.L.
(2013) ACT-RΦ: ACT-R with a physiological substrate. Presentation at the 20th Annual ACT-RWorkshop, Ottawa, Canada.
Medaglia, J.D.,
Dancy, C.L., Bochnakova, T., DePinto, N., & Hillary, F.G (2013). A Hybrid Data Reduction
Approach for Examining Node Structures in fMRI Data. (Abstract) Poster presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society.4 of 8
Technical Reports
Hiam, J.W., Ritter, F.E., Morgan J.H., & Dancy C.L. (2013) Declarative to Procedural (D2P) Manual. Date Issued: October 17 2013
Dancy, C.L. & Abuomar, A.M. (2012)
Building a Computational Adversarial Commander Model for a Warfare Simulation. Date Issued: October 1, 2012Manuscripts in preparation, submitted, or under review
Ritter, F.E., Yeh, K.-C., Dancy, C.L., Cohen, M.A., Weyhrauch, P., & Kim, J.W. (Submitted). Declarative to Procedural tutors: A family of cognitive architecture-based tutors.
Dancy, C. L. (In Preparation). Emotional subliminal visual stimuli affect males and females differently during a decision-making task.
Dancy, C. L. & Ritter, F. E. (In Preparation). IGT‐Open: An open source, computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task.
Work Experience
Penn State
Research Consultant (cognitive science), October 2014 – Present
o Research Topics: Computational Modeling of physiology, affect, and cognition; sleep deprivation and fatigue; attention; Intelligent agents; modeling and simulation
o Key programming languages/architectures: LISP, XML, ACT-R/Φ, HumMod
Applied Cognitive Science (
ACS
) Laboratory –
Penn State, Information Sciences and Technology (IST)Graduate Research Assistant (cognitive science), August 2010 – May 2014
o Research Topics: Computational Modeling of physiology, affect, and cognition; Adversarial modeling; Intelligent Tutoring Systems; Artificial intelligence; Intelligent agents; modeling and simulation;
o Key programming languages/software: C++; JAVA; LISP; XML; HumMod; Naval Simulation System; Soar; ACT-R; HERBAL
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Hillary Lab – Penn State,
PsychologyGraduate Research Assistant (neuropsychology), January 2012 - May 2013 o Research Topics: fMRI data analysis;
o Key programming languages/software: MATLAB, SPM
Multidisciplinary Initiatives in Naturalistic Decision System (
MINDS)
Group –
Penn State, ISTGraduate Research Assistant (cognitive science), May 2010 – December 2011 o Research Topics: Cyber Security; Situational Awareness;
o Key programming languages/software: Java; FLEX; NeoCities
Laboratory for Perception, Action, and Cognition (
LPAC)
–
Penn State, Computer ScienceUndergraduate Research Assistant (computer vision), September 2009 – January 2010 o Research Topics: Computer Vision (image processing);
o Key programming languages/software: C++, OpenGL
Non-Research
U.S. Army Information Systems and Engineering Command, National Capital Region Engineering
Directorate
Computer Scientist, June 2014 – Present
o Topics: Acquisition; Information Systems; Data Center Design; Office Communication Server
U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center
Software Engineer Intern, May 2009 – August 2009
o Topics: Computer Vision (Body Scanning); Interface Development
o Key programming languages: C#
General Mills
Information Systems Intern, May 2008 – August 2008
o Topics: Web Development; Interface development; Front-end security
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The Pennsylvania State University, Office of Engineering Diversity
Webmaster
,
January 2008 – May 2008Lutron Electronics
Engineering Intern, May 2007 – August 2007
Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium (PSGC)
Program Assistant, January 2007 – May 2007
Teaching
The Pennsylvania State University, Race and Ethnic Relations - SOC 119
Teacher’s Assistant, August 2007 – December 2007
Volunteer
Isidore Farmhelp (Android mobile phone application to aid farmers)
Server Application Lead, December 2008
The Pennsylvania State University, Engineering House
Webmaster, August 2007 – December 2007
Academic Service
Reviewer
Biologically-Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA) Journal Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory
Programs Committee
Behavioral Representation in Modeling and Simulation (BRiMS) Conference Biologically-Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA) Conference
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Organizational
Experience
Leadership Experience
Penn State Multicultural Engineering Program Affiliate Program Group,
2012-2014
Leadership Team
National Society Black Engineers (NSBE),
2006-2010
Web Consultant – Penn State Chapter (09-2010) Chapter President (08-09)
Chapter Programs Coordinator (07-08) Chapter Senator (07-08)
Telecommunications committee (2006-07)
Mentor Experience
Business Partners Program – General Mills Inc., 2007
Multicultural Engineering Program – The Pennsylvania State University, 2007
Professional Society Memberships
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2010-2014
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, 2012-2014 Association for Psychological Science, 2013-2014
Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA) Society, 2011, 2013-2014 Cognitive Science Society, 2012-2014
National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), 2006-2014 Society for Affective Science, 2013-2014
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References
Dr. Frank E. Ritter
Professor of Information Sciences and Technology College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University
316G IST Building
University Park, PA 16802 +1 (814) 865-4453 [email protected]
Dr. Michael McNeese
Professor of Information Sciences and Technology College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University
316 IST Building
University Park, PA 16802 +1 (814) 865-6170 [email protected]
Dr. Frank G. Hillary
Associate Professor of Psychology Department of Psychology The Pennsylvania State University 313 Moore Building
University Park, PA 16802 +1 (814) 865-5849
Dr. John Yen
University Professor of Information Sciences and Technology
College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University
313J Information Sciences and Technology Building University Park, PA 16802
+1 (814) 865-6174
Dr. Keith Berry
Flight SurgeonMajor, United States Army Reserve
