Speaker: 

Neha Kumar

Assistant Professor, International Affairs and Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Title:

Mobile Technologies for Global Health

Abstract:

With the rapid proliferation of mobile phones across the world, marginal technology users are fast becoming the majority as they begin to engage with technologies on their own terms. My research focuses on understanding these emerging sociotechnical contexts in under-represented communities across the world and leveraging this understanding to design and deploy appropriate technological interventions for the benefit of these communities. In this talk, I will present Projecting Health - a mobile health initiative that we (collaborators at the University of Washington and I) designed and deployed in rural India to address the high maternal and infant mortality rates in the region. I will also briefly discuss other projects I am working on that focus on mobile health solutions for resource-constrained settings. 

Bio:

Neha Kumar is an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech, with a joint appointment in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing. Before coming to Georgia Tech, she completed two postdoctoral appointments. The first was at the University of Washington's Computer Science and Engineering department, where she worked with Prof. Richard Anderson and Prof. Gaetano Borriello. The second was at University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication, where she was the 'Digital Diversity Postdoctoral Scholar'. She completed her Ph.D. at the School of Information at UC Berkeley and was advised by Prof. Tapan Parikh. She carries two masters degrees from Stanford University, one in Computer Science and the other in Learning, Design and Technology. She was a recipient of the Google Anita Borg Memorial Fellowship in 2012.