Upcoming Webinar – How to Develop and Test Mechanism-Driven, Technology-Enabled Interventions in Response to the Scientific Foci of ASU Roybal Center for Older Living Alone with Cognitive Decline

Zoom Registration: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/r9F5BXB5QleCFE2zsRKEvg Abstract: Purpose: 1) Explain the scientific foci of ASU Roybal Center for Older Adults Living Alone with Cognitive Decline to delay the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (AD/ADRD), and 2) Guide investigators to develop strong research proposals, focusing on the significance of a proposed solution, mechanism-driven and technology-enabled interventions, and health disparity factors.  Rationale: Poor lifestyle behaviors such as physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and stress contribute to up to 40-50% of AD/ADRD cases; however, few intervention successes have been translated into real-world impacts. Most interventions are not mechanism-driven, precise, accessible, cost-effective, and/or scalable, which could potentially be addressed by technology through integrating Artificial Intelligence, real-time analytics and feedback, enhancing user autonomy and person-centeredness, and personalizing intervention prescription and delivery. In addition, the population of older adults living alone…

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Upcoming Webinar – Advancing Fair & Effective AI for Older Adults

Zoom Registration: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/VWDnTLPlTHGGmEtmUeE_7w#/registration Abstract: Artificial intelligence holds promise to transform care for older adults, yet today’s AI systems routinely underperform for this population due to poor data representation, limited validation, and weak alignment with lived experience. Drawing on a six-month collaboration between the SCAN Foundation, CHAI will be synthesizing evidence from literature review, expert interviews, and multi-stakeholder roundtables to surface why AI fails older adults—and what must change. They will outline practical pathways for building equitable AI, including multimodal data integration, standardized validation, local testing, and patient-centered deployment. The talk concludes with a roadmap for developing trustworthy AI that meaningfully improves outcomes for aging populations. Biography: Lucy Orr-Ewing, Head of Policy & Strategy, Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) Lucy Orr-Ewing leads Policy and Research for CHAI, where she leads policy engagement at both the state…

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

  • Post category:EventsNews

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!

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XST7eqXmFQQ 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, PhD, Associate…

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

https://youtu.be/K8-TKfD6Hrs?si=bUiCRsvyCQ2sP4KR 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…

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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…

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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.…

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