The following is a special contribution to this blog by Deborah Estrin, Professor of Computer Science and Founding Director of the NSF-funded Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) at UCLA, and Ida Sim, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Informatics (CCTI) at UCSF.  Estrin and Sim co-organized an Open mHealth Summit April 14-15 in Washington, DC. Mobile health (mHealth) has the potential to transform the nature and reach of health care activities; however an increasing concern is that proliferating independent mHealth apps are emerging highly siloed with limited data sharing and limited interoperability. Such a stovepipe approach threatens to fundamentally limit the power and potential […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by Ashok Goel, Associate Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science in the School of Interactive Computing and Director of the Digital Intelligence Laboratory at Georgia Tech. He co-organized a NSF-funded Bioinspired Design Workshop earlier this month. Examples of bioinspired design are all around us. We see it in Velcro, which was inspired by cockle burrs. We see it in self-cleansing paints that mimic the hydrophobic effect on surfaces of lotus leafs. We see it in robots that can climb vertical walls much like geckos. We see it in the windmill blades that are similar to the tubercles on humpback whale flippers. […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog from Doug Fisher (Vanderbilt University) and Mary Lou Maher (University of Maryland, College Park), who recently co-organized the AAAI 2011 Spring Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Design. About 25-30 people attended the first-ever AAAI Spring Symposium on AI and Sustainable Design held on March 21-23, 2011 at Stanford University. They came from three primary areas: AI and Design Computational Sustainability Design for Sustainability There was also a virtual participation option, which was made available to co-authors, colleagues, and students of the authors of the papers as a way of broadening participation without requiring additional travel — and as a result […]

The National Science Board (NSB) held an Expert Panel Discussion on Data Policies at the National Science Foundation yesterday & today, exploring the opportunities and challenges of a future rooted in data-intensive science and engineering.  Organized by the NSB’s Task Force on Data Policies, the meeting included leading figures in the scientific enterprise across the U.S., the U.K., and Germany.  A key goal was to identify guiding principles for establishing policies on data and artifacts (such as codes). The experts assembled by the NSB described the wealth of opportunities, including entirely new types of science, that stand to be enabled by data-intensive S&E — by virtue of opening up vast new sources […]

As we previously blogged in this space (here and here), approximately 130 individuals — including 43 speakers — from 16 countries around the world came together at the NSF last month to discuss the challenge of “Building a Smarter Health and Wellness Future.” The two-day workshop, sponsored by the NSF and organized jointly by the NSF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), sought to identify priorities for an international research and policy agenda that would help improve health and wellness in people, communities and societies using information technology.  The international experts in health- and wellness-related disciplines considered the most efficient and effective roles for both the public […]

Day 2 of the two-day NSF–OECD Workshop on Building a Smarter Health and Wellness Future is about to get underway at the National Science Foundation.  Over 130 people from 16 nations throughout the world turned out yesterday, when the focus was on emerging models for smart health and wellness.  Most everyone is expected back today — along with a few new arrivals — and the attention is turning to commonalities and differences in international challenges (AM session) and crafting an international research and policy agenda (PM session). Once again, we’ll have live coverage throughout the day right here.  If you’re just joining us, be sure to review what was discussed yesterday. […]