Earlier this year, the NAE and IOM, along with Health 2.0, announced a challenge for college students throughout the U.S., to create new apps or tools that use large quantities of newly available health data: Using social networking, mobile apps, and other new technologies, how can the power of health data be unleashed to increase awareness of health problems and inspire positive action at the community level? Are you motivated to improve our nation’s health? Using new and fun technologies you can make a difference. Interactive tools and apps, tapping into vast amounts of newly available health data, now can be used in engaging and empowering ways to lead to better health.   […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog from Susan P. Wyche, a 2010 CIFellow working with Steve Harrison at Virginia Tech.  Susan received her Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from Georgia Tech in 2010; her dissertation advisor was Beki Grinter.  Click here for more details about the CIFellows Project. During his presentation at the CIFellows Research Meeting & Career Mentoring Workshop in December, Microsoft’s Peter Lee shared his motivations for creating the program. Beyond giving recent PhDs an opportunity to remain in academia during a time when obtaining an academic job is more difficult than usual, he saw the program as a way to “create a cadre of highly independent computing researchers.” […]