Half-Day Symposium
Technology for Healthy Aging

Kauai, Hawaii, USA

January 5, 2016

As society and technology advance, there is a growing interest in adding intelligence to our living, working, and social environments. Due to the population's aging, the number of individuals unable to live independently in their homes because of cognitive and physical limitations is rising rapidly. Researchers are now beginning to recognize the importance of developing new technologies to assist with health assessment and interventions for these special needs populations. According to the Secretary of State for Health, the possibilities for using technology to assist people with special needs are "extraordinary".

Although the need for health-assistive technologies is abundant, individuals who are cross-trained in healthcare and in technology design are not. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine recognize a need for a closer partnership to span the gap between these disciplines. Into this gap enters gerontechnology, a field that focuses on the design of technology to understand and support healthy aging. This multidisciplinary area spans computer science and engineering, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, medicine, publish health, and psychology. Because we are increasingly aware of the aging population and fueled by advances in pervasive computing and machine learning, this field has recently attracted a large number of researchers.

We will provide a forum for researchers, engineers, educators, and students to learn about the field of gerontechnology, share their state-of-the-art research, and brainstorm ideas for curriculum develop and new research collaborations. Our symposium will include a tutorial on smart home and wearable technologies, activity recognition and activity-aware services, clinical applications of technologies, and curriculum design for gerontechnology. The symposium will conclude with a roundtable discussion of future directions for gerontechnology training and research.

Highlights:This symposium is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and by the Smart Environments Research Center at Washington State University. With funds from these sponsors we will be able to provide stipends to symposium participants to offset travel to the HICSS conference and Technology for Healthy Aging symposium. A limited number of stipends are available and preference is given to individuals who also participate in the Technology for Healthy Aging Minitrack. In addition, individuals who participate in this symposium will have an opportunity to install their own smart home in a box kit free of cost. Details of the kit will be described at the symposium (see smarthome.ailab.wsu.edu for additional information on the kit).

To register, visit the HICSS website.

The symposium will cover topics that include:

• Pervasive health monitoring and assessment
• Mobility and rehabilitation technologies
• Engineering health interventions
• Engineering compensatory strategies
• Exercise and fitness technologies
• Assistive technologies and devices
• Designing interfaces for older adults
• Gerontechnology curriculum development
• Gerontechnology curriculum delivery

Symposium Leaders:

Diane Cook	Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe	Aaron Crandall
Washington State University	Washington State University	Washington State University
cook@eecs.wsu.edu	schmitter-e@wsu.edu	acrandall@wsu.edu

Sponsors:

	National Institutes of Health
	National Science Foundation
	Smart Environments Research Center