Join The Sensing Institute (I-SENSE) for another Distinguished Seminar speaker event with Longfei Shangguan, Ph.D.!

Seminar Title: No One Left Behind: Building Low-Cost Wearables for Health Equity

Abstract: Wearable devices such as the Apple Watch and the Fitbit wristband allow users to track their health statistics around the clock. They have become increasingly popular over the past few years. However, in the context of underdeveloped regions where people may earn less than five US dollars a day, these wearable devices are still pricey and thus constitute a critical bottleneck in their adoption.

In this talk, Dr. Shangguan will present his past and ongoing works on repurposing electronic wastes — particularly everyday earphones into health trackers — from heart rate monitoring, heart sound recovery, all the way down to pulse wave velocity estimation. Moreover, he will summarize the observations and insights gained from the pilot study in Senegal. Dr. Shangguan believes this research creates a holistic approach toward recycling and repurposing electronic waste while fostering a sustainable and equitable future.

Longfei Shangguan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and also a visiting faculty researcher at Google. His research interest lies in mobile health, wireless networks and IoT. His work has been awarded the Best Paper Nominee at SenSys 2025, Best Paper Award at MobiCom 2024, Best Paper Runner-up Award at MobiCom 2021, Distinguished Paper Award at Ubicomp 2017 and Best Paper Award at TrustCom 2014. He is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award in 2024, a Google Research Scholar Award in 2023 and the AIoTSys Young Scientist Award in 2023. Dr. Shangguan earned his Ph.D. from HKUST in 2015 and his bachelor's degree from Xidian University in 2011.