[UG/MS/PHD] Research Study Participant Opportunity

The following announcement is from studyrec@usc.edu. Please contact them directly if you have any questions.

My name is Emily Weiss, and I am a PhD student at University of Southern California working with Dr. Maja Matarić. Dr. Matarić is conducting a research study to develop a socially assistive robot (SAR) companion to support at-home cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) exercises. I am supporting these research efforts.

 

I am recruiting individuals who meet these criteria:

• Are currently enrolled students at USC

• Are over the age of 18

• Have normal or corrected to normal hearing and vision

• Are able to communicate in English

• Are willing to meet at USC to interact with our SAR platform

• Consent to have your audio/video/interaction data recorded

• Have mild to severe levels of generalized anxiety

• Have lower than minimal risk of suicide*

*If a high risk of suicide is determined based on the screening questionnaires, the study personnel are required to report to USC Counseling & Mental Health, and USC Trojans Care for Trojans (TC4T) in order to provide appropriate and immediate support for the student.

 

If you decide to participate in this study, you will complete a set of robot-guided CBT homework exercises. You will also be asked to complete surveys, and a short exit interview about your experience. You will be asked to wear a Fitbit provided by the researchers for the duration of the session. The entire session will last for approximately 90 minutes. Two days after the session, you will be asked to complete a short post-study survey distributed via email.

Participants in this study will receive up to a $50 Amazon gift card via email after the study, dependent upon completion of the study session and the post-study survey. Participants that do not complete the post-study survey will only receive a $40 Amazon gift card.

If you are interested in participating in this study, please fill out our screening survey at this link: https://redcapsurveys.med.usc.edu/surveys/?s=NFAXDC7EXEH3H89X.

 

If you have questions, please contact us at: studyrec@usc.edu.

Published on February 26th, 2026Last updated on March 12th, 2026