Under the advisement of Dr. Chris Callison-Burch with the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Dr. Emily Falk with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, my PhD research project is a cross discipline collaboration between Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Cognitive Science called Motivational Boost.

  Whereas prior work has looked at features of naturally occurring language and how persuasive that language turns out to be, Motivational Boost is novel in looking for casual explanations behind what makes text persuasive by manipulating linguistic features in content messages and measuring the perception of persuasion, motivation, relevance, intention, and confidence on the ability to positively change behavior. As an extension to work done by Lillian Lee in “Winning Arguments: Interaction Dynamics and Persuasion Strategies in Good-faith Online Discussions,” (Tan et al, 2016) we take the linguistic features observed in a subreddit called “Change my View” (CMV) to manipulate motivational messages on parenting. CMV is an argumentation platform on Reddit where a stance on a topic is posted by an original poster (OP) and responders can make reasonable objections through the civil discourse this platform provides. At the end of an argumentation thread, the original poster rates which responder’s viewpoint changed their mind, giving researchers a structured dataset that includes language used to persuade and ratings of success.

  Goodbye Austin, TX!!! This is my official farewell as I start a new beginning in the historic city of Philadelphia, Pennslyvania…

  When it comes to applying to grad school, I think I win the award for the world’s biggest emotional roller coaster. A handful of my closest friends know the intimate details of all the highs and lows leading up to grad school, suffice it to say it’s been crazy.

  I come from a long history of women in my family that were often forced to quit school due to the psychological and cultural shackles that come with the cycle of poverty. My paternal grandmother cannot read or write and my maternal grandmother didn’t finish a middle school level education. My Dad also experienced the worst oppression in poverty because he was the only one in his family that wanted to pursue an education. Unsupported and discouraged, he was subjugated to abuse and child labor, tossed around distant family members’ households to even non-relatives to get through the 5th grade. Later, my dad stayed with a non-familial couple who owned a pharmacy in order to pursue high school. Then, his parents decided to leave Mexico and move to the United States without him, even though they knew he still needed to finish secondary. The pharmacists took my Dad in and tasked him with opening and closing the store everyday and building maintenance in exchange for housing him. To this day, my Dad wishes he could find the pharmacists that helped him get through school, but when he moved to the United States he never saw them again. After high school, my Dad gave up a full scholarship to medical school in Monterrey to be reunited with his parents thinking he would have the ability to continue his education in the United States only to be held back by the naturalization process.

  Always keeping in the back of my mind the adversity in my family’s past and the poverty cycle I come from, it’s taken me this long to finally figure out where God was opening doors for me. After applying early last year and what felt like an eternity waiting, I was notified in April that I was one of a handful of students that won the Nation’s very coveted NSF Graduate Research Fellowship out of 12,000 applicants. Like a gust of wind my circumstances changed…

  You have heard it been said, “true happiness is being content with what you have,” but I believe this couldn’t be farther from the truth! True happiness is being passion-driven! True happiness is risking EVERYTHING to be free from all barriers, forces, and cultural paradigms fighting against you. And more broadly, true happiness is trusting God… you have to humble yourself, ask for forgiveness, and ask God to help you change your circumstances every day until He listens. In a perfect world, your effort might be enough, but there is only ONE who is above all things who can intercede for you in this fallen world and extravagantly change your circumstances for the better. “Every good and perfect gift comes from God above, whom does not change.” James 1:17 “I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15

  And so it is with great enthusiasm I embrace a new beginning in Philadelphia where I will be attending the University of Pennsylvania to get my PhD in Computer Science… I’ve had to endure much dearness to get to this point in my life, but for me that means the value I place on receiving this NSF Fellowship is more palpable for me than just a grateful feeling and an opportunity I will live out fully every day as I’ve had to with every hardship leading me here. I had to submit a college video essay to one of the grad schools I applied to and thought I’d share “how it all began.” This is my Cinderella story…