REU Site: Next-generation health monitoring systems with flexible electronics, novel algorithms and secure communication.

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site, Next-generation health monitoring systems with flexible electronics, novel algorithms and secure communication, at the University of Washington Bothell (UWB) will engage a diverse group of undergraduate students in interdisciplinary and collaborative research supervised by faculty members who have different but complementary specializations in biomedical engineering, signal processing and data security. One of the main objectives of this REU site is to increase the participation of women, underrepresented minorities, and first-generation students in undergraduate research in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The overarching theme of these research projects is advancing the technologies for the development of reliable, low-cost and comfortable health monitoring devices having features such as delivering real-time data over the internet for distanced care and cloud processing. Recent advances in multidisciplinary research have brought together innovations in technologies, resulting in great strides in healthcare device development that has enhanced care efficiency, quality and efficacy in hospital services. The research projects will provide opportunities for the students to develop their research skills by exposing them to interdisciplinary, collaborative, cutting-edge, and accessible research. Each group of students will work on a specific project while collaborating with the other groups to solve a bigger problem. The REU Site program will engage 10 participants per year for a rewarding 10-week summer research experience with dedicated and enthusiastic faculty members who have designed interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects. The primary objective of the REU Site program's projects is to develop reliable and comfortable health monitoring devices with real-time communication capability for remote data access to allow distance-care of patients. The development of these devices requires collaborative research work in the areas of medical devices, signal processing and data security. It is expected that a group of two students will work on each project. The projects are accessible to undergraduate students and, at the same time, are contemporary research problems with potentially novel solutions that can lead to publications. In addition, the program will emphasize the training of students in the fundamentals of conducting research. In line with this goal, weekly professional development seminars will be conducted on subjects such as abstract writing, research ethics and presentations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.