Improving Quality of Life for Adults of All Ages

The Human Factors and Aging Lab recently welcomed Maya Dye and Olivia Kuhl, freshmen involved in the Students Pursuing Applications, Research, and Knowledge (SPARK) program. The SPARK program allows outstanding freshmen to earn money and gain research experience under the guidance of a faculty mentor. For more information about SPARK, click here.

The MEDSReM-2 System Aims to Help Older Adults Manage Medications
The HFA Lab is involved in a new research project to improve medication adherence rates in older adults. University of Illinois team members include Wendy Rogers, Tim Hale, Dan Morrow, Tina Nie, Maurita Harris, Bea Floresca, Olivia Kupiec, Mimi Trinh, Kenneth Blocker, and Carson Smith. To learn more, please click here.
 

Qiong (Tina) Nie is the lead author on a new publication in the journal Gerontechnology entitled, “Design guidance for video chat system to support social engagement for older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment.” The study concluded that older adults, with and without MCI, were interested in using a social engagement technology to interact with previously unfamiliar individuals with shared interests. You can read the paper online by clicking here.

Siyao Zhang, a sophomore in Community Health, participated in the Student Aging Researchers in Training (START) Program over the 2019-2020 academic year. Siyao’s involvement focused on promoting healthy aging through human robot interaction. To learn more about the START program and view Siyao’s profile, please visit this website.

Wendy A. Rogers, Ph.D., was recently interviewed by local news media regarding a newly funded National Institute on Aging (National Institutes of Health) Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. Dr. Rogers is collaborating with Dr. Raksha Mudar and OneClick.chat co-founder Dillon Myers to advance the goal of helping older adults stay socially connected. For more information, please follow these links:
The News-Gazette
WCIA News
See the press release here.

Maya Malecki, a sophomore majoring in community health, was recently selected as a Community-Academic scholar in brain health by the Illinois Health Sciences Institute. As part of her duties, Maya will be assisting on the collaborative CRIS healthy Aging Center research project centered around social engagement among older adults with the use of Amazon Echo products.