Jung-hye Shin is interested in the impact of homes and communities on the health and wellbeing of people who use them. Shin broadly interpret those experiences as an outcome of complex interactions among the physical structure, social relations, and sociocultural expectations that govern the building. Her most recent research has focused on the role of home and communities in helping older adults age in place. By listening to their lived experiences and observing to their everyday practices my hope is to create better policy discussions and design guidelines.
Kevin Ponto is Associate Professor in the Design Studies Department in the School of Human Ecology and faculty in the Virtual Environments Group (formerly the Living Environments Lab) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He received his BS, Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, his MS from the University of California, Irvine, and his PhD from the University of California, San Diego. Kevin has a long history of multidisciplinary studies. He has exhibited artistic work while in Arts Computation Engineering program at the University of California, Irvine. He worked on projects to rediscover a lost Leonardo da Vinci painting, locate the tomb of Genghis Khan, and facilitate natural methods for the public to explore cultural heritage artifacts in the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology at the University of California, San Diego. In his post-doctorate studies, Ponto worked on projects aimed at presenting, summarizing, and replaying virtual experiences and developed new methods for interfacing with virtual environments through the Computation and Informatics in Biology and Medicine program. His current research objectives aim to develop techniques to better the experience of virtual reality through new devices, interfaces, and techniques.
Youhung Her-Xiong is a PhD candidate at the School of Social Work. Her research and teaching interests surround culturally sensitive healthcare and end-of-life care; aging and gender related topics; community related program interventions and education; and organizational cultural sensitivity. Her dissertation is a qualitative research study that focuses on exploring Hmong elders’ care preferences during the dying process under the mentorship of Dr. Tracy Schroepfer. Youhung graduated with her BSW from UW-Eau Claire and her MSW from UW-Madison. She has experience as a medical social worker, teaching assistant, and project assistant. She also served as a Hmong cultural consultant, student research grant peer reviewer, and a member on several boards. Youhung believes in the connection between direct practice, teaching, and research. Her direct practice experience and interactions with the community serve as important foundations for her current and future research and teaching philosophies.
Ross Tredinnick (pronounced: Tre-din-nick) is a fourth generation Madison native and a sixth generation Wisconsinite. Prior to working at WID, Ross worked in the video game development industry for six years as a technology programmer. In his spare time, Tredinnick enjoys camping, cooking, gardening, running, playing slow pitch softball, and following Wisconsin collegiate and professional sports teams. Ross enjoys spending time with his wife Allison and son Weston.