RECENT NEWS

2026

• Congratulations to our 2025 summer research intern Hayden Morrison on receiving the 2026 OSU Student Impact Award! Well done, Hayden— we’re proud of you! [03 April 2026]

• We will present the following paper at the 17th ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Health Informatics (ACM BCB 2026). Yapa P, Senanayake AL, Liang Z. (2026) Reason First or Predict First: Enhancing the Interpretability of Large Language Models for Digital Mental Health Screening. [31 March 2026]

• Dr. Liang was honored to receive an IEEE Japan Council Medal in recognition of her contributions to research and education in ubiquitous computing, personal informatics, and digital health. [23 March 2026]

• Our Special Issue "Wearable Sensors for Continuous Health Monitoring and Analysis" received an Outstanding Special Issue Award. It has been an honor and a valuable learning experience working with Prof. Juan Antonio Holgado-Terriza and Dr. Pablo Pico-Valencia (University of Granada, Spain). Looking forward to continuing to contribute to the open science community and advancing research in wearable health technologies. The second edition of our special issue is now open for submissions. [18 March 2016]

• We were honored to welcome Prof. Evangelos Karapanos (Cyprus University of Technology) and engage in inspiring discussions on interaction design and persuasive technologies. [17 March 2026]

• We presented the following papers at the 19th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies (BIOSTEC 2026). [3 March 2026]

  • Hoang NH, Liang Z. Decision Threshold Optimization in Machine Learning Models for Questionnaire-Based OSA Screening. (Full paper acceptance rate = 25%) 

  • Liang Z, Hoang NH, Melcer E, and Hwang D. Unlocking Collaborative Creativity: Co-Design Smartwatch-Based Serious Games for Sleep Hygiene Intervention.  (Full paper acceptance rate = 25%) 

  • Priyadarshana YHPP, Senanayake AL, Liang Z. How Interpretable Are LLMs? A Multi-Metric Framework for Evaluating Synthetic Explanations in Digital Mental Health. (Full paper acceptance rate = 25%) 

  • Karunarathna TS, Hoang NH, Liang Z. GlucoPatrol: A Multi-Stakeholder Dashboard for Contextual Exploration of Continuous Glucose Monitoring Data.

  • Liang Z, Hoang NH, Karunarathna TS. Biochemical Self-Tracking as Personal Informatics: Sensemaking and Actionability of At-Home Micronutrient Tests.

  • Koo J, Toendan KA, Shimada ET, Akaiduzzaman AKM, Liang Z.  Thermal Guardian: An Assistive Wearable System for Home-Based Monitoring and Prevention of Bathing Related Health Risks in Older Adults.

• Our following submissions were published in Sleep Medicine, a top journal in sleep research. [5 Feb 2026]

  • Liang Z, Chapa-Martell MA. (2026) Visualizing Temporal Patterns in Sleep Tracker Accuracy: A Novel Approach to Validating Consumer Sleep Technologies. Sleep Medicine 138(Supp.): 108640.

  • Liang Z. (2026) Improving Sleep Stage Classification from Consumer Wearables Using a Two-Level Machine Learning Framework with Selective Correction. Sleep Medicine 138(Supp.): 108599.

  • Liang Z. (2026) Unpacking the Discrepancy Between Subjective and Wearable-Measured Sleep: A Neurophysiological Perspective Using fNIRS. Sleep Medicine 138(Supp.): 108540.

  • Liang Z. (2026) Bedtime Stress and Prefrontal Cortex Hemodynamics During Sleep: A Pilot Study Using Wearable fNIRS and Salivary Biomarkers. Sleep Medicine 138(Supp.): 108304.

  • Liang Z,  Hoang N, Karunarathna T. (2026) Uncovering Sleep-Linked Glucose Dynamics in Healthy Individuals Using Wearable Data. Sleep Medicine 138(Supp.): 108538.

  • Hoang N, Liang Z. (2026) Interpretable Machine Learning Using Questionnaire Data: A Scalable Approach for Sleep Apnea Screening. Sleep Medicine 138(Supp.): 108099.

  • Hoang  N, Villeneuve J, Morrison H, Tu A, Karunarathna T, Hwang D, Chen S, Khotchasing K, Liang Z, Melcer E. (2026) Delivering Sleep Hygiene Interventions through Smartwatch-based Serious Sleep Games. Sleep Medicine 138(Supp.): 108585.