Author: Hariri Institute

Graduate Student Fellow Studies Sleep with Math

BY GINA MANTICA Beverly Setzer always loved math. But after finishing her undergraduate studies at North Carolina State University, she wanted to apply math to real world problems. With the support of her mentors, Setzer uses math to study how the brain transitions to and from sleep as a Graduate Student Fellow at the Hariri […]

COVID-19 risk factors change over time in Massachusetts communities

BY GINA MANTICA As COVID-19 cases increase across the country again, public health officials grapple with how to direct their time, energy, and resources to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But targeted interventions require an understanding of which local communities are at the greatest risk for contracting the disease.  A team of researchers from […]

Modeling metabolism with math

BY GINA MANTICA A bunch of interconnected chemical reactions throughout our body keep us alive. These metabolic networks are key to understanding the evolution of life on earth.  But studying them in the lab can be costly and time consuming. Computer modeling, while often simplistic, can provide researchers with efficient insights into how metabolism is […]

Junior Faculty Fellow Informs Online Privacy with Economics & Marketing

BY GINA MANTICA & DEIRDRE SHAHAR An economist by training, Junior Faculty Fellow Garrett Johnson became interested in digital marketing during his graduate studies. Once Johnson realized the impact his work could have on internet users, he stayed on that path ever since. Now, he applies data science and computing to his research as an […]

Event Recap: Continuous Mobile Data in Health Promotion & Disease Detection

Real-time health data collected from cell phones could be used to promote healthy eating and exercise, detect cognitive decline, or prevent low blood sugar. But it can be difficult to analyze such large amounts of mobile health data, and researchers have to consider the privacy protections for patient data in their analyses. Faculty members in […]

Cars that learn how to drive themselves by watching other cars

BY GINA MANTICA Self-driving cars are powered by machine learning algorithms that require vast amounts of driving data in order to function safely. But if self-driving cars could learn to drive in the same way that babies learn to walk – by watching others around them and trying to mimic certain movements – they would […]

Telepractice Presents a Challenge to Voice Therapy

Boston University researchers urge caution when evaluating voice disorders over teleconferencing platforms due to differences in acoustic measurements. BY GINA MANTICA, gmantica@bu.edu Over the past year, people across the world learned how teleconferencing platforms like Zoom can help folks stay connected – playing games with friends, hosting virtual weddings, and even visiting a doctor. But […]

Impaired Hearing Function Underlies Hyperfunctional Voice Disorders

Researchers at Boston University and Boston Medical Center discover that patients with hyperfunctional voice disorders not only have changes to laryngeal motor patterns, but also disrupted ability to integrate auditory information. BY GINA MANTICA, gmantica@bu.edu A singer’s instrument is their voice, but their musical career increases their risk for developing a disorder that can destroy […]

Event Recap: Race, Socioeconomic Factors, & Misinformation in Disease Outcomes and Public Health

COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted communities of color, and the spread of health misinformation online has influenced health services and behaviors. Boston University researchers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to determine how biases and misinformation affect health and healthcare. Researchers in the Leveraging AI to Examine Disparities and Bias in Health Care Focused Research Program held […]