The National Institute on Aging has funded a new Center, the Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (MassAITC) for $20 million over 5 years. Based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, it also includes investigators from Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals, Northeastern University, and Brandeis University. Margie E. Lachman, the Minnie and Harold Fierman Professor of Psychology, is the PI of the Center’s Aging Pilot Core. This Pilot core will fund several pilot grants each year. Lachman is also director of the Lifespan Lab and the Boston Roybal Center at Brandeis.
The MassAITC focuses on the development, validation, and translation of AI and technologies to bridge the information gap between patients, caregivers, and clinicians to support successful aging at home. The Pilot program will focus on testing technology solutions that address key risk factors facing older adults such as obesity, high blood pressure, sleep disorders, depression, loneliness, anxiety, falls, and a sedentary lifestyle. Technology-based interventions are a promising way to improve quality of life, enhance individual choices, reduce caregiver stress, and cut healthcare costs in older adults.
Additionally, Lachman recently received the Distinguished Mentorship in Gerontology Award from the Gerontological Society of America. This award is given to an individual who has fostered excellence in, and had a major impact on, the field by virtue of their mentoring, and whose inspiration is sought by students and colleagues.
To build up this program, we will capitalize on the existing synergy between the life and physical sciences, while enhancing core research areas with an emphasis on translating basic research to technological applications. Our goal is to integrate the engineering curriculum with the social justice mission that is integral to Brandeis. We envision providing opportunities for our students and faculty to deeply engage in science, design, and problem-solving while participating in a curriculum and culture that grapples with issues of social justice, business ethics and sustainability. The curriculum will be designed with these aspirations by engaging faculty from all of arts and sciences, IBS and Heller. Ultimately, we hope that this new program will give our students the tools to intervene in the world and challenge them to build a better one.