Academics

Volcano watching, wearable health monitoring research earn best poster awards

Institute for Computational and Data Science Symposium poster session attracts 25 interdisciplinary entries

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Institute for Computational and Data Sciences at Penn State announced the two winners for the 2020 ICDS Symposium’s virtual poster presentation. The winning posters included research on better ways to monitor volcanoes and how wearables could be used to make sure construction workers are safe from heat stress.

The first place award for $500 went to Kirsten Stephens, a doctoral candidate in geosciences, for the poster, “Applicability of tropospheric correction methods to InSAR time-series datasets over Telica and Masaya volcanoes in Nicaragua.”

According to Stephens, the study examined the applicability of using different corrections methods, including predictive Global Weather Models, to remove tropospheric noise from radar satellite-derived ground deformation maps spanning two Nicaragua volcanoes.

“This work could help scientists make more appropriate decisions in determining whether these corrections are adding or removing tropospheric noise from their radar satellite datasets before using the corrected datasets for time-series analysis or geodetic modeling,” Stephens said. “Removing tropospheric noise is particularly important in volcanic regions where accuracy in ground deformation is critical for monitoring and forecasting volcanic activity.”

In second place, the judges selected Shahrad Shakerian’s “Data-driven Wearable Sensor-based Heat Stress Assessment of Construction Workers.” Shakerian is a doctoral student in architectural engineering. This research aims at helping construction workers avoid heat stress-related complications through wearable technology. Specifically, the work creates a framework for continuous and non-invasive assessment of heat stress based on workers’ physiological signals by using a non-invasive wearable biosensor.

The winners were announced at the symposium. Amazon Web Services, IBM and Dell provided the cash prizes for the contest.

Judges for the contest included Penn State faculty members and representatives from ICDS’s industry partners. A total of 25 entries were submitted to the contest. You can view all the submissions until the end of October here.
 

Last Updated October 22, 2020