Elizabeth Cloude

Richmond, Virginia

College:

College of Community Innovation and Education

Degree Program:

Education PhD, Learning Sciences Track

Research Focus:

Leveraging process data during learning activities

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Elizabeth Cloude is passionate about studying the role of emotions in people’s lives. “Emotional experiences can be uncomfortable and may even have a detrimental impact on our lives, families, careers, relationships, among many others,” she says. This awareness motivated her to research new ways of building and integrating intelligent technologies to help people regulate detrimental emotional experiences and enhance their wellbeing.

Cloude completed her master’s degree in Instructional Design and Educational Technology at UCF in 2020 and her PhD in Education in the Learning Science Track in fall 2022. She chose UCF for her doctoral degree to continue mentorship and graduate training with Dr. Roger Azevedo, a faculty member within the Learning Sciences and Educational Research department. She describes how Dr. Azevedo challenged her in ways that have fostered significant growth as a scientist and scholar and feels incredibly grateful for his transparency throughout her graduate career. She also enjoys the interdisciplinary nature of her program as it facilitates collaboration, making it the perfect environment for her to continue her work.

Cloude worked as a graduate researcher in the Laboratory of Metacognition and Advanced Learning Technologies. Through her research, she has developed skills for capturing, processing, and analyzing multiple streams of data, such as facial expressions of emotions, to study the dynamic nature of learning processes with emerging technologies. Her goal was to build an intelligent system capable of capturing, monitoring, and classifying learning processes to provide interventions and optimize training, learning, and performance. “I believe that equipping the next generation and surrounding communities with the knowledge and skills needed to cope with emotions effectively may enhance the wellbeing and longevity of surrounding communities,” she says.

In 2021, Cloude was honored during Student Research Week at the Student Scholar Symposium. “Countless nights and weekends I have dedicated to my PhD and research, and it is nice to feel that the work has a value at UCF, that I have been doing over the last several years,” she says. She also received an honorable mention at the 2020 Virtual Research Showcase and 2019 Annual Research Showcase Scholarship within the College of Community Innovation and Education.

Cloude advises her peers to surround themselves with people who will help them achieve their goals. Along with her sister, Sarah, she credits the UCF community for motivating her to work hard and follow her passion, saying that the people she surrounded herself with made her success possible. She emphasizes how essential it is to build close relationships with people who inspire and encourage you to tackle your dreams, as she has done at the university.

After graduating, Cloude plans to pursue a postdoctoral research position. She wants to develop her expertise in medical training and education using multimodal data and emerging technologies.

Highlights:

• 2021 Graduate Student Scholar Symposium award recipient
• 2020 Virtual Research Showcase Honorable Mention within the College of Community Innovation and Education
• 2019 Annual Research Showcase Scholarship within the College of Community Innovation and Education