How does a computer scientist build a research career around the problems people actually face in the field? Brianna B. Posadas \u201913 will share her personal journey to becoming an assistant professor and describe how a background in human-computer interaction, user-centered design and computing education led to agricultural technology research at Cal Poly Pomona.<\/p>\n
Posadas will highlight several projects that connect computing, agriculture and community-engaged research: designing usable security practices for greenhouse workers; collaborating with Pitzer College on a California Energy Commission project investigating agrivoltaic systems and the integration of solar energy production with agriculture; developing sensor-based technologies for monitoring cows; and using agricultural datasets to create more meaningful and applied experiences in computer science courses.<\/p>\n
Together, these projects illustrate how agricultural contexts can motivate new computing research questions while creating opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, student mentorship and teaching innovation. The talk will conclude with reflections on developing an academic identity, pursuing research grounded in real-world communities and building a career that connects human-centered computing with agriculture and student learning.<\/p>\n
Brianna B. Posadas, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. An engineering alumna, she earned an M.S. in agricultural and biological engineering and a PhD in computer and information science and engineering from the University of Florida, where she was the first Latina to earn a doctorate from the department. Before joining Cal Poly Pomona, she was a Computing Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow and later an assistant professor at Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n
Posadas\u2019s research connects human-centered computing, data science and agricultural technology. Across her work at Virginia Tech and Cal Poly Pomona, she has studied how farmers and agricultural workers adopt emerging technologies, including assistive technologies, precision-agriculture tools and AI-enabled systems. Her current projects include usable security for greenhouse workers, agrivoltaic systems through a collaboration with Pitzer College, sensor-based technologies for monitoring cows and the use of agricultural data in computer science education. Together, this work reflects her goal of helping engineers and computer scientists develop technologies that respond to the practical needs of agricultural communities.<\/p>\n
Posadas is committed to fostering diversity, belonging and community in computing and higher education. She advises oSTEM at Cal Poly Pomona, organizes the annual Hispanics in Computing meeting and founded the Latino\/Hispanic Organization of Graduate Students at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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