MMI, UNMC take part in Common Senses Festival

From left, Matthew Goodwin, PhD, and James Coleman

Matthew Goodwin, PhD, will speak at the Munroe-Meyer Institute on March 31 from noon to 1 p.m. in a Grand Rounds presentation. The presentation is open to UNMC faculty, staff and students.

Dr. Goodwin’s lecture is part of the Common Senses Festival, of which he is a creative contributor. The festival will be held at various locations throughout the Omaha area – including the Rose Theater, KANEKO and the Omaha Community Playhouse — through March and April.

The festival seeks to “create conversations, acceptance and lasting change in the neurodiverse community,” organizers say. “Through powerful programming in visual arts, performance, science and beyond, Common Sense illustrates how we are all different, yet all the same.”

Dr. Goodwin is an associate professor with joint appointments at the Bouve College of Health Sciences and Khoury College of Computer Science, where he is a founding faculty member of a new doctoral program in personal health informatics and directs the computational behavioral science laboratory.

During his grand round presentation, which will offer both in-person and virtual attendance, Dr. Goodwin will speak on his research working with children and adults on the autism spectrum and developing and evaluating innovative technologies for behavioral assessment and intervention, including video and audio capture, telemetric physiological monitors, accelerometry sensors, and digital video/facial recognition systems.

Dr. Goodwin also will present on April 13 at UNMC’s Science Café, along with James Coleman, a Princeton student who specializes in “smart buildings” and is a co-creative contributor of the festival.

At the Science Café, which will be a virtual event, Coleman and Dr. Goodwin will discuss The Living Room, a controllable environment they have developed that allows occupants to curate a calming space for themselves out of lights, sounds and images. (A version of the Living Room and similar “smart” areas will be on display at Kaneko during the Common Senses Festival.)

See more information and a list of events on the Common Senses Festival website.