Dr. Karina Liles

In August of 2017, Dr. Liles joined Claflin University in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Biography

Dr. Karina Liles is a native of Bennettsville, SC in Marlboro County. She is an assistant professor in the department of Mathematics and Computer Science where she teaches computer science courses. She is the director of the Social Technologies and Robotics (STAR) Lab.

Prior to employment at Claflin University, Dr. Liles taught computer science courses at University of South Carolina. She has also worked for Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL), AT&T, and Merrill Lynch as a technology analyst. She has worked at Northeastern Technical College as a Research and Statistical Analyst and adjunct professor. Dr. Liles has also served as a Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) consultant for K-12 school districts and currently owns a STEM Truck, a mobile STEM classroom that visits rural areas and provides STEM resources to students and educators.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Carolina
• Master of Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Carolina
• Master of Education, Educational Technology, University of South Carolina
• Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, Spelman College

Research Interests

• Robotics
• Educational robotics
• Artificial intelligence

Activities and Honors

• University of South Carolina Minorities in Computing, Graduate Advisor
• National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science, Inc. (GEM) Fellowship (2015)
• Upsilon Pi Epsilon International Honor Society (2015)

Recent Publications

• Beer, J. M., Liles, K. R., Wu, X. & Pakala, S. (2017). Affective Human-Robot Interaction. In M. Jeon (Ed.) Handbook of Affective Sciences in Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction. Elsevier.
• Liles, K. R., Bryant, D.G., Beer, J. (2017). How can social robots motivate students to practice math? Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction [Pioneers Workshop].
• Liles, K. R., Perry, C., Craig, S., Beer, J. (2017). Student Perceptions: The Test of Spatial Contiguity and Gestures for Robot Instructors. Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction [Late Breaking Report].
• Bryant, D.G., Liles, K. R., Beer, J. (2017). Developing a Robot Hip-Hop Dance Game to Engage Rural Minorities in Computer Science. Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction [Late Breaking Report].

Recent Presentations

• Liles, K. R., Beer, J. M. (2017).Employees’ Perspectives on Telepresence in Retirement Communities. South Carolina Aging Research Network 13^thAnnual Aging Research Day.

• Liles, K. R., Brigantic, R. (2016). Simulation of warhead monitoring for systems evaluation. National  GEM Consortium Annual Conference and Meeting.

• Beer, J. M., Boren, M., & Liles, K. R. (2016).  Robot assisted music therapy: A case study with children diagnosed with autism.  Poster Presented at the 11^thACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction [Late Breaking Report], Christchurch, New Zealand.