老司机福利网

An assistant professor of engineering at 老司机福利网 plans to develop a device to help diagnose autism at an early age with the aid of a prestigious grant.

Seyedeh Fatemeh Khatami Firoozabadi is the lead investigator for the two-year, $200,000 grant which she believes will 鈥渇ill a significant gap鈥� that now exists.

鈥淥ne in 36 children is diagnosed with autism, but there really is little technology to help in early diagnosis,鈥� Firoozabadi said. 鈥淭here also is a gap between when symptoms occur (often by age 1) and when doctors diagnose them (some children are not diagnosed until age 4). We plan to address that.鈥�

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication.

Her research team works to develop a wearable device using different types of sensors and an MCU鈥攎icro controller unit鈥攖o collect data from young participants.

鈥淲ith this research, we hope to successfully create a wearable device鈥攅ither a wristband or a clip-on likely鈥攁nd make it small so it does not detract attention from young children during the experiment,鈥� Firoozabadi said. 鈥淭his research study is aiming to analyze the data from the wearable sensor to monitor environmental conditions such as lighting, sounds and young children's responses, which can be key factors in detecting autism. We plan to build the device so it will detect and study those indicators.鈥�

The hope, she said, is for the research and development to be successful so that it attracts additional funders and serves more children.

Firoozabadi began preliminary work May 15 and will collaborate with a faculty member, two undergraduate students and one graduate student each year.

Students Kyra-Angela Magsayo 鈥�25 and Crystal Zhu 鈥�25 said they are gaining valuable experience working on the project.

鈥淚 was interested in getting involved in research, and this was a perfect opportunity on an interesting subject,鈥� said Magsayo, a bioengineering major and Powell Scholar. 鈥淭he combination of studying autism with engineering principles is rewarding.鈥�

Added Zhu, a double major in bioengineering and applied mathematics: 鈥淏ecause of this work, I now plan to look at areas involving research when I work on my master鈥檚 degree.鈥�

The grant could have residual impacts for Pacific, said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Gretchen Edwalds-Gilbert.

鈥淭he National Science Foundation funds basic scientific research through a competitive peer review process. The award is prestigious for Pacific and helps pave the way for other faculty to apply for and receive external research funding,鈥� she said.

鈥淚n addition, Professor Firoozabadi included support for undergraduate and graduate research students in her grant, providing hands-on mentored research experiences for students. These experiences are critical to student success and retention and for job and graduate school placement after Pacific.鈥�

The work will follow the multi-departmental approach President Christopher Callahan has urged faculty to pursue. Madhu Sundarrajan, an assistant professor of speech-language pathology, will coach Firoozabadi on her interaction with children being studied.

Elizabeth Orwin, dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science, said Firoozabadi, who joined Pacific in 2019, 鈥渄oes interesting work in multiple spaces. She also has used sensors and other equipment to measure signals in the body. This is a big step for her to receive her first NSF grant.鈥�