Violeta Rodriguez Palacios

Email Address: vjrodrig@uic.edu
College: Medicine Department: Psychiatry
Title: Assistant Professor

Webpage: https://www.psych.uic.edu/profile/violeta-j-rodriguez
Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes

Research Interest:
Dr. Violeta J. Rodriguez’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that contribute to, maintain, and exacerbate health disparities among minoritized youth and families. Her work centers on developing psychometrically robust, culturally responsive, and scalable approaches to assessing parenting and youth mental health across diverse contexts. Her research program advances three major aims, unified by the goal of improving health outcomes for underserved populations globally, including Global South countries, racially and ethnically minoritized communities, immigrant families, Spanish-speaking caregivers and youth, LGBTQIA+ families, and families disproportionately affected by chronic illness.

First, Dr. Rodriguez examines causal and perpetuating factors that drive disparities in youth and family mental health using developmental, ecological, and intensive longitudinal approaches.

Second, a central pillar of her research program, and the focus of her NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5), is the advancement of innovative, contextually grounded measurement science. She integrates psychometric modeling (e.g., item response theory, explanatory IRT, latent variable modeling), qualitative methods, and emerging computational tools to develop and validate assessments with strong cross-cultural and contextual validity. This work increasingly incorporates artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted methodologies and natural language processing (NLP), including automated analysis of qualitative interviews, computational item development, and NLP-based detection of parenting and emotional processes.

In addition to psychometric innovation, Dr. Rodriguez collaborates extensively with researchers in human-AI interaction, natural language processing, and computational social science to examine how AI can support mental health measurement and intervention, including through ongoing NIH-funded work with caregivers. These collaborations enable her laboratory to integrate AI, NLP, and human-computer interaction methodologies with developmental and clinical science to create more precise, ethical, and culturally informed tools for assessment and intervention.

Finally, Dr. Rodriguez focuses on translating evidence-based health promotion strategies and interventions into underserved settings using community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles and implementation science frameworks, including the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Her work increasingly examines how AI-enhanced measurement and decision-support tools can facilitate equitable intervention delivery, reduce burdens on community providers, and improve access to culturally responsive care.

Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 4

Qualifications of a Student:
Sophomore standing or above; preferred majors include Psychology, Computer Science, Public Health, or related fields. Prior experience with human subjects research, community outreach, or user experience preferred but not required. Strong communication and organizational skills required.

Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
Students will support the ParentPal project, an AI-integrated mobile application designed to help parents improve their parenting practices through a built-in chatbot. Responsibilities include assisting with participant recruitment through the University of Illinois psychiatry department, coordinating scheduling and consent procedures, and leading participatory design and usability testing sessions with parent users. During sessions, students will facilitate structured feedback activities to evaluate the app’s features and chatbot interactions. Students will also assist with data organization and session documentation. This is an excellent opportunity for students interested in clinical psychology, health technology, and community-engaged research.

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