The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign held an Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 24th. This event allows undergraduate students to present research projects they are involved inand share their work with the campus community. All three CREATE projects were represented this year, reflecting the center’s active efforts to support student learning and engagement in research. The image features Joaquin Gavina, Jr from Project 1, Jackie Palmer from Project 2, and Prarthana Rawal, Dhriti Patel, and Angel Urquizo from Project 3 (from top to bottom). 

Joaquin delivered an oral presentation titled “Using XR to improve blood pressure measurement skills in older adults”, which stemmed from CREATE Project 1 and is part of the pilot project being conducted by Drs. Pallabi Bhowmick and Avinash Gupta. His research question, “How can immersive XR environments be designed to effectively teach older adults and caregivers accurate blood pressure measurement techniques”, was based on practical needs for improved training resources. He presented task analysis results of blood pressure measurement, finding that the process involved more steps than the manual described. He plans to conduct interviews as the next step of this project. 

Jackie Palmer presented a poster on CREATE Project 2 that explored how survey prompts can be designed to help participants reflect on meaningful memories, share rich responses, and remain engaged during the reminiscence process. Using a human-centered and iterative design approach, the team gathered feedback from pilot testing and subject-matter experts to improve the clarity of prompts and address technology-related issues. Through this work, the CREATE Project 2 team aims to support the development of reminiscence tools that promote social engagement and understanding of language changes in older adults with mild cognitive impairment. 

Prarthana Rawal, Dhriti Patel, and Angel Urquizo are part of the CREATE Project 3 team, and they presented findings from the observation focused on how older adults use technology to find Medicare information. The study examined older adults’ experiences using three digital tools: Medicare & You handbook (PDF), Medicare.gov website, and Google Gemini. The results of this study will inform understanding of the challenges and preferences of older adults in searching Medicare information.  

Please visit the corresponding section to learn more about each project (https://create-center.org/research/projects/).