Raniero Aaron Lara Garduno, PhD

Who am I?

I am a Computer Engineering postdoc at the Sketch Recognition Lab at Texas A&M University, where I got both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. My dissertation focused on identifying linkages between digital pen kinematics and a pre-Alzheimer's condition known as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Other projects during grad school include exercise gamification, music composition, and augmented-reality activities.

Research interests include: Applied Machine Learning, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Centered Computing, Human Factors Engineering, Intelligent User Interfaces, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Gesture Recognition, Sketch Recognition, Experimental Methods, Statistical Analysis, Eye-Tracking Analysis.

Google Scholar Profile

Research Projects

Detecting Cognitive Impairment
with Sketches

Detecting Nested Handrawn Shapes
Within Larger Figures

Novel neuropsychological Test
Using a Single Finger

Room-scale Cognitive Test
with Augmented Reality

Gamified Exercise
Mobile App

Music Composition
and Improvisation Web App

Publications

Papers

Lara-Garduno, R., Guess, B., Blackmon, K., Jia, Y., Deutz, N., Engelen, M., SmartStrokes: Machine-Learning Assisted Detection of Cognitive Decline Through Analysis of Digital Trail-Making Tests (Under Review)
Lara-Garduno, R., Guess, B., Leslie, N., Auto ReyO: An Automated Hierarchical Sketch Recognition System to Automatically Grade Digital Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figures (Under Review)
Lara-Garduno, R., Igarashi, T., Hammond, T. 3D-Trail-Making Test: A Touch-Tablet Cognitive Test to Support Intelligent Behavioral Recognition. Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2019, (GI 2019), Kingston, Canada. May 28-31, 2019.
Lara-Garduno, R., Hammond, T. Machine Learning Behavioral Recognition to Support Neuropsychological Diagnosis of Cognitive Decline. Proceedings of the 2018 Conference on Intelligent User Interface (IUI’18 - Doctoral Consortium Presentation), Tokyo, Japan. March 9, 2018.
Granger, J., Aviles, M., Kirby, J., Griffin, A., Yoon, J., Lara-Garduno, R., Hammond, T. Lumanote: A Real-Time Interactive Music Composition Assistant. Workshop on Intelligent Music Interfaces for Listening and Creation (IUI 2018), Tokyo, Japan. March 11, 2018.
Lara-Garduno, R., Leslie, N., Hammond, T. SmartStrokes: Digitizing Paper-Based Neuropsychological Tests. Revolutionizing Education with Digital Ink: The Impact of Pen and Touch Technology on Education (Human–Computer Interaction Series). Springer, 2016.
Valentine, S., Lara-Garduno, R., Linsey, J., Hammond, T. Mechanix: A Sketch-Based Tutoring System that Automatically Corrects Hand-Sketched Statics Homework. The Impact of Pen and Touch Technology on Education (Human-Computer Interaction Series). Springer, 2015.
Rajanna, V., Lara-Garduno, R., Behera, D. J., Madanagopal, K., Goldberg, D., Hammond, T. Step Up Life: A Context-Aware Health Assistant. Third International ACM SIGSPATIAL Workshop on HealthGIS (HealthGIS’14), Orlando, FL. November 4, 2014.

Fellowships

2019 - NSF UbiComp International Research Experiences for Students Fellowship
2017 - NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for Graduate Students Fellowship
2014 - Louis-Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program, Bridge to Doctorate Fellowship (2 years)

Awards

2017 - Graduate Leadership Excellence Award, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University
2016 - 2nd Place among Engineering Graduate Students, Student Research Week Poster Competition, Texas A&M University
2015 - 1st Place among Engineering Graduate Students, Student Research Week Oral Presentation Competition, Texas A&M University
2015 - 1st Place among Graduate Students, Research Poster Competition, ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference
2014 - 2nd Place among Engineering Graduate Students, Student Research Week Poster Competition, Texas A&M University
2014 - 2nd Place for Sigma Xi Interdisciplinary Research Award, Student Research Week Poster Competition, Texas A&M University

Service

One of the highlights of my career has been complimenting development work and research with service and volunteering. My involvement in my department's Computer Science and Engineering Graduate Student Association consisted of being an officer for several years in a row, and finally serving as the association's president for Fall 2019 to Spring 2021.

Mentoring undergraduate students allowed me the opportunity to become attuned with student needs and time constraints. I've also had the opportunity to volunteer and review for conferences, reviewing, and serve as a judge for university functions.

Computer Science and Engineering Graduate Student Association

2019 - 2021 - President
2017 - 2019 - Secretary
2016 - 2017 - External Officer
2015 - 2016 - Vice President of Professional Development
2014 - 2015 - Vice President of Student Mentoring
2015 - 2017 - Incoming Graduate Student "Boot Camp" Planning Committee, Volunteer

ACM SIGCHI Student Chapter - Texas A&M University

2017 - Founding Member, Coordination Officer

Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society

2014 - 2017 - Graduate Student Advisor
2012 - 2013 - President
2011 - 2012 - Treasurer

Conference Volunteering

ACM Intelligent User Interfaces 2021 (IUI) - Student Volunteer Chair
Pattern Recognition 2021 - Student Reviewer
Knowldge and Information Systems 2021 - Student Reviewer
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2021 - Student Reviewer
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence 2021 (AAAI) - Student Reviewer
Workshop in Pen and Touch Technology in Education 2014 - Student Volunteer Chair
ACM Intelligent User Interfaces 2018 (IUI) - Student Volunteer
Design Computing and Cognition 2018 (DCC’18) - Student Reviewer
User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction 2016, 2017 (UMUAI) - Student Reviewer
Computer Aided Design 2017 - Student Reviewer
BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2017 - Student Reviewer

Teaching

I had the privilege of being the instructor of record of two senior-level capstone classes at Texas A&M University. This was a unique challenge in that senior capstone classes involve the teaching of multiple types of soft skills, considering this was class was set up in such a way that students were able to pick their projects. Some projects were also pre-determined in that clients were chosen for them, and it required students to meet with them regularly and report on progress with the end-user.

This class involved teaching multiple types of relevant skills including speaking to clients and creating lo-fi prototypes, teaching students how to create and follow Gantt charts, communicate project findings in end-of-semester presentations in front of industry affiliates, and report On milestone progress throughout the term. It was in this class that students applied all their acquired skills throughout their undergrad careers to the test in a free-form format, and watching students rise to the occasion was always the most rewarding part of teaching these two classes.

The two classes I taught as the instructor of record were:

Computer Systems Design - Computer Engineering (Senior Capstone) - Fall 2017

Senior Capstone - Computer Engineering - Fall 2018

Visiting Research

Throughout my graduate school career I've had the incredible opportunity to work with various international labs on-site as part of research collaborations. These collaborations were conducted at various years throughout my time at graduate school among the best and most worldwide known institutions. In these programs I was able to gain an unparalleled amount of exposure to different lab structures, cultures, and approach to research.

Each and every faculty member, reseacher, and peer I met during this visiting research had a profound influence on my approach to research and life perspective. As a Human-Computer Interaction researcher and a developer, I believe a robust knowledge of worldwide perspectives and cultures is essential to truly serving the end user with whatever project I create. I am thankful for these opportunities that have allowed me to expand my professional and personal horizons.

Click on each university's logo to learn more

Harvard School of Public Health
Summer 2015

University of Tokyo
Summer 2017

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Summer 2019

Lumanote

Musical composition typically requires several years of experience and knowledge in music theory that includes but is not limited to chord progression, melody note theory, and an understanding of whole-step/half-step passing tones among others. Due to the complexity of musical composition, even experienced musicians may find the writing process challenging and time consuming. Songwriters may find the need to employ trained pianists to aid in the theory behind musical composition. We present Lumanote, an interactive real-time music composition tool that aids songwriters in their writing endeavors by presenting real-time suggestions on appropriate melody notes and chord progression. Lumanote’s color-coded design provides chords appropriate to chosen scales, and melody notes appropriate to given chords in real-time as musicians play chords and melody notes. We performed a qualitative study to gauge the effectiveness of this tool, including both experienced musicians and complete beginners to assess the intuitiveness of the system at various skill levels. Qualitative results helped in identifying potential issues on differing interpretations of color-coded suggestions, and yielded insights on interface improvements and polish.

Publications: Workshop at IUI 2018
Evaluating LED-based interface for Lumanote composition creation tool - NIME 2018 (Citation)

University of Tokyo
Igarshi Lab
Tokyo, Japan

By the summer of 2017 I had already had a few years' experience working with digitizing neuropsychological examinations for my work, but I remained curious as to how far technology could be integrated into the diagnosis process. Out of necessity for comparing to current state-of-the-art our digitizing efforts were restricted to recreating the paper-and-pencil testing procedure as much as possible. But if we could divorce ourselves from this established input modality, a research question remained: can we adapt existing neuropsychological exams to completely new exams by leveraging the computing power of modern tablets? Furthermore, how might we improve on the existing test by testing subjects in ways not possible with paper and pencil?

This was the question I worked to answer with Dr. Takeo Igarashi of the esteemed Igarashi Lab at the University of Tokyo. I worked with him over the course of a summer to design a completely new examination that was centered on a touch tablet's capabilities. This not only meant a new input modality but also a system that could test participants in ways not previously possible with paper.

We wanted to leverage a property inherent to tablet computing: a dynamic user experience. UI elements shift, move, appear and disappear at all times with ease. Basic functionality for any computer, but impossible to do smoothly with paper and pencil. The question then became, how do we make a dynamic test that changes over time, without being too confusing for participants?

The sketches above were created as during the conceptualization phase that outlined our basic idea. Our new "3D Trail-Making Test" is still contained entirely in one screen much like a digitized TMT, but rather than labeled dots these would turn into boxes arranged in such a way that not all boxes are visible. This way, new elements would enter a participant's field of view as the test gets completed, and the overall shape of the test that the participant manipulates changes considerably as the test continues.

Additionally, the entire test is designed to be completed with one finger. We knew a tablet-based system could prove too complex to navigate for older participants with MCI, and we were careful to not have the basic form of interaction become a confounder in and of itself. That is to say, we did not wish for a participant to perform poorly out of confusion for how to simply navigate the UI. Despite the single-finger interactions, we could collect enough movement data to generate several hundreds of lines worth of timestamped pieces of input data that could be used for creating a predictive classification model with machine learning.

The resulting test that was created was the 3D Trail-Making Test, and its white paper complete with details on the resulting study and conclusions can be found under the "Research" section above.

This opportunity allowed me to collaborate with an international team. I learned how to quickly be productive in a new environment and navigate different professional work cultures.

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Munich, Germany

I had one additional opportunity to yet again work with another esteemed lab, the Human-Centered Ubiquitous Media research group directed by Dr. Albrecht Schmidt at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany. By 2019 I had done an additional two years of working with adapting paper-based examinations, but once again I sought to work with technology that was previously unavailable when the original Trail-Making test was designed. Together with Dr. Lewis Chuang we asked how we could adapt the Trail-Making Test to become a room-scale test.

We worked with the Magic Leap, an augmented-reality consumer product (at the time) that remains to be among the most advanced implementations of AR in the market. The goal was to scatter dots about a room and have participants identify them in the same order as the original Trail-Making test.

What changes in this format? This test is explicitly designed as a more physical activity, requiring participants to move their head around a room to locate each dot in the sequence. At any time the next dot in the sequence might be to their left, right, or even ceiling. This means participants need to pay attention as to where the dots are as they encounter them. For instance, if they do well on the test they might have remembered the locations of certain dots as they see them throughout the test, quickly moving to those dots as soon as they come up in the sequence. To select the next dot they point at it with the Magic Leap controller and press the large button.

To design the layout of the dots, we took direct inspiration from the existing Trail-Making test. We chose one of the standard layouts and created a "floating disc" version of this test in the Unity game creation engine. In the engine we created an exact replica of an existing TMT layout, and then vertically squeezed the layout so that it could be projected onto the walls in front of a participant as soon as the test begins. The layout remains static for the same reason the paper test's layout remains static; we want to avoid one participant having a considerably tougher time with the test out of chance that a random layout would be different from another. In user studies consistency is key.

Dr. Lewis Chuang's expertise in neuroscience combined with the rest of the lab's focus on HCI served as the perfect environment for intedisciplinary research that matched my dissertation's domain. I learned invaluable amounts of insight as to how to design a test, how to correctly collect data in this format, and above all learn completely new technologies such as AR. I also had the chance to demo many researchers' projects involving VR and vehicle simulations among many others.

Raniero Lara-Garduno, PhD