Julia Kioko Poremba

• Designed an original experimental intervention building three distinct AI chatbot variants to test their effect on consumer trust in the AI and the deploying brand.
• Primary outcome measure is consumer purchasing behavior.

• Coded qualitative data, in English and Spanish, for a now-published paper on cross-cultural perceptions of empathy.
• Awarded the nationally competitive Psi Chi Mamie Phipps Clark Research Grant: Designed and led an original study on avoided negative affect (ANA) and its effect on engagement with difficult social issues.
• Personally presented at the Western Psychological Association (2024) and twice more at Santa Clara University (2024). Results were presented in France by my lab mentor.
• Led two subsequent studies; results presented by my mentored students at WPA and an SCU symposium (2026).

"Already knows more about research & analysis than students graduating the program." — USC faculty, privately, after her first semester

• Leading in-depth interviews with short-form video users and non-users to identify what actually drives platform choice, including how that shifts in mobile-first growth markets.
• Preceded by a task-based usability study of YouTube Shorts (moderator guide, presentation, and video deliverables).

• Partnered with the university's Human-Machine Interaction & Innovation (HMI²) Lab on an assistive robot learning to parse unstructured spoken language.
• Covered artificial neural networks and core ML architecture; perfect grade received in all coursework, ongoing faculty recommendations since.

• Conducted 9 in-depth interviews and 4 hours of observational research; delivered findings via slide deck.

• Oversaw consumer surveys from creation to presentation. Interpreted results. Produced marketing material.

• Built a hierarchical value map, gap analysis, and market segmentation strategy from original consumer interviews.
• Authored the final report used to brief the project team; near-perfect grade on the write-up, perfect grade on the live presentation.

• Conducted original mixed-methods research combining IDIs with secondary data collection; presented findings at the 2021 Foothill College Research & Service Leadership Symposium.

• Conceptualized and led a social media campaign as VP/Social Media Manager, directing a 2-person team (research + design); awarded Outstanding Program by the Dean.