Research

My interdisciplinary research and creative work spans UX design, STEM education, citizen science, and emerging technologies. I’ve served as PI and Co-I on competitive NSF and NASA grants advancing systems thinking and tech-driven education; co-authored peer-reviewed publications, including work on a heliophysics citizen science project; and presented at national conferences with organizations like AIGA. My work is characterized by collaboration, public engagement, and building replicable models for education and design.

Publications

  • SunSketcher: a Citizen Science Network Project for the Heliophysics Big Year. Gordon Emslie, Hugh Hudson, Greg Arbuckle, Michael Galloway, Travis Peden, Starr May, Tameka Ferguson, Kelly Miller, Tabitha Cline, Shikha Sawant, Andrea Florence, Kelcee Gabbard, Janessa Unseld, Leah Spalding, Mark Simpson, Ernest Wright. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science. View article.
    • More than 500 views in the first week of publication!
  • Piloting a Replicable Model for Undergraduate User Experience Education: An Interdisciplinary, Capacity-Building Framework. Leah Spalding, Jeffrey Galloway, and Mark Simpson, 2025, Association for Computing Machinery. Link coming soon.

Grants

  • $200,000 – A Capacity Building Model for Interdisciplinary, Technology, Industry-Driven Undergraduate Programs: Piloting Kentucky’s First User Experience Bachelor of Science. NSF 23-510: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EDU). Principal Investigator (pending)

Presentations

  • Paper Presentation: Piloting a Replicable Model for Piloting a Replicable Model for Undergraduate User Experience Education: An Interdisciplinary, Capacity-Building Framework. Association for Computing Machinery Mid-Southeast Conference. Spalding, Jeffrey Galloway, and Mark Simpson, 2025, Association for Computing Machinery. 

Projects

  • Pilot test of Interface Design and Experience Analysis (IDEA) Lab, ART 399.

Publications

  • On Development of SunSketcher: A Heliophysics Citizen Science Project. Jeffrey Galloway, Travis Blake Peden, Starr May, Kelly Miller, Tameka Ferguson, Tabitha Cline, Shikha Sawant, Andrea Florence, Kelcee Gabbard, Janessa Unseld, Hugh Hudson, Gordon Emslie, Greg Arbuckle, Leah Spalding, and Mark  Simpson. 2025. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 95–104. View article.
    • Acceptance rate: 35 – 49%

Grants

  • $995,175 – CORE: Advancing Battery Recycling, Re-purpose, Regeneration, and Re-manufacturing in Kentucky (ABR4KY). NSF 25-523: EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: EPSCoR Collaborations for Optimizing Research Ecosystems (E-CORE). Co-Investigator (pending)
  • $1,500 Generative AI Teaching Grant. WKU Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (awarded)

Presentations

  • Conference Workshop: Speculating and Social Dreaming About AI. WKU AI Conference
  • Poster Presentation: SunSketcher Celebration of Research and Sponsored Activities, WKU ORCA
  • Conference Presentation: Using Citizen Science to Better Measure the Sun: A Blueprint for Collaborative Research. UX Y’all Conference, Organized by Triangle Area UXPA 
  • Short Paper Presentation: Empowering Design Students: Engaging, Creating, and Evaluating with Generative AI AIGA 2024 National Conference, Margins

Projects

  • Faculty Lead for UX Analysis and Testing: SunSketcher. WKU Extended Reality (XR) Lab

Presentations

  • Poster Presentation: Using Design and Citizen Science to Better Measure the Sun. University and College Designers Association, Design Education Summit

Grants Applied

  • $566,270.00 – SUNSKETCHER – Precise Measurement of the Solar Shape via a Network of Smartphone Eclipse Observations. NASA Heliophysics Citizen Science Investigations. Co-Investigator. (While SunSketcher was previously funded, this particular grant was not awarded)
  • $200,000 – One of three finalists in the Transdisciplinary Opportunity Program, TOP grant, sponsored by the WKU Provost. Principal Investigator. (not awarded)