Class of 2021: From left to right: Neva Manalil, Gabrielle Choo-Kang, Amrutha Kumaran, Marlene Robles Granda, Asif Huq, and Tia King.

On August 3, 2021, the MS in Health Technology’s first class celebrated the completion of their degrees with a capstone presentation and award ceremony at the I-Hotel. Six students presented their final capstone project videos to members of the MS-HT Advisory Board, faculty members, capstone sponsors, and other guests.  The student capstone projects were diverse and impactful:
Gabrielle Choo-Kang was sponsored by the University of Chicago Medicine for her project on modeling accelerometry data related to frailty, disability, and falls.

Marlene Robles Granda was sponsored by the Applied Research Institute for her project on developing software analytics for prediction of anxiety and depression.

Asif Huq was sponsored by State Farm/ Sundial Labs for his project on developing a digital home assistant tools for older adults’ legacies.

Tia King, was sponsored by AARP for her project that validated use cases for digital health technology.

Amrutha Kumaran was sponsored by Human Factors in Sociotechnical Systems Lab for her project on developing a mobile application to support pediatric care transitions.

Neva Manalil was sponsored by the Applied Research Institute for her project on developing an application to predict anxiety and depression using speech and voice data.

Following the presentations, the Michael Vitoux Capstone Excellence Award was announced.  Asif Huq received the Award, and Gabrielle Choo-Kang received an honorable mention.

Michael Vitoux is a two-time alumni of University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, earning a BA in History in 1968 and a MA in Sociology in 1972. Vitoux competed on the University of Illinois fencing team as an undergraduate student and participated in two Big Ten Championships. He is still active as a fencing instructor and referee. He became interested in supporting the Health Technology program upon hearing Dr. Wendy Rogers (Director of the Health Technology Education Program) speak about it in 2021.

Michael Vitoux Capstone Excellence Award winner Asif Huq, with Michael Vitoux and Nicole Holtzclaw-Stone