Jameson Toole, a 2009 participant in SFI's Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, sees cell phones as little sensors with big potential.
“Every time you use your cellphone, there is a little breadcrumb that’s stored that can be used in a lot of different ways to help improve human lives," he says in a feature article in MIT News.
He's working with his MIT collaborators to harness big data from cell phones for social good.
"He took an interest in his current line of work after spending a summer at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico," according to the article. "While there, he worked with [former SFI Omidyar Fellow] Nathan Eagle — now an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and a research assistant professor in computer science at Northeastern University — who introduced him to the use of data to glean broader information about the world. The experience gave Toole a glimpse into how seemingly random data can be put into coherent models and used to inspire change."
Read the article in MIT News (March 26, 2013)