An 'engineering-health science' interdisciplinary approach to promoting mobile technology for multidisciplinary applications

This is a progress report on our ongoing interdisciplinary project to promote mobile technology for multidisciplinary applications. The project consists of collaborative efforts between engineering and health science faculty and students in using mobile techniques to collect, transmit, analyse and store health data. Main techniques of wireless data acquisition and transmission, as well as key issues such as privacy and data security are addressed through joint course instruction sessions and laboratory experiments. The project is initiated via a Health Science Health Care Informatics course and an engineering Wireless Communications and Systems course. Health science students are to learn engineering techniques of effective use of wireless communications systems, while engineering students are to gain knowledge of applications in health sciences. Upon successful implementation and further improvement, this model can be further expanded into other areas such as natural sciences and business administration where the same concepts can be applied using different datasets. The interdisciplinary approach of using mobile technology will result in a revolutionary and exciting learning environment with truly multidisciplinary applications.