NSF Grant Supports Interdisciplinary SmartHome Project

Carl K. Chang (Com Sci), Johnny Wong (Com Sci), Peter Martin (Gerontology), 
Mack C. Shelley (Stat), and Simanta Mitra (Com Sci) have received a two-year 
NSF grant for $300,000 for "CPATH-1: Experimenting with an Open Platform for 
the New Interdisciplinary Study on Gerontechnology," an interdisciplinary 
project with the SmartHome Lab in the Computer Science department. The first 
year funding at $149,472 has been received per initial IRB approval. The 
second year funding is subject to an incremental IRB review and further NSF 
approval. This grant will serve as a pilot study curriculum initiative to 
inject computational thinking capability into computer science and 
gerontology disciplines with a plan to conduct, assess, and analyze the 
outcomes to guide future nationwide efforts. This project will create a new 
interdisciplinary curriculum track in Gerotechnology, culminating in an 
undergraduate certificate; transform the existing SmartHome Laboratory (SHL) 
at ISU into an open project platform, so that experiments and projects on 
the Smart Home can be run from remote locations; and, establish an open 
source community on software based on service-oriented architecture to allow 
for collaborative projects.