Member Spotlight: Catherine Dumas
In each issue of Inside ASIS&T, we feature a different member to discuss ASIS&T and the field of information science and technology. Please contact Pamela Yonker if you would like to be featured as a Member Spotlight.
Catherine Dumas, PhD
Visiting Assistant Professor
Director UX & Immersive Technologies Lab
Co-Faculty Advisor ASIS&T Student Chapter
Information Sciences & Technology Dept.
College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security & Cybersecurity
State University of New York at Albany
How long have you been an ASIS&T member?
I joined ASIS&T when I was a Information Science Masters student at the University at Albany in 2008, so that would be 16 years.
Why did you decide to join ASIS&T?
Abebe Rorissa, a longtime ASIS&T member and former ASIS&T President, was the Faculty Advisor for the student chapter of ASIS&T at UAlbany when I started my Masters program in Information Science in 2008. The student chapter had been disbanded because the student leaders graduated. Abebe was integral in recruiting students to get it going again. I was one of the students who helped revive it. I became a student member and I started going to the Annual Meetings.
How have you benefitted from being an ASIS&T member?
I have become a part of a special community that has supported me throughout my journey as a graduate student to where I am now. By serving as an officer on SIGS and committees over the years, I have enriched my leadership skills. Also, I found my first Assistant Professor position at Simmons University by attending ASIS&T and stalking the search comittee chair who was at the conference to interview potential candidates.
Do you have any advice for new ASIS&T members?
Go to the Annnual Meeting, talk to everyone and get involved. When I went to my first ASIS&T conference as a graduate student, I was presenting a poster and I was blown away by the fact that senior scholars like Dania Blial and Tefko Saracevic came by my poster and asked me questions. I was amazed to be able to interact with renowned scholars in the information science & technology field that I have heard about in classes and read their work. I would also say get involved with the SIGs that align with your research interests. It is a great way to meet people and form life long friendships.
What is a project you are working on right now that excites you?
I am currently working on a project that is entitled: Empowering library science graduate students to learn crisis communication skills with immersive VR Serious Games. In my lab we are working on integrating a generative AI chatbot in a virtual public library environment for the user to interact/roleplay with using Unity and Meta Quest 3 headsets. We are currently working on an NSF grant proposal for this project. It is very exciting.
What parts of information science give you the most joy and motivate you to continue your work?
I would say the exciting new technologies that I get to learn and work with in doing my research. This is motivating me to start a new SIG for immersive/XR technologies. I will be talking about it at our VR panel at the Annual Meeting this year in Calgary.