STTG Member Spotlight: Prof. Myounghoon "Philart" Jeon

Prof. Myounghoon "Philart" Jeon

Meet Prof. Myounghoon "Philart" Jeon. He received his B.A. in Sociology and Psychology, M.S. in Cognitive Sciences and Engineering Psychology and a Ph.D. in Engineering Psychology with a minor in Human-Computer Interaction. He is currently an Associate Professor at Virginia Tech in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Department of Computer Science (by courtesy).

What was the path to your current role?
After obtaining my first MS degree, I worked as an HCI researcher in the Korean web portal company. Next, I worked in a global electronics company as a UX designer and Sound designer. Meanwhile, I also studied film scoring at my university. Then, I studied my PhD at Georgia Tech. After receiving my PhD, I started to work as an assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences and the Department of Computer Science at Michigan Tech. I received my tenure there and moved to Virginia Tech in 2018. Now, I'm working in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Department of Computer Science (by courtesy).

What are the responsibilities associated with your role?
As an academic, I do research, teaching, and service, including mentoring students and engaging in outreach activities.

What made you decide to pursue an academic role?

I love school. I always feel like this is where I belong to. I like learning. This is where I can learn things forever – that’s basically my job. The great fact is that I can decide what to learn and what to research. Also, the bonus is that I can help out other people who want to learn!

What do you enjoy the most in your current role?

I fully enjoy my life. The most joyful activities include (1) working and interacting with brilliant students, (2) networking and collaborating with scholars all over the world, and (3) playing with kids using our robots.

Could you describe a favorite or recent project?

We have been working on several studies on the factors that influence drivers’ trust towards automated vehicles. The factors include in-vehicle agents’ transparency, system reliability, and drivers’ emotions. The results have shown interesting interactions among the variables and provided practical guidelines for the design of in-vehicle agents in automated vehicles.

What skillsets would you expect from people applying to a role that is similar to yours?
(1) Being diligent in imagining the new world
(2) Enjoying writing about and presenting the research outcomes
(3) Responding to emails in a timely manner
(4) Having perseverance in everything

What is one piece of advice you would give up-and-coming HF professionals who want to work in surface transportation related roles?
It seems that we are far from implementing fully autonomous vehicles. Also, even though we have fully autonomous vehicles tomorrow, our job will not disappear. Let’s make safer and more enjoyable world together!

Any other thoughts you would like to share with STTG members?
Because my original background is cognitive sciences, I’m always interested in applying different levels of approaches to research, including behavioral level, neurological level, and computational level. In my lab, we try to use all three levels of methods – psychological experiments, neuroimaging techniques, and computational modeling. When we study our topic, human mind, in various ways, we will be able to understand multifaceted aspects of it.