Hector M. Camarillo Abad has a background in electrical engineering, computer science, and intelligent systems. His research involves designing, developing, and evaluating new interactions using wearable technology aimed at enhancing teaching and learning of physical activities, such as dance.
Hector comes to Occidental from Universidad de las Américas Puebla, where he received a Ph.D. in intelligent systems, a master’s in computer science, and a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering and intelligent systems.
What drew you to teach at Occidental?
I did a postdoc for two years at Chapman University, and I was pleasantly surprised by my experience living in Southern California. I still had one more year to go as a postdoc, when Oxy contacted me for a Target of Opportunity hire. I’ve always loved teaching, so having the opportunity to work at a Liberal Arts College was very appealing to me. On top of that, it is a similar-sized school as Chapman, where I enjoyed teaching in small-sized classrooms, and having the opportunity to get to know students and work closely with them. During my campus visit, I was impressed at how interdisciplinary Oxy is, where people from different departments know each other by name, and they know a lot about each other and what they do. Human-Computer Interaction is very interdisciplinary, so Oxy is great in fostering that collaboration, which is great for my research interest. I was also pleasantly surprised at how excited people were at my research, which involves computer science and dancing. Talking to students over lunch was one of the highlights of my visit, because they were very nice and had genuine interest in learning. Lastly, being a higher education professor was always at the top of my lists for jobs.
With a full semester behind you, what are your impressions of Oxy students?
Oxy students are great! The first semester I taught fundamentals of computer science, which includes two lab sections for the same class (so an even smaller subset of students at each lab). I got a chance to really get to know my students and work with them one-on-one. I’m very happy and grateful most of them are currently in my Data Structures class! It is a joy to walk in the classroom with students ready to learn, and who are also willing to talk with you casually while still being respectful.
I have a lot of great students at my special topics class this semester (Interactive Systems for enhancing movement). Students are very involved, creative, and willing to apply wearable technology to physical activities they’re passionate about! I look forward to continuing working with them and seeing the results of their work!
I’m also extremely grateful to how welcoming Oxy students are to me participating in fun activities. When walking through the iFair I asked the gaming club if they wouldn’t mind a professor joining, and they said I’m allowed! Therefore, I enjoy a friendly smash competition every Monday night with them, and everyone is very welcoming and nice. Also, I enjoy assisting in the Folk and Historical Dance classes and club activities! Students’ interest in dance is great, and I have a lot of fun dancing with them.
When did you first become interested in computer science and wearable technology?
My early interactions with computer science were using it to solve some electrical engineering problems. I have always enjoyed the feeling when you’re able to solve a problem through programming! After my undergrad, I had the opportunity to do a master’s degree in computer science, and since I already enjoyed applying computer science, I decided to go for it.
My interest in wearable technology came from a Ph.D. class (Interaction and Collaboration), in which my professor came to one class with a specific wearable technology, and he gave us the freedom to do any project we wanted with it. Since I love dancing, my friend and I decided to apply wearable technology for dancing. We used the vibration capabilities to simulate a leader in a couple’s dance. So, participants would feel the vibration (simulating a cue from the leader) and had to do the correct step. During that project, I enjoyed every second of my day doing it, and decided that’s what I want to do for research. Since sensors output signals, I could apply my signal-processing knowledge from my electronic engineering background, thus being able to blend in everything I like into my research.
Do you have a favorite class that you are teaching, and why?
Yes, the fundamentals of computer science class is my favorite so far! It was my first class ever here at Oxy, and it will forever remain special for that reason. It’s also the only class I’ve completed so far, and I still see most of my students from that class this semester! It was nice to encourage students that you don’t need any previous knowledge to succeed in this class, while also coming up with more advanced challenges as extra credit for people with solid previous knowledge. I developed a lot of good professor-student relationships in that class. There’s also something special about giving a first-year, first-semester class, introducing students to college classes and computer science.
Anything else you would like to add?
I am really grateful to be part of the Oxy community, and looking forward to continuing learning how everything works here, interacting with amazing students, collaborating with talented faculty, working along skilled staff, and enjoying the whole Oxy experience.