Events

Workshop Registration Now Open – Join us on January 23, 2026 in Newton, MA!

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When:  Friday, January 23rd, 2026Where: Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, MA (In-person) | Zoom Webinar (Virtual option)Registration: Free Registration Link here MassAITC is hosting the Digital Frontiers in Frailty: Opportunities for Early Detection and Clinical Action Workshop. The free workshop will be held on January 23rd, 2026 at the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, MA and aims to bring together technologists (engineers, computer scientists, academic researchers, start-up founders) and clinicians (geriatricians, neurologists primary care providers) to redefine how we measure, assess, and provide time appropriate care for frailty. The workshop will include plenary speaker sessions from frailty and technology research experts, contributed poster and technology demo presentations, and a moderated discussion. By 2060, it is estimated that nearly a quarter of the US population (over 95 million people) will…

Continue ReadingWorkshop Registration Now Open – Join us on January 23, 2026 in Newton, MA!

Register – Can You Walk Me Through It? Explainable SMS Phishing Detection using LLM-based Agents

Zoom Registration: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/0Bvb5OTpSdm3Mtrf1J2RfQ Abstract: Phishing attacks pose a significant threat to users, especially older adults. Existing defenses mainly focus on phishing detection but often cannot explain to lay users why a message is malicious. In this talk, I will discuss how we use Large Language Models (LLMs) to detect SMS phishing while generating evidence-based explanations. The key challenge is that SMS is short, lacking the necessary context for security reasoning. We develop a prototype called SmishX that gathers external contexts to augment the chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning of LLMs and facilitate the explanation process. I will further discuss our user studies to evaluate the effectiveness and usability of SmishX. Finally, I will discuss the open challenges and opportunities of using AI to help older adults better protect themselves from cybersecurity threats in general. Biography: Gang Wang,…

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Past Webinar – Listening to the Heart: In-Ear Infrasonic Technology for Blood Pressure and Beyond

Abstract: This talk will highlight the results of MindMics’ recent feasibility study on non-invasive blood pressure monitoring using in-ear infrasonic signals. Dr. Barnacka will discuss how this novel technology, validated through clinical research, can be integrated into both consumer earbuds and hearing aids, creating a new class of connected health devices. The presentation will explore the underlying infrasonic science, algorithmic advances, and the broader impact on cardiovascular health, preventive care, and data-driven wellness ecosystems. Biography: Anna Barnacka, Founder and CEO, MindMics Inc. Dr. Anna Barnacka is the Founder and CEO of MindMics, a Boston-based healthtech company pioneering “In-Ear Infrasonic Hemodynography (IH)” — a patented technology that transforms earbuds and hearing aids into clinical-grade heart-health monitors. With dual PhDs in Physics and Astronomy and a NASA Einstein Fellowship at Harvard, Anna bridges physics, acoustics, and digital…

Continue ReadingPast Webinar – Listening to the Heart: In-Ear Infrasonic Technology for Blood Pressure and Beyond

Publication: AI-Driven Sleep Staging Using Instantaneous Heart Rate and Accelerometry: Insights from an Apple Watch Study

Authors: Tzu-An Song, Yubo Zhang, Ziyuan Zhou, Luke Hou, Masoud Malekzadeh, Aida Behzad, Joyita Dutta Abstract Polysomnography, the gold standard for sleep evaluations, involves complex setup and data acquisition protocols and requires manual scoring of sleep data. Smartwatches and other multi-sensor consumer wearable devices with automated sleep staging capabilities offer a promising and scalable alternative for routine and long-term sleep evaluations in individuals. We conducted a multi-night study using a smartwatch for sleep assessment and created an AI-driven automated sleep staging framework based on instantaneous heart rate (IHR) and accelerometry data using sleep stage labels based on electroencephalography (EEG) as the reference. 47 healthy adults were recruited to record their sleep for up to seven consecutive nights using an Apple Watch Series 6 and a Dreem 2 Headband. Our sleep staging framework relies on a…

Continue ReadingPublication: AI-Driven Sleep Staging Using Instantaneous Heart Rate and Accelerometry: Insights from an Apple Watch Study

Past Webinar – No One Left Behind: Building Low-Cost Wearables for Low-Income Communities, Longfei Shangguan

https://youtu.be/_Xja_2HiQ9k?si=Y95jpPKXsb25agHp Abstract: Wearable devices such as Apple Watch and Fitbit wristband allow users to track their health statistics around the clock. They have become increasingly popular over the past few years. However, in the context of low-income areas of United States, these wearable devices are still pricey and thus constitute a critical bottleneck in their adoption. In this talk, I will present our past and ongoing works on repurposing electronic wastes, particularly everyday earphones into health trackers - from heart rate monitoring, heart sound recovery, all the way down to pulse wave velocity estimation in home settings. I will also discuss the potential of these technologies for filling the gap of remote health care. I believe this research creates a holistic approach toward recycling and repurposing electronic waste while fostering a sustainable and equitable future.…

Continue ReadingPast Webinar – No One Left Behind: Building Low-Cost Wearables for Low-Income Communities, Longfei Shangguan

Past Webinar – Intelligent Mobile Systems for an Aging World, Justin Chan (September 23, 2025 @4pm ET)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUH-9jR48Fo Abstract: By 2050, older adults will make up about 22% of the global population, driving an urgent need for accessible and reliable health technologies. In this talk, I will present our work on intelligent mobile systems designed for older adults. The first enables low-cost health screening using everyday earphones and wireless earbuds. The second is an ambient sensing system that uses smart devices to detect emergent, life-threatening events such as cardiac arrest. The third leverages compact AI-enabled radios for cardiovascular monitoring, including blood pressure. Through these examples, I will show how computational and sensing techniques that generalize across hardware and operate in real-world environments can address pressing societal challenges. Biography: Justin Chan, PhD, Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University Justin is an assistant professor in CS and ECE at Carnegie Mellon University, where he…

Continue ReadingPast Webinar – Intelligent Mobile Systems for an Aging World, Justin Chan (September 23, 2025 @4pm ET)

Award: Jiani Zeng, co-founder and CPO of Butlr wins 2025 McKnight’s Women of Distinction award in the Commercial Excellence category

The technology designed by Zeng has been key in improving senior living and care operations, helping staff members effectively monitor residents through motion detection, enabling them to respond quickly to acute health risks without compromising resident privacy.Forster Stubbs, McKnight Senior Living The work of Jiani Zeng, a Chinese designer, researcher, and co-founder and chief product officer of Butlr Technologies, often takes place in the background, but the results always end up at the forefront. Thanks in part to her efforts, Butlr is the first company to fuse artificial intelligence and body heat sensing technology to provide insights into how humans use indoor space for living and working while ensuring anonymity. This technology has significant applications in the senior living and care sector and helped earn Zeng a 2025 McKnight’s Women of Distinction award in the Commercial Excellence…

Continue ReadingAward: Jiani Zeng, co-founder and CPO of Butlr wins 2025 McKnight’s Women of Distinction award in the Commercial Excellence category