Research Experience and Mentoring

Background: The improvement of urban areas to promote walking as a mode of transport would help citizens to become more active and healthier. Unfortunately, the infrastructure of many large cities, including Houston, Texas, is built around car-centered transportation thereby promoting behavioral patterns that do not harness the health and environmental benefits of walking, and instead leading to poor air quality, stress, health problems, and loss of time. Unfortunately, research on the impact of walking on brain activity, health and behavior is limited. This project will collect mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) data, including head movement, electroencephalography, video, weather data, and GPS-location of participants while they walk in different city environments (green/urban spaces, landscape sculptures).

Research Plan: RPs will work with graduate student mentors and be involved in all aspects of the research, including informed consent, data collection, basic analysis and visualization of neural data, scientific programming using MATLAB, and preparation of technical reports.  The RPs will receive training and gain working with various types of wearable sensors and MoBI technology and will be exposed to cutting-edge data analysis techniques and analysis tools.