Please join us in welcoming Erin Higgins to the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries as the Postdoctoral Associate for Evidence Synthesis. Prior to joining the Libraries, Erin completed her PhD in Human Centered Computing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
We asked Erin, who uses she/her/hers pronouns, a few questions about herself and her plans for her new role.
What are your goals for this year as our new postdoctoral associate for evidence synthesis?
I’m looking forward to learning as much as possible from everyone in University Libraries! I hope to use this knowledge to create a useful systematic review for accessibility researchers in the field of Human Computer Interaction. In addition, I hope to develop and teach workshops about literature reviews and evidence synthesis for the CMU community and beyond!
How has your prior experience prepared you for this role at the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries?
I have done very interdisciplinary work in my field for many years. To manage the different areas of study, I have had to develop workflows that allowed me to track literature over a variety of different disciplines. In addition, I worked on a tech transfer project where we developed tools and tracking methods for successfully communicating research from academia to industry and end users.
What projects are you excited to tackle in your first few months?
I am excited to participate in a scoping review to better familiarize myself with current best practices in evidence synthesis. This will enable me to better understand where LLMs might be most beneficial to the process as well as where they are not effective!
What do you like to do outside of work?
I love food and trying out new restaurants. Otherwise, I am often reading, going to the movies, or spending time at community events with my friends, husband, and new baby! Pittsburgh is my hometown, so I am excited to be back to reconnect with friends and family and discover what is new.