IU students and phitlab members Michele Degges (computer science undergraduate), Mukta Gundi (masters student in the department of applied health science, School of
Health, Physical Education and Recreation), Pranav Gupta (masters student in human computer interaction), Matthew Holfelner (masters student in human computer interaction), and Anthony Monaco (computer science undergraduate student) recently won third place and a $3,000 prize in the Institute of Medicine-National Academy of Engineering “Go Viral to Improve Health” Collegiate Challenge.
Their mobile app, HealthyState, was selected from 51 entries in the second annual national competition sponsored by the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering. The contest challenges multidisciplinary teams of undergrad and graduate students to design a mobile application that uses existing public health data to empower people to live healthier lives.
HealthyState provides images and information about the overall health of the population of each U.S. state. This information can help people make decisions such as where to look for a job or where to retire.
“This is a fantastic honor for our students,” said Kelly Caine, advisor to the students and principal research scientist in the School of Informatics and Computing and the Center for Law, Ethics and Applied Research in Health Information (CLEAR). “I’m so glad their hard work was rewarded.”
“I saw how hard our team worked, and I know the potential that HealthyState has to make an impact on real people.” said Sameer Patil, technical advisor on the project and post-doctoral researcher at the School.
The students traveled to Washington, D.C. recently to accept their award and showcase their work at the third annual Health Data Initiative Forum: Health Datapalooza.