Rice University’s Akane Sano has been selected for the first class of the Chief of Naval Research Fellows program. She is one of 12 researchers selected nationwide for the new Office of Naval Research (ONR) fellowship.
Sano’s research focuses on human-centered artificial intelligence for health and well-being, where “human-centered” describes an intentional approach to implementing AI with a regard for people’s needs, abilities and real-world circumstances.
Sano’s group develops software that draws meaning from complex data about the human body and behavior, aiming to detect changes in health or performance, anticipate risk and help inform decisions to promote health and well-being.
“I’m generally very interested in the human, human physiology and behavior,” said Sano, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a member of the Houston Methodist-Rice Digital Health Institute. “I want to understand how physical and mental health change over time and the factors driving those changes and how to support and improve them.”
Using computational models, Sano’s work helps translate information collected over time from sources such as wearable sensors, mobile devices and medical records, and biological data into legible patterns in sleep, physical activity, heart rate and other physiological processes.
“We try to understand what is causing what, not just correlation,” Sano said. “The fellowship will allow me to apply multimodal modeling of physical and mental health to real operational contexts and better understand how sailors and marines experience cognitive load, fatigue, uncertainty and risk in dynamic environments.”
As an ONR fellow, Sano will advise on research related to human performance and the use of sensing technologies in demanding operational settings. The appointment follows her recent work at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego through the ONR Summer Faculty Research Program.
“As a fellow, I hope to help develop collaborations between ONR, universities and international partners,” said Sano, who is also a member of the Ken Kennedy Institute and the Institute of Health Resilience and Innovation at Rice.