An innovative team of researchers working across engineering fields has received a nearly $2 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) PRISMS program to develop a comprehensive system to monitor critical environmental asthma triggers and physiological status indicators for pediatric asthma patients.

The grant is led by UMBC’s Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST). UMBC PIs Yordan Kostov and Govind Rao, assistant director and director of CAST, respectively, teamed up with Southern Methodist University psychology professors and asthma experts Thomas Ritz and Alicia Meuret, as well as UMBC computer science and electrical engineering (CSEE) faculty Ryan Robucci and Nilanjan Banerjee, and chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering (CBEE) faculty Xudong Ge and Chris Hennigan.

The wearable asthma monitoring system they are developing will include technology that measures environmental triggers, such as air pollution, pollen, dust, smoke and pet hair, and a monitor that measures physiological triggers, such as level of physical activity and emotional stress.

The monitoring system will be small enough to be worn by the patient in the form of a pendent, explains Yordan Kostov, research professor in CBEE and adjunct professor in CSEE.

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