The Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering’s Colin LeFevre has received a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for his proposed Ph.D. research that focuses on technology and mental health.
“On a fundamental level,” LeFevre said, “there is a mental health resource gap: more Americans need mental health support than there are mental health resources. Research like this is one small way we can work toward narrowing that gap.”
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program supports early-career graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It ensures the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The program seeks to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual $37,000 stipend.
LeFevre also will have access to Fellowship international research collaborations and career development internships.
The Fellowship is part of the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering.
LeFevre, a Luddy Scholar who earned his Informatics bachelor’s degree in December, is a Human-Computer Interaction researcher at Luddy’s Proactive Health Informatics Lab, which designs, develops, and evaluates intelligent, learning systems to empower lay people to better understand, manage, and improve their health.
LeFevre will start his Informatics Ph.D. in the fall at the University of California-Irvine.
LeFevre said the fellowship was based on his three years of lab research while collaborating with Katie Siek, professor of Informatics; Elizabeth Kaziunas, assistant professor of Informatics; and former Luddy assistant professor Christina Chung, now at UC-Santa Cruz, who was LeFevre’s Informatics undergraduate thesis advisor.
The fellowship will allow LeFevre to investigate how mental health stigmas and the resultant systemic misunderstandings and judgements influence the way people use digital mental health tools. He also hopes it empowers researchers and designers to create better and more effective mental health tools.
“Colin has had an amazing impact on Luddy and IU since he first stepped on campus,” Siek said. “As a first-year undergraduate, Colin led the creation of a social media campaign celebrating Women’s History Month for the US Department of State. He actively joined research groups and contributed to top journals and conferences as a research assistant -- from investigating conspiracy theories to activism to mental health. Colin is an example of how Luddy and ProHealth supports undergraduate research and train undergraduates to make an impact in computing research and broader society. “
This year, NSF recognized 2,037 researchers. Only 117 went to computer researchers, just 19 in the Human-Computer Interaction field. Six were from IU.
“I am thrilled that NSF and the computing community has recognized Colin’s contributions,” Siek said.
At Luddy, LeFevre’s research centers on designing technology that supports people’s everyday health needs as far as healthy eating habits, pro-choice abortion activism and grieving the loss of a loved one.
“My past work hasn’t been explicitly focused on digital mental health or stigma,” he said, “but shares many themes with my proposed research and was definitely a strong influence.
“I am interested in designing technology that meets everyday health needs, and my experience in the ProHealth lab provided an excellent foundation for focusing on the domain of mental health in my Ph.D. studies.”