The Whole Communities–Whole Health (WCWH) research grand challenge invites UT-Austin faculty and staff with Principal Investigator (PI) status to compete in a flash funding competition that is part of this year’s research showcase. The purpose of the flash funding competition is to facilitate interdisciplinary connections and support projects that can advance research and practice in collaboration with WCWH researchers. The competition will be held in the morning session, and funding announcements will be made at the end of the day’s symposium. Interdisciplinary projects and community partnerships are encouraged to help meet the goals of this program to facilitate new research and community connections. Research proposals that intend to utilize current WCWH data are highly encouraged. Single PI proposals will not be accepted. Research teams will be limited to four Co-PIs/Co-Investigators, and external or community partners are allowed when partnering with a UT PI.
For more detailed information, please click the button below to download the flash funding competition flyer.Â
Isela Guerra (WCWH Community Strategy Team Member;Â Sr. Community Engagement & Outreach Manager, Central Health)
Kerry Kinney (L.P. Gilvin Centennial Professor in Engineering, Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering)
Charles Moody (WCWH Community Strategy Team Member;Â Founder, Community Coalition for Health)
Edison Thomaz (William H. Hartwig Fellowship in Electrical Engineering; Associate Professor, Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Yan Zhang (Professor, School of Information)
Moderated by Michael Mackert (Director, Center for Health Communication; Professor, School of Advertising & Public Relations and Department of Population Health)Â
Luis Sentis is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a General Dynamics Endowed Faculty Fellow, and a member of UT Austin's Good Systems. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He was a La Caixa Foundation Fellow while at Stanford. He holds a B.S. degree in Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Before Stanford, he worked in Silicon Valley as a Control Systems Engineer for clean room automation.
In Austin, he leads the Human Centered Robotics Laboratory, a laboratory focusing on control, task and motion planning, human factors, and experimentation with humanoid robots, mobile manipulation robots, exoskeletons and autonomous systems. He is also a founding member of the UT Robotics Portfolio Program and the UT Ethics of AI Portfolio Program. He was the UT Austin's Lead for DARPA's Robotics Challenge with NASA Johnson Space Center where he helped to design and test the Valkyrie humanoid robot. His research has been funded by ONR, NASA, NSF, ARL, AFC, DARPA and private companies.
He has been awarded the NASA Elite Team Award for his contributions to NASA’s Johnson Space Center Software Robotics and Simulation Division. He is also a founding member and innovation advisor for Apptronik Systems, a company focusing on human-centered robotic products.
