Posts by Collection

publications

ActionPoint: An App to Combat Cyberbullying by Strengthening Parent-Teen Relationships

Published in IEEE World Forum on Public Safety Technology (WF-PST 2024), 2024

ActionPoint is a mobile app that supports parents and teens with coaching, communication prompts, and safety workflows to address and prevent cyberbullying.

Recommended citation: Juarez, M., Barragan, N., Hall, D. L., Thiruvathukal, G. K., & Silva, Y. N. (2024). ActionPoint: An App to Combat Cyberbullying by Strengthening Parent–Teen Relationships. In Proceedings of IEEE WFPST 2024. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/WFPST58552.2024.00008
Download Paper

AER for stronger communities: A culturally responsive intervention for newcomers

Published in 2026 Families in Society, 2024

AER for Stronger Communities is a culturally responsive, community-partnered intervention designed to support Afghan evacuees facing stress, trauma, and integration challenges after resettling in the United States. Developed with the refugee-serving agency Trellus, the program combines educational content, an AI-based wellness hub, and fitness trackers to address integration needs, strengthen family relationships, and promote emotional well-being in a culturally meaningful way. Ongoing evaluation through a randomized control trial aims to refine the intervention and establish its effectiveness, with the long-term goal of adapting this approach for diverse refugee communities.

Recommended citation: Rai, A., Held, M.L., Vidal de Haymes, M., Tarokh, A., Fro, S., Farzam, F., Levya-Cea, E., Sanchez-Gomez, A., Juarez, M., Thiruvathukal, G., & Tallman, P. (accepted). AER for stronger communities: A culturally responsive intervention for newcomers [brief research note] Families in Society.

Analyzing Adversarial Strategies and Countermeasures for Cyberbullying Detection

Published in International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction and Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (SBP-BRiMS 2025), 2025

This study examines the resilience of text-based cyberbullying detection models against word-level and character-level adversarial attacks, comparing traditional ML and LLM-based approaches such as CyberBERT.

Recommended citation: Juarez, M., Abdukhamidov, E., Sandoval, M., Nazari, M., Hall, D., Thiruvathukal, G. K., Abuhmed, T., Silva, Y. N., & Abuhamad, M. (2025). Analyzing Adversarial Strategies and Countermeasures for Cyberbullying Detection. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction and Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (pp. 86–95). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Download Paper

Centering voices: Culturally responsive support for central and South Asian newcomers using AI and fitness trackers

Published in 30th Annual Society for Social Work and Research Conference, 2026

This study evaluates a culturally tailored intervention for recently arrived Central and South Asian immigrants that combines educational content, fitness trackers, and an AI support platform to reduce stress and support integration. Interviews with participants revealed strong appreciation for practical educational modules, the usefulness of the AI agent, and the value of fitness trackers—highlighting the promise of culturally responsive, technology-enhanced support for newcomer communities.

Recommended citation: Rai, A., Held, M.H. Sanchez-Gomez, A., Levya Cea, E., Fro, S., Vidal de Haymes, M., Thirvathukal, G.K., Juarez, M., Tallman, P., Tarokh, A., Farzam, F. (2026, January 14-18). Centering voices: Culturally responsive support for central and South Asian newcomers using AI and fitness trackers. [Poster presentation]. 30th Annual Society for Social Work and Research Conference Washington DC, United States.

Development and Testing of an Intervention for Newly Arriving Communities

Published in 23rd Annual Hawaii International Summit: Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma conference, 2026

The RISE program is a four-week, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive intervention developed with the community agency Trellus to support low-income Chicagoans facing interconnected stressors such as unemployment, financial instability, and family conflict. Qualitative findings show that participants especially valued the program’s focus on healthy relationships, small-group discussions, and practical tools like fitness trackers, which helped them strengthen family bonds, improve communication, manage emotions, and cope with daily stressors.

Recommended citation: Rai, A., Held, M.H., Vidal de Haymes, M., Juarez, M., Thiruvathukal, G.K., Ravi, K.E., Tarokh, A., Fro, S., Farzam, F., Tallman, P., Olweean, D. (2026, March 2-4). Development and testing of an intervention for newly arriving communities. Oral Presentation. 23rd Annual Hawaii International Summit: Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma conference.

Maddie Juarez