Our world-class faculty and staff shared their life-changing research, innovation and engagement during Huskie Trek Talks, held on March 1, 2025.
For the second year in a row, alumni, donors, community members and university leaders gathered to witness the transformative work happening across NIU’s campus. The NIU Foundation generously awarded grants to support each “Trek Talker,” enhancing their discoveries and expanding NIU’s collaborative, transdisciplinary research and engagement opportunities.
Step-by-Step: How AI-powered gait analysis is transforming autism screening
The team led by Ziteng Wang, associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, includes Allison Gladfelter, associate professor of speech-language pathology; Milijana Buac, assistant professor of speech-language pathology; and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville collaborator Sinan Onal, earned the largest single grant for their investigations on autism. The NIU Foundation awarded them $15,000 to test and launch an app that analyzes a child’s gait, or walking pattern, to predict
the child’s likelihood of autism. Preliminary tests reveal 80% accuracy, and the app would allow users to upload short videos of a child walking and receive an autism likelihood index in return.
Having this app at the fingertips of parents across the country could lower the barrier to autism screening and diagnosis for low-income and rural families, raising autism awareness and reducing delays in intervention.
Caring with code: The role of AI in caregiving
Also receiving an NIU Foundation award for a health-tech app were M. Courtney Hughes, professor of public health and interim associate dean for research and administration, and Christy Muasher-Kerwin, clinical assistant professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program and Ph.D. candidate in health sciences. Their project seeks to provide immediate and customized solutions to support family caregivers by leveraging artificial intelligence-enabled models to analyze information sent through caregivers’ smartphones.
During their Trek Talk, Muasher-Kerwin shared her personal experience caring for a loved one with brain cancer. She described her days filled with uncertainty and a specific morning when she was unclear about how to use a medical device when her loved one’s breathing was shallow. With partnerships from physicians at leading Chicago-area health systems to recruit participants for their pilot study and a $10,000 grant from Huskie Trek Talks, Muasher-Kerwin is hopeful of improving the lives of other family caregivers.
Learn more at go.niu.edu/trek-talks.
