Andrea Grimes Parker facts for kids

Andrea Grimes Parker is an American computer scientist and researcher. She is a professor who studies how people use computers, especially for health. This field is called human computer interaction (HCI).

Currently, Professor Parker teaches at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) School of Interactive Computing. She also works as a professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Before this, she was a professor at Northeastern University.

About Andrea Grimes Parker

Her Early Life and School Days

Andrea Elaina Grimes was born to Octavia R. Grimes and Vincent E. Grimes. Her father worked for the public defender's office, and her mother was a nurse.

In 2004, Andrea was one of two students chosen to represent the United States at a big conference about education. She went to Northeastern University and earned a degree in Computer Science in 2005. While there, she was part of special honors societies like Phi Kappa Phi and Upsilon Pi Epsilon.

In 2010, she married Lonnie Thomas Parker IV, who was also a student at Georgia Tech. She then changed her name to Andrea Grimes Parker. In 2011, she earned her PhD from Georgia Tech. Her main advisor was Rebecca E. Grinter. Her PhD project was about how to design health technology that works well for different communities and cultures.

How She Uses Computers to Help People

Professor Parker's research focuses on two main areas: human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). HCI is about how people and computers work together. CSCW is about how technology helps groups of people work together.

In 2010, she and her team created a game called "OrderUP!". They showed this game at a conference in Denmark. The game was designed to teach people how to make smart and healthy choices when they order food. It used ideas from a model that helps people change their behavior.

In 2013, Professor Parker started a special social media platform. This platform helped people in a neighborhood called Roxbury share tips about working out. These people were part of a weekly gym program.

She has also studied how digital fitness trackers and social networks affect people. She looks at how these tools can help people stay motivated, plan for the future, and change their habits. Professor Parker is especially interested in helping people who face challenges. She wants to make sure technology helps everyone, not just those who find it easy to use.

From 2014 to 2016, she helped evaluate projects for the Aetna Foundation. These projects used mobile health apps to help communities. From 2018 to 2019, she was a special scholar at Northeastern University, focusing on fairness in health and social justice.

Teaching and Leading the Way

Andrea Grimes Parker is the founder and director of the Wellness Technology Research Lab at Georgia Tech. In this lab, she and her team explore new ways technology can improve health and well-being.

She is currently a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) School of Interactive Computing. She also teaches as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Before her current roles, she was an assistant professor at Northeastern University. There, she worked in both the computer science and health sciences departments.