Day 4 – May 25, 2017

This morning we started a little later than normal, which meant more sleep (yay)! We started the day off with a presentation from Anna on personal websites, and we explored both WordPress and Wix sites. We discussed several of the reasons one may need a personal website, and some of the content you might want to include on it. I already have my personal website (you can visit it here), but the presentation included several helpful tips and reminded me that I needed to update my website.

We then switched gears and learned about Machine Learning from Professor Sriraam Natarajan. This was my first experience with the topic, and it was fascinating. We discussed the three major types of machine learning – supervised learning (a machine repeats a training algorithm repeatedly until it can make predictions based on a set of data within an acceptable level of accuracy) , unsupervised learning (used to cluster data when there is no target outcome to predict), and reinforcement learning (learning through trial and error). I found the concept of reinforcement learning particularly interesting, especially because it can be the most fun to watch (I personally enjoyed this video of robots playing soccer which they learned to do through reinforcement learning). Hopefully I will have the opportunity to further explore machine learning in the future, as what we learned today was fascinating.

After our lunch break we learned about Elevator Pitches, which are prepared 30 second soundbites that you can say to tell another individual about your work and get them interested in what you are doing. In the short time frame you have to introduce yourself and your broad research interests, then tell them a bit about what you are working on, before wrapping up in a way that hopefully sparks a conversation or leaves them intrigued by your work. We had a few minutes to write an elevator pitch about a project we have done before delivering it to a partner, and it was hard to condense all your work into 30 seconds.

We switched gears from Elevator Pitches to learn about Prototyping with Fernando. Prototyping is a way to visualize the design process, and can take a variety of forms. The three we discussed were paper, digital, and video prototyped. For paper prototypes you use paper, markers, and other inexpensive items to create your product so that users can test it. Digital prototyping involves creating the product in an online software, which makes it more realistic and can give it the ability to have some interactions. Video prototyping can be used to show how products would work, and is especially helpful for showing the functionality of complex projects.

We ended the day watching all of our Arduino Project videos from yesterday. They were all entertaining, and a nice way to wrap up the day.

Today we also got our project assignments. I’m excited to be working with Tom Ongwere, Prof. James Clawson, and Prof. Patrick Shih on a project called “How Patients and Medical Providers Prioritize Treatment and Management of Type 2 Diabetes and Discordant Chronic Cormorbidities.” The project looks at patients with three or more chronic diseases, and how they and their medical providers provide care and support for each disease, especially when each disease can have care recommendations that contradict each other (for example, Diabetes patients need to exercise, but if the patient also has Arthritis this can be extremely difficult). I’m excited to learn more about the project, and to dive into the work!