Jon Froehlich
Assistant ProfessorUniversity of Maryland, College Park
Contact
twitter: @jonfroehlich
email: jonf@umd.edu
CS Office:
Ph. (301) 405-8412
3173 AV Williams
Department of Computer Science
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
HCIL Office:
Ph. (301) 405-1085
2117F Hornbake Library, South
Travel
About Me
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park and a member of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) and the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). I received my Phd in Computer Science from the University of Washington in December 2011 where I was a Microsoft Research Graduate Fellow and the 2010 College of Engineering "Graduate Innovator of the Year." My advisors were James Landay and Shwetak Patel. I also have an MS in Information and Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine where I was advised by Paul Dourish. During my graduate studies, I was fortunate to intern at a number of great research labs including Telefónica Research in Barcelona, Microsoft Research in Redmond, and Intel Research in Seattle. Research Focus
My research focuses on designing, building, and evaluating interactive technology that addresses high value social issues such as environmental sustainability, computer accessibility, and personalized health and wellness. This work often involves the entire spectrum of information flow: from sensing physical events, to intelligently interpreting/classifying this data, to building visualizations that inform and motivate behavior. Please see my list of publications here. My research interests can broadly be broken down into three areas: Sensing and Feedback Systems for Environmental Behaviors
There is often a profound disconnect between our everyday behaviors and the effects those behaviors have on our health and the environment around us. In this research, I explore how technology can be used to effectively sense and report information about environmental behaviors to promote awareness and enable positive behavior change. Research questions involved here include: What behaviors should we sense and how? How, where, and when should this sensed activity data be presented? And, finally, What impact can sensing and feedback have on behavior? Smart Cities and Sustainable Transport
City-wide urban infrastructures are increasingly reliant on network technology to improve and expand their services. As a consequence, our interactions in the physical world are increasingly leaving behind digital footprints. In this research, I explore how these digital footprints can reveal otherwise latent patterns of human behavior as well as implications for the improvement of city infrastructures themselves (e.g., shared bicycling programs, rail and bus systems). Health and Wellness
As sensors continue to decrease in size/price and advances in machine learning enable better and more granular activity recognition, there is an enormous opportunity for sensing and feedback applications for personal health—particularly around sleeping, diet, and exercise. In the long term, I hope to continue building and studying applications that motivate positive behaviors for both health and the environment. Significant questions remain: What are the most effective strategies for motivating behaviors? Can systems adapt their strategies to fit the individual user? How can we use technology to sustain behaviors over time? What is the role of augmented reality and other forms of emerging media? Research Approach
Although my methods extend largely from Ubiquitous Computing and Human-Computer Interaction, my research is additionally informed by perspectives in design, information visualization, economics, and behavioral and environmental psychology. I also apply knowledge from data-intensive areas such as machine learning and signal processing to help build and evaluate my sensing systems. My research process is iterative, often beginning with lightweight formative studies and, crucially, concluding with field deployments of working technology. In this way, I am interested not only in building new technologies but in studying their actual effectiveness in the field. Finally, as my work is often interdisciplinary, I frequently collaborate with researchers both within various sub-disciplines of computer science (e.g., machine learning) as well as outside of computer science (e.g., electrical engineering and psychology).
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park and a member of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) and the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). I received my Phd in Computer Science from the University of Washington in December 2011 where I was a Microsoft Research Graduate Fellow and the 2010 College of Engineering "Graduate Innovator of the Year." My advisors were James Landay and Shwetak Patel. I also have an MS in Information and Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine where I was advised by Paul Dourish. During my graduate studies, I was fortunate to intern at a number of great research labs including Telefónica Research in Barcelona, Microsoft Research in Redmond, and Intel Research in Seattle. Research Focus
My research focuses on designing, building, and evaluating interactive technology that addresses high value social issues such as environmental sustainability, computer accessibility, and personalized health and wellness. This work often involves the entire spectrum of information flow: from sensing physical events, to intelligently interpreting/classifying this data, to building visualizations that inform and motivate behavior. Please see my list of publications here. My research interests can broadly be broken down into three areas: Sensing and Feedback Systems for Environmental Behaviors
There is often a profound disconnect between our everyday behaviors and the effects those behaviors have on our health and the environment around us. In this research, I explore how technology can be used to effectively sense and report information about environmental behaviors to promote awareness and enable positive behavior change. Research questions involved here include: What behaviors should we sense and how? How, where, and when should this sensed activity data be presented? And, finally, What impact can sensing and feedback have on behavior? Smart Cities and Sustainable Transport
City-wide urban infrastructures are increasingly reliant on network technology to improve and expand their services. As a consequence, our interactions in the physical world are increasingly leaving behind digital footprints. In this research, I explore how these digital footprints can reveal otherwise latent patterns of human behavior as well as implications for the improvement of city infrastructures themselves (e.g., shared bicycling programs, rail and bus systems). Health and Wellness
As sensors continue to decrease in size/price and advances in machine learning enable better and more granular activity recognition, there is an enormous opportunity for sensing and feedback applications for personal health—particularly around sleeping, diet, and exercise. In the long term, I hope to continue building and studying applications that motivate positive behaviors for both health and the environment. Significant questions remain: What are the most effective strategies for motivating behaviors? Can systems adapt their strategies to fit the individual user? How can we use technology to sustain behaviors over time? What is the role of augmented reality and other forms of emerging media? Research Approach
Although my methods extend largely from Ubiquitous Computing and Human-Computer Interaction, my research is additionally informed by perspectives in design, information visualization, economics, and behavioral and environmental psychology. I also apply knowledge from data-intensive areas such as machine learning and signal processing to help build and evaluate my sensing systems. My research process is iterative, often beginning with lightweight formative studies and, crucially, concluding with field deployments of working technology. In this way, I am interested not only in building new technologies but in studying their actual effectiveness in the field. Finally, as my work is often interdisciplinary, I frequently collaborate with researchers both within various sub-disciplines of computer science (e.g., machine learning) as well as outside of computer science (e.g., electrical engineering and psychology).
Prospective Students
I am looking for undergraduate and graduate students passionate about investigating the role of technology in solving high-value social problems. If this interests you, please contact me so that we can setup a time to chat about mutual interests and potential research projects. News
I am looking for undergraduate and graduate students passionate about investigating the role of technology in solving high-value social problems. If this interests you, please contact me so that we can setup a time to chat about mutual interests and potential research projects. News