Karen Chen

Dr. Karen Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems at UMBC, leading the lab for Informatics for Human Flourishing. She holds MS degrees in Statistics and Information Systems, and a PhD in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on leveraging data and human-centered computing to promote human flourishing, particularly through education and social work applications.

Recent work includes a Fall 2023 experiment integrating ChatGPT into data science courses (IS 428 and IS 733), emphasizing critical use of AI tools in pedagogy. Collaborating with PhD student Maryam Alomair and Dr. Shimei Pan, she analyzed GPT's problem-solving efficacy using case-based learning tools like the Caselet, a DARPA AI competition winner. She also explores multimodal machine learning to study parent-child interactions in educational and social work contexts.

Her presentations, such as the AI, Privacy, and Ethics Symposium talk, highlight ethical AI integration in education and the evolving role of AI in data science training. The Informatics for Human Flourishing lab aims to develop technologies empowering individuals through data-driven systems aligned with human flourishing frameworks.

Key collaborations include interdisciplinary work with mathematics, social work, and learning science experts to advance AI-supported coaching strategies rooted in empirical evidence.