Graduate Student
Dylan Hewitt (Hear my name here!)
he / him / his
CV| LinkedIn | dhhewitt@ncsu.edu
Dylan Smith is a PhD student in the Human Factors and Applied Cognition in the Psychology Department (2020-present). He completed his undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Women’s & Gender Studies in Spring 2020, also at NC State. His undergraduate research focused on gender and biological sex differences in mental models of weather emergencies.
His current research interests involve accessibility of the internet for users with visual impairments and the cognitive cost of inaccessibility for all users. In a broader sense, he wants to research accessibility of technology for people who are systematically unable to access it, whether that barrier be physical, neurological, or societal. Using his dual backgrounds in gender studies and psychology, he tries to take a unique approach to systematic issues affecting differently-abled communities.
When he’s not working on research or school work, Dylan likes to play with his dog, Louis, and watch documentaries about dinosaurs. In undergraduate, his gender studies coursework focused on feminist science fiction, and he still has a passion for sci-fi and fantasy that centers LGBTQ+ individuals.
Cecelia Henderson (Hear my name here!)
she / her / hers
CV | LinkedIn | cahende3@ncsu.edu
Cecelia Henderson is a PhD student in the Human Factors and Applied Cognition program (2020-present). She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Biological Sciences in Fall 2018 and continued her studies at NCSU as a post-baccalaureate student until entering the HFAC program in Fall 2020. Her post-baccalaureate and first-year research focused on attribution bias, specifically attributing blame to automated technology utilized in human-machine teaming in the workplace when an accident occurs.
Her current research interests involve the integration of automated technology into the daily lives of individuals with visual disabilities, as well as how to improve levels of trust in this technology by way of their design. How these systems are perceived by those who utilize them is incredibly important, as these individuals are placing their ability to be independent into the figurative hands of this type of technology. As such, she hopes this line of research will lead to more accessible and universal designs in the future.
When not working on research or school, Celia enjoys spending time with her two pets, a cat named Rose and a parrot named Xanu. She is also an avid reader who particularly enjoys science fiction, and loves to learn new crafting skills and recipes.
Patrick Seebold 
he / him / his
CV | LinkedIn | pcseebol@ncsu.edu
Patrick Seebold is a Ph.D student in the Human Factors & Applied Cognition program (2021 – present). He earned his bachelor’s degree in Biology with minors in Environmental Science and Theater from NCSU in 2019.
Research Statement: As a behavioral scientist with a background in the natural sciences, I seek to merge biological and psychological principles to enhance our knowledge of the human organism. My ambition is to discover novel ways to restore and enhance human perceptual and physical abilities through the marriage of technological, physiological, and behavioral systems. Additional areas of interest include multisensory integration, development and aging, and neuromodulation.
Principal Investigator
Yingchen He, Ph.D. (Hear my name here!)
she / her / hers
CV | LinkedIn | Google Scholar | yingchen_he@ncsu.edu
Dr. Yingchen He is an Assistant Professor in the Human Factors and Applied Cognition Program at the Department of Psychology. She has been at NC State since 2020, directing the Translational Vision Research Lab. She completed her undergraduate study at Peking University, Beijing, China (major: Biological Sciences and Psychology), and obtained her Ph.D. degree in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN.
Dr. He’s Ph.D. work with Dr. Gordon Legge focused on understanding the sensory and cognitive constraints limiting reading performance, and designing training protocols to improve reading speed (especially for people with visual impairments). After graduation, she started her postdoctoral research with Dr. Sandra Montezuma, a retina surgeon from the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences at the University of Minnesota. Dr. He studied the brain plasticity of blind individuals who have partially regained sight through retinal implants. She also conducted objective evaluation of their functional vision, and collaborated with industrial partners to optimize the function the retinal implants. Dr. He’s second line of postdoctoral research with Dr. Stephen Engel aims to develop an eye-tracker-based reading aid for people with central vision loss.
Dr. He has a cat named Biscuit, or for those of you who know Chinese, 伯虎. Biscuit likes to eat leafy vegetables, sleep on keyboards, and participate in Zoom meetings.