معرفی
Caitlin Mills is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development. She also maintains affiliations with the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine (Division of Bioinformatics) and Harvard Medical School. Her research bridges educational psychology, cognitive science, and learning analytics.
Her primary research interests focus on mind wandering detection during learning, educational data mining, learning analytics, and eye tracking technologies for educational purposes. She investigates how cognitive processes like attention, task-unrelated thoughts, and comprehension can be measured and enhanced through technological interventions. Her work increasingly addresses neurodivergent learners and inclusive educational technologies.
Analysis of her recent publications shows a strong trend toward developing non-invasive methods for monitoring cognitive states during learning, particularly through webcam-based eye tracking and keystroke analysis. Her research spans multiple domains including virtual reality learning environments, automotive safety interfaces, and language-based cognitive assessment. She has made significant contributions to understanding how mind wandering impacts learning outcomes across diverse populations.
Mills has served as co-editor for the Proceedings of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2025) and regularly publishes in top venues including the Journal of Learning Analytics (LAK), Educational Data Mining (EDM), and Cognitive Science.
Her collaborative work includes major projects with researchers from USC, Harvard, and other institutions, focusing on developing technologies that can detect and respond to learners' cognitive states in real-time to improve educational outcomes. She has developed innovative approaches to measuring attentional states during learning tasks using various physiological and behavioral metrics.
