REU Site: Proactive Health Informatics

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

REU Site: Proactive Health Informatics The Proactive Health (ProHealth) Informatics Research Experience for Undergraduates site at Indiana University Bloomington will provide 10 undergraduate students with the opportunity to conduct research for 10 weeks with world-renown faculty members in the fields of human computer interaction, pervasive computing, machine learning, privacy, and technical policy. At least 5 of the undergraduate students will be from underrepresented groups, including first generation college students, and students who do not have access to research opportunities. The undergraduate students will have the opportunity to: (1) learn how to design and build new mobile or wearable health systems; (2) use the data collected from these systems to create personalized recommendations; (3) investigate possible privacy issues from collecting this data and propose solutions to protect one's privacy; or (4) understand the law implications for collecting, using, and storing this data. These projects can potentially improve the health of the broader United States population. Undergraduate researchers will learn how to: conduct ethical research; document their progress; represent themselves professionally online; prepare for graduate school; network in professional settings; appropriately disseminate one's findings through writing and presentation; and prepare oneself for future career opportunities. The objective of the Proactive Health (ProHealth) Informatics REU Site is to train undergraduates from diverse backgrounds to become the next generation of researchers who design, develop, and evaluate intelligent, pervasive systems that empower lay people to proactively manage their health. Innovations include the design of new mobile or wearable health systems that integrate seamlessly into a person's life while providing appropriately shared, and valuable feedback. To this end, the interdisciplinary ProHealth team will (1) train undergraduates to conduct cross-cutting computing research; (2) introduce students to graduate education and research career opportunities through preparatory workshops and one-on-one mentoring; (3) increase faculty and graduate student awareness of undergraduate research mentoring through Affinity Research Group model workshops; (4) provide opportunities for students to disseminate research results and faculty to disseminate best practices for mentoring; and (5) inspire middle and high school students to consider computing through REU panels and shadowing opportunities during computing-related summer camps.