Dr. Heena Rathore of Texas State University, San Marcos

In recent years, the integration of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, powered by large language models, has led to remarkable progress in the field of mental healtrh care. One of the most notable developments has been the incorporation of AI in digital interventions, such as smartphone apps, to optimize user experience and enhance the effectiveness of mental health treatment. With the emergence of data-driven AI approaches, which focus on leveraging the vast amount of available data, language  -a critical aspect of human cognition - can now be quantitatively analyzed, using natural language processing to create conversational agents for therapeutic intervention. This talk will provide an overview of the current techniques and tools employed in large language models and mental health support, as well as exploring the future potential of this rapidly evolving field.

Biography:

Dr. Heena Rathore is presently Assistant Professor in the Departmemt of Computer Science at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, USA. She formerly held positions as Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Texas, San Antonio and Visiting Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University at Texarkana. She has also worked as a Data Scientist and Program Manager at Hiller Measurements, Austin.

She received her PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, India while she was a Tata Consultancy Services Research Scholar. For her postdoctoral research she worked on the US Qatar joint project  on Medical Device Security, which included collaborators from Qatar Universdity, the University of Idaho, and Temple University.

Her research interests include applied machine learning for distributed intelligent systems with complimentary areas of security. She has been the winner of several prestigious awards, including Educationist Empowering India, IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Individual Achievement Award, IEEE Central Texas Section Achievement Award, IIT Alumni Award for Recognizing Excellence inYoung Alumni, MPUAE Young Engineer Award, NI Global Engineering Impact Award, and NI Graphical Systems Design Achievement Award.

Email:

Address:San Marcos, United States