2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WaveBrigade: A Cross-Disciplinary Software Tool for Journalism Students to Explore Media Effects through Physiological Data

Presented at Software Engineering Division (SWED) Technical Session 3

This paper presents WaveBrigade, a low-cost, software tool developed by Computer Science and Engineering capstone students in collaboration with the Reynolds School of Journalism (RSJ). The WaveBrigade software allows journalism students to view and interpret their own physiological data, such as heart rate (HR), electrodermal activity (EDA), and photoplethysmography (PPG), in real time while engaging with diverse media. The software architecture integrates EmotiBit, a low-cost physiological sensor, a React front-end for students, an Electron application for instructors, and an Express/Socket.IO back-end to enable multi-user collaborative sessions. Through the user interface, students can visualize physiological responses to videos, audio, and images. Beyond its technical contribution, WaveBrigade represents a cross-disciplinary capstone experience in which Computer Science and Engineering students engaged in real-world software development with non-technical stakeholders, navigating challenges in requirements translation, real-time systems integration, and accessibility-compliant design. This paper reports on both the system and the engineering education experience of its student developers, contributing to discussions of capstone learning outcomes and engineering identity formation through stakeholder-driven design. Future work will expand WaveBrigade integration to support larger classrooms and explore ethical and privacy considerations of student-generated data.

Authors

Sebastian Andrade
Araam Zaremehrjardi University of Nevada, Reno [biography]

Araam Zaremehrjardi is a student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UNR under the advisement of Dr. Sergiu Dascalu. He is expected to earn a master’s degree in May 2025. He earned a BS in Computer Science and Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics at UNR in 2023. He is a member of the Software Engineering Laboratory. His academic interests encompass human–computer interaction and software data pipelines, alongside a focus on smart cities and smart infrastructure, particularly within transportation systems.
Miss Joanna Lopez http://orcid.org/0009-0009-9055-4907 University of Nevada, Reno [biography]

Joanna Lopez is a graduate researcher in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her work bridges affective computing, human computer interaction focusing on how physiological signals can be used to understand emotional and cognitive engagement with digital media. She serves as a lead investigator on the Wavebrigade project, an interdisciplinary collaboration between Computer Science and the Reynolds School of Journalism that explores how wearable technology can enhance learning and media literacy. Her broader research interests include biofeedback interface design, AI-generated media perception, accessibility, and educational technology for cross-disciplinary learning.
Laura Crosswell University of Nevada, Reno
Frederick C Harris Jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0857-6931 University of Nevada, Reno [biography]

Frederick C Harris, Jr. received his BS and MS degrees in Mathematics and Educational Administration from Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC, USA in 1986 and 1988 respectively. He then went on and received his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA in 1991 and 1994 respectively.
He is currently the Associate Dean in the College of Engineering, a Foundation Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Co-Director of the Software Systems Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno. Since joining UNR, he has worked on research projects funded by federal agencies (NSF, NASA, DARPA, ONR, DoD) as well as industry. He is also the Nevada State EPSCoR Director and the Project Director for Nevada NSF EPSCoR. He has published more than 350 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers along with several book chapters and has edited or co-edited 14 books. He has had 16 PhD students and 91 MS Thesis students finish under his supervision.
His research interests are in parallel computation, simulation, computer graphics, and virtual reality. He is also a Senior Member of the ACM.

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