Technology for Social Good Lab
An interdisciplinary research laboratory at UABC Ensenada
Technology for Social Good Research Lab (Tech4Good Lab) (Laboratorio de Sistemas Interactivos para la Salud, Educación y Bienestar, in Spanish) is an interdisciplinary research laboratory at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) in Ensenada, Mexico, directed by Dr. Karina Caro.
What do we do?
Tech4Good Lab is aimed at designing, developing, and evaluating technology for social good. We refer to “social good” as a service that benefits the largest number of people in the largest possible way. Some examples of social goods that are addressed in our research projects are healthcare, wellbeing, special education, environment, among others.
Research areas
Human-computer interaction
Ubiquitous and pervasive computing
Accessibility
Videogames for health
Our research is an intersection of computer science with medical and social sciences.
We investigate how can we design technology that tailors to the user’s needs. During the research process, we use user-centered design methods such as empathy-driven design and design thinking. Our overall goal is to create technology that impacts people’s lives through the design, development, and evaluation of interactive systems for healthcare, wellbeing, and special education.
News
March 2024 - To celebrate International Women's Day, March 8th, 2024, our lab, together with the Academic group Behavior and Technological Sciences (Ciencias Tecnológicas y del Comportamiento) from UABC, created a series of videos to share UABC students' experiences with science and technology. You can see the videos here.
February 2024—To celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11th, 2024, our lab, together with the Academic groups Behavior and Technological Sciences (Ciencias Tecnológicas y del Comportamiento) and Communication and Daily Life (Comunicación y Vida Cotidiana) from UABC, asked the students from UABC to nominate a woman researcher to make visible the work of the fantastic women researchers from UABC. You can see the nominations here, here, and here.
January 2024 — The Tech4Good Research Lab was honored to receive Yussy Chinchay and Cristina Alonso for a research stay. Their activities included discussing their research and attending a seminar on analyzing the profiles of university students with ASD. We look forward to starting new research collaborations with them! See a media article about this research stay published on the Faculty web page (Spanish only)
October 2023 - Dr. Caro co-supervised (with Prof. Eva Olivia Martínez) four magnificent students from the bachelor's program in informatics, Genesis, David, Hugo, and Randy, to participate in the National Marathon in informatics knowledge, celebrated in Mexico City. The team found itself in the top 10 nationally. Congratulations team!
September 2023 - Pedro, Mayra, and Zahid presented our paper "Emotions&Care: Designing a Mobile App for Supporting Depression of College Students" at the Workshop on Medical Informatics for Health and Wellbeing (IMSaBi 2023) held in conjunction with the Mexican International Conference in Computer Science (ENC 2023). Congrats to our multidisciplinary team!
August 2023 - Dr. Caro gave the talk "Development of technologies for health, education, and well-being: a multidisciplinary approach" (Desarrollo de tecnologías para la salud, educación y bienestar: un enfoque multidisciplinario) as a part of the second cycle of videoconferences of technologies for the health of the Faculty of Health of the Autonomous University of Baja California (Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud - UABC).
June 2023 - Jessica Cordova's master project won First Place in the 10th National Award for Projects for Obtaining a Bachelor's and Graduate Academic Degree from the National Association of Accounting and Administration Faculties and Schools (ANFECA) Zone 1 (10mo Premio Nacional de Proyectos Terminales para la Obtención de Licenciatura y Grado Académico de Posgrado de la Asociación Nacional de Facultades y Escuelas de Contaduría y Administración (ANFECA) Zona 1. Congrats to Jessica!
June 2023 - We are glad to announce that this summer, our lab received seven excellent students from around the country to do a summer research stay as a part of the Programa Delfin. We also had two student volunteers from UABC doing research over the summer —local media coverage here, here, and here (Spanish only).
May 2023 - Our paper "Designing and evaluating Reto Global, a serious video game for supporting global warming awareness" was accepted to the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Congrats to Jorge!
May 2023 - Dr. Caro and Dr. Covarrubias (La Salle Noroeste University) gave the talk "Information Technology: The BeeSmart Project", as a part of the International meeting on inclusion and human rights in special education (Encuentro Internacional sobre inclusión y derechos humanos en la educación especial).
February 2023 - Our paper "Technology for supporting emotion regulation of individuals with developmental disabilities: A scoping review" was accepted to the Research in Developmental Disabilities Journal. Congrats to Marisela!
February 2023 - Our amazing student, Adrian Peralta, presented his master project in the 8th International Congress on Information and Communication Technology 2023. Congrats to Adrian!
January 2023 - Our paper "Designing and Evaluating Aventura Marina: A Serious Game to Promote Visitors’ Engagement in a Science Museum Exhibition" was accepted to the Interacting with Computers Journal. Congrats to Jessica!
October 2022 - Dr. Karina Bermudez and Dr. Karina Caro were awarded with 2022 International Development grant, “Web-Based Behavior Analysis Resources in Spanish.” from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) Check out our website with multiple resources in Applied Behavior Analysis in Spanish: https://www.abaenespanol.com.mx/
October 2022 - Our paper "Using Emotion4Down: Evaluating the design of a Serious Video Game for Supporting Emotional Awareness with People with intellectual disabilities" was accepted to the Interacting with Computers Journal. Congrats to Marisela!
October 2022 - Adrian Peralta presented his research project at the Annual Meeting of Young Researchers in Baja California 2022 (9no Encuentro Estatal de Jóvenes Investigadores en Baja California 2022).
September 2022 - Our paper "Evaluation of the NOM-035 Smart Manager: a system for identifying the psychological risk factors levels of university academics" was accepted to the 14th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI 2022). Congrats to Hans and Joan!
July 2022 - Jorge Barcena's master project won First Place in the 9th National Award for Projects for Obtaining a Bachelor's and Graduate Academic Degree from the National Association of Accounting and Administration Faculties and Schools (ANFECA) Zone 1 (9no Premio Nacional de Proyectos Terminales para la Obtención de Licenciatura y Grado Académico de Posgrado de la Asociación Nacional de Facultades y Escuelas de Contaduría y Administración (ANFECA) Zona 1). You can see some media coverage about the award here, here and here (Spanish only). Congrats to Jorge!
July 2022 - Our paper "Diseño de un videojuego para el aprendizaje de conceptos sobre el emprendimiento" was accepted to the Revista de Investigación en Tecnologías de la Información. Congrats to Moises!
July 2022 - Jessica Cordova and Moises Ramses Jauregui presented their master's project and they were approved by the project's committee. Congrats to Jessica and Moises for obtaining their Master's degree!
April 2022 - Moises Ramses Jauregui was awarded a fellowship for participating in the "HUAWEI-SRE 1,000 talentos para el Desarrollo Digital de América Latina y el Caribe - Cerrando la brecha digital de género 2da Edición" (HUAWEI-SRE 1,000 talents for the Digital Development of Latin America and the Caribbean - Closing the digital gender gap 2nd Edition). Congratulations to Moises!
April 2022 - Jessica Cordova participated in the Research Seminar of the Masters in Information and Communication Technology Management; she talked about her Master's project. See her talk here (Spanish only).
March 2022 - Jessica Cordova and Moises Ramses Jauregui participated in the Expo - Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (Expo Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades), a university initiative for disseminating research projects. You can see Jessica's master project here (Spanish only) and Moises's master project here (Spanish only).
March 2022 - Dr. Caro participated in the discussion forum of the Women in Programming Event, organized by omegaUp. Thanks to Dr. Nancy Pacheco for the invitation.
March 2022 - Dr. Caro gave the talk "Experimental design to evaluate the efficacy of technological interventions" as part of the Research Seminar of the Research Center on Applied Mathematics (CIMA) of the Autonomous University of Coahuila (UAdeC).
March 2022 - Dr. Caro is co-organizing the Workshop on Medical Informatics for Health and Wellbeing (IMSaBi 2022) to be held in conjunction with the Mexican International Conference in Computer Science (ENC 2022). Submit your work to IMSaBi 2022. You can see the CfP here.
February 2022 - Dr. Caro is part of the Program Committee for the 17th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI 2022).
January 2022 - Dr. Caro is part of the Program Committee for the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2022).
December 2021 - Dr. Caro was nominated for the Academic Merit Award 2021 from the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), the most significant award that a researcher/professor can receive inside the university. This time, the award went to another professor, but being nominated was an honor and a fantastic experience. See the nomination video here (Spanish only).
December 2021 - Dr. Caro was invited to the Colectiva Radio Program to talk about the Tech4Good Research Lab. Listen the interview here (Spanish only).
November 2021 - Dr. Caro is part of the Technical Track Committee for the 2022 Women Transforming Technology Conference! This year, the conference will be online and free; you can register for the conference here.
November 2021 - Our amazing student, Moisés Ramsés Jauregui, won Second Place in the 8th State Meeting of Young Researchers (8vo Encuentro Estatal de Jóvenes Investigadores) with his master project. Congrats to Moises!
October 2021 - Our fantastic student, Jessica Cordova, won First Place in the 3M Libre Contest with her Master Project. Congrats to Jessica! Take a look at the awards ceremony here (Spanish Only).
October 2021 - Our paper "Emotion4Down: a Serious Video Game for Supporting Emotional Awareness of People with Down Syndrome" was accepted to be presented at the main track of the Eighth Mexican Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (MexIHC 2021). Congrats to Marisela!
October 2021 - Our paper "Designing a Serious Game to Promote Visitors’ Engagement in a Science Museum Exhibition" was accepted to be presented at the main track of the Eighth Mexican Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (MexIHC 2021). Congrats to Jessica!
September 2021 - Dr. Caro was accepted to participate as a Young Researcher in the 8th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF). She was Chosen from over 900 applicants through an international, scientific selection process. The 8th HLF was held on September 20–23, 2021. See the program here. See a media article published on the Faculty web page (Spanish only), and another media article published on the University web page (Spanish only).
July 2021 - Our paper "Move&Learn: an Adaptive Exergame to Support Visual-Motor Skills of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders" was accepted in the ACM Conference on Information Technology for Social Good (GoodIT 2021). Congrats to Joan and Ariana!
June 2021 - Hans Palafox and Fadme Jimenez successfully presented their Master Project, and they were approved! Congrats to Hans and Fadme for their Master's degrees!
April 2021 - Dr. Caro gave the talk "Technological interventions to support people with neurodevelopmental disorders" as a part of the Research Seminar "Intelligent Information Systems: Applications in Health" of the Division of Basic Sciences and Engineering of the Autonomous Metropolitan University, Azcapotzalco Unit (División de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Azcapotzalco).
March 2021 - Our paper "A Recommender System for Identifying Psychosocial Risk Factors among University Academics: The Case of The Official Mexican Norm NOM-035-STPS-2018" was accepted in the 16th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI 2021). Congratulations to Hans and Joan!
March 2021 - Dr. Caro serves as a Technical Program Committee Chair in the Eighth Mexican Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (MexIHC 2021); she is working together with Dr. Dagoberto Cruz-Sandoval from UCSD. Submit your work to MexIHC 2021 and be part of the HCI discussions with the Mexican HCI Community. You can see the CfP here.
January 2021 - Dr. Caro is part of the Program Committee for the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2021).
December 2020 - Dr. Caro was promoted to Level 1 of the Mexican National System of Researchers (SNI) from 2021 to 2023. She held the Candidate Level from 2018 to 2020.
December 2020 - Dr. Caro was part of the working group of the Robert H. Levi Symposium: The Ethics of Virtual Humans organized by the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.
December 2020 - Joan Raygoza Romero graduated with honors from the Computing Engineering Bachelor Program at UABC. Congrats to Joan!
December 2020 - Ariana González Hernández graduated with honors from the Communication Sciences Bachelor Program at UABC. Congrats to Ariana!
November 2020 - Dr. Caro is part of the Technical Track Committee for the 2021 Women Transforming Technology Conference! This year, the conference will be online and free; you can register here.
October 2020 - Dr. Caro attended (virtually) the Annual Meeting of Women in Computing of the Mexican Academy of Computing (Mujeres en la Computación - AMEXCOMP).
October 2020 - Fadme, Hans, Joan, and Ariana presented their research projects at the Annual Meeting of Young Researchers in Baja California 2020 (7mo Encuentro Estatal de Jóvenes Investigadores en Baja California 2020).
August 2020 - Our paper "A performance comparison between exergames designed for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and commercially-available exergames" was accepted in the Multimedia Tools and Applications Journal.
June 2020 - Jorge Barcena-Vazquez presented his master's project, and the project's committee approved it. Congrats to Jorge for obtaining his Master's degree!