News and Events

PhD Candidate Megan Bayles has been chosen as the recipient of the 2022-2023 Chittenden Fellowship. This is a prestigious fellowship at Illinois meant to support a graduate student who has a research agenda focused on the intersection of health, wellness, and engineering. Congratulations, Megan!

Undergraduate Research Assistant Carson Smith received an award for Outstanding Presentation for his spoken presentation, titled Development and Iteration of Medication Adherence: Applications for Older Adults, at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Congratulations, Carson!

Nine undergraduate students from the HFA Lab presented at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Carson Smith delivered a spoken presentation, while Faith Burnham, Maya Dye, Husna Hussaini, Shaunik Kapoor, Emma Lachs, Hannah Serio, Eldrick Surheyao, and Kyreon Williams presented posters. The full program can be found here. Great job, everyone!

Graduate student Madina Khamzina received the Joanne M. and Charles M. Carraway Scholarship at the Kinesiology & Community Health Award Ceremony on April 7. Congratulations on this award, Madina!

Graduate student Megan Bayles earned an honorable mention in the Stretch Robot Pitch Competition sponsored by TechSAge in collaboration with Hello Robot and P&G. To learn more about the competition and Megan’s design, please click here. Congratulations, Megan!

Doctoral candidate and HFA Lab member Maurita Harris has been selected as a recipient of a 2021 American Psychological Association (APA) Dissertation Research Award. The award of $5,000 is to be used to help offset dissertation research costs. The title of her dissertation is "Addressing Gaps in Equity through Wearables (AGE-Wear)." Congratulations, Maurita!

Eldrick Surheyao and Kyreon Williams recently joined the Human Factors and Aging Laboratory as part of the Student Aging Researchers in Training (START) program. START takes place over a full academic year and focuses on providing undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds with hands on research experiences, academic enrichment, and community support. To learn more about START, please click here. Welcome, Eldrick and Kyreon!

The collaboration between the Human Factors and Aging Laboratory and Hello Robot was recently featured on the College of Applied Health Sciences Blog. To read the article, which discusses Dr. Rogers’ history with the creators of Stretch and the ongoing research, please click here.

The McKechnie Family LIFE Home Dedication Ceremony was held October 7th. Dr. Wendy Rogers was interviewed by WAND-TV regarding the McKechnie Family LIFE Home. The College of Applied Health Sciences also published an article about this exciting milestone.

Congratulations to Maurita Harris and Kenny Blocker! They received an Aging Technical Group Student Best Paper Honorable Mention for their paper Smartphone and Digital Home Assistant Use Among Older Adults: Understanding Adoption and Learning Preferences. They presented at the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society International Annual Meeting earlier this month.

Dr. Lizandra Vergara and Doctoral Student Juliana Tissot have joined the HFA Lab as Visiting Scholars from Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). While they are here, they will be using the LIFE Home to conduct research on supportive environments for older adults aging in place. Welcome, Lizandra and Juliana!

The Human Factors and Aging Lab joined the Aging and Neurocognition lab at the Champaign-Urbana Walk to End Alzheimer’s on October 2nd. More information about the walk in Champaign-Urbana can be found here, and general information about the walk can be found here.

Dr. Wendy A. Rogers was named the 2021 King McCristal Distinguished Scholar in the College of Applied Health Sciences. Her lecture, given at the Fall College Meeting, focused on designing robots that support successful aging. To read more about her lecture, please click here. Congratulations, Wendy!

The American Psychological Association Digital Monitor recently released a piece entitled Optimizing tech for older adults. The piece discusses work completed in the HFA Lab and with our collaborators. Please click here to read the full article.

Brian Pastor, who has been a member of the HFA Lab since 2018, will be taking the role of the Adult Protective Services Program Administrator for the State of Illinois Department on Aging.  He will direct the state-wide program that works to prevent abuse of older adults and those with disabilities, connecting those who have experienced abuse with services and prompting recovery.   Additionally, he will act as a policy expert in this field, working with lawmakers to ensure that new laws complement the program and its missions. Best wishes, Brian! We'll miss you!

The HFA Lab is pleased to welcome our second Community Academic Scholar program student, Husna Hussaini.  Husna will continue working on the collaboration between CRIS Healthy Aging Center and the HFA lab by assisting with the digital home assistant project.  Welcome Husna!

Members of the HFA lab recently presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, demonstrating the exciting projects currently underway within the lab.  Students created posters, developed their presentation, and presented on a virtual platform for members of the University community. 
 
Presenting students:

• Maya Malecki 
• Leo Galoso
• Maya Dye
• Rebecca Goneh
• Vivian Chay 
• Carson Smith
• Saahithya Gowrishankar
• Max Chan
• Vikram Ramavarapu
• Jenny Lee

Dr. Allura Lothary, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the HFA Lab, recently presented a webinar entitled “Ageism in Healthcare” as part of Clark-Lindsey Village’s Everyday Ageism, A Virtual Education Series. To view a recording of the presentation, please click here.

Research led by former HFA Lab Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Dr. Lyndsie Koon, was featured on the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) News & Notes e-newsletter. Please click the following link to view the Research in Focus article, People Aging with Mobility Disabilities Share Common Challenges and Strategies for Success.

The Human Factors and Aging Lab recently welcomed Humna Shahid and Vivian Chay, undergraduate students involved in the Student Aging Researchers in Training (START) program. START strives to involve students from underrepresented minority backgrounds in research focused on aging. For more information about START, please click here.

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.