IRES Track I: International Research Experience for Students on Assistive Technology for Aging and Disability

This IRES project will promote international multidisciplinary research opportunities for U.S. students at the overlap of wearable computing, robotics, machine learning and medical science with the aim of advancing assistive technologies. Assistive technologies can help overcome impairments, cognitive difficulties, and disabilities in the senior and disabled populations.

Training students in machine learning, wearable sensors, and data processing for assistive technologies is unique and requires an integrative approach. IRES participants will be immersed in producing and understanding human signal analytics and creating algorithms and software to assist aging and disability users. The IRES program will engage faculty researchers from the University at Buffalo and from the University of Leeds the Institute for Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Sensing (IRASS) in assistive technology research.

Programs and workshops will be established so that IRES participants are trained in machine learning for assistive systems and present their research results in international settings. Weekly presentations at the international site and guidance by international mentors will enrich the cohort research experience. Embedding students in the IRASS research labs funded by large United Kingdom (UK) projects will provide knowledge on UK and international research practices, healthcare standards, and policies.

Students will spend ten summer weeks at the University of Leeds IRASS to improve their research skills and elevate their cultural competencies. This international research endeavor will energize students to innovate and disseminate results globally.

This IRES collaborative project will produce important research advances through joint development of intelligent hardware and machine learning methodologies to address the grand challenges of sensors, human-robot interaction, machine learning, healthcare informatics, cognitive modeling, and usability study of next-generation assistive healthcare systems. This collaborative IRES project between the University at Buffalo and the University of Leeds will engage students in targeting fundamental issues in assistive technologies that need to be addressed urgently, including 1) energy-efficient wearable computing architectures; 2) cognitive robotics for mental health; 3) explainable artificial intelligence models for healthcare.

The experience and lessons learned through this research can benefit the development of advanced assistive technologies for healthcare and medicine applications and is expected to enhance the professional development of participating U.S. students. Through the success of the student training, mentoring, and research activities, this IRES project will strengthen existing computer engineering research and education programs, and eventually contribute to preparing young scientists and engineers in the fast-growing area of assistive technology for the aging and disabled populations.

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.