Emerging Areas

This cluster explores emerging areas in Social Sciences (Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Public Policy, etc.), Psychology, Digital Arts, STEM Education, and Other Sciences.

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The STEAM-Centered Social Science will feature three podium sessions and one poster session. We invite researchers and professionals conducting qualitative, quantitative, computational, and integrated work in artificial intelligence, educational technology, behavioral health, criminal justice, and related STEAM fields to present empirical findings and conceptual frameworks that address emerging challenges in human-AI interaction, educational ecosystems, and societal well-being, while engaging in discussions that foster interdisciplinary collaboration and new research connections.

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The Framework & Artificial Intelligence Session examines how AI is transforming diverse domains through innovative frameworks and applications. Presentations introduce machine learning insights into volunteer mentor retention over time, analyses of university knowledge complexity versus regional innovation, an adaptive behavioral health platform, tools for evaluating AI-integrated STEM teaching and teacher–AI collaboration, and building social presence in virtual offices.

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The Diverse Methodologies Session highlights the breadth of qualitative and quantitative approaches used to address critical questions across education, psychology, engineering, and healthcare. The qualitative studies explore the distinctive cultural assets of international female STEM students and analyze mentoring ecosystems in the engineering research center. The quantitative studies examine engineering team communication in a video game environment, investigate the relationship between children's emotion regulation and emotional responses using electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) measures, and evaluate the effects of feedback in medical certification standard-setting using survey data and statistical analyses.

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The Artificial Intelligence and Practice Session highlights the practical implementation and direct impact of artificial intelligence across critical societal sectors, with a strong emphasis on criminal justice and education. Presentations in this session explore how AI is actively reshaping professional practices and operational security, including its dual role as an investigative tool and emerging threat in criminology, its effects on institutional security in U.S. prisons, and the use of deep learning for automated scoring of police shooting targets. Furthermore, the session addresses practical educational applications, examining the reliability of prompt engineering in human-AI grading agreements and the utilization of AI-powered student-emulating agents to enhance preservice teachers' responsive instruction.