Resnik Featured in Newsweek Article About Using Technology to Track Mental Health

Philip Resnik, a professor of linguistics with appointments in UMIACS and computer science, was featured in a Nov. 12 story in Newsweek about using technology to help people keep better track of their mental health.

Resnik is working with UMD faculty members Carol Espy-Wilson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Monifa Vaughn-Cooke, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to come up with a complete set of measures—physiological markers like heart rate and skin temperature, along with patterns based on vocal features, facial expressions and language use—that could help track mental health via a smartphone app.

The data the team collects will ideally be streamlined into one app that would collect this information while a person is going about his or her day, potentially asking them to record responses to questions periodically in addition to continuous passive tracking. The result will be a tool that can track mental health outside of formal treatment or between therapy sessions.

Read more here.