Mentor Areas
Digital Phenotyping - use of machine learning, computational linguistics and computer vision to measure human behavior and data from biometrics sensors for various predictions, e.g. biomarkers that predict onset of a neurological or mental health condition, response to treatment, and biomarkers that can be used to model genetic information and brain functioning.
Description:
Advances in the data sciences including machine learning, computational linguistics and computer vision have created exciting opportunities in psychology and psychiatry akin to what occurred 30 years ago when neuro-imaging emerged as a new window in the mind and mental health conditions. My research group is composed of PhD level psychologists, geneticists, neuroscientists and computational engineers. We use computational linguistics and computer vision to study and understand individual differences in behavior. These novel approaches allow for finer grained, more reliable and more powerful ways to measure behavior compared to traditional assessment tools, and thus provide greatly improved modeling of the relationships between brain and behavior or genes and behavior. The also allow for more precise measurement of change over time as might occur during normal development or in the context of testing the efficacy of a novel treatment for a given condition.
Our lab works with talented Penn undergraduates interested in data science/computer science, biomedical sensor engineering, psychology, communication and working with families of children with autism and/or mental health conditions. Students are closely supervised as part of multidisciplinary teams and those that stay on in our lab have numerous opportunities to contribute to scholarly publications. Paid summer internships are available.
Preferred Qualifications
Talent, enthusiasm, diligence and reliability.
Details:
Preferred Student Year
First-year, Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Fall, Spring, Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.