Undergraduate Research Spotlight:
Miles Gordenker - Sound Sleep
Miles Gordenker’s drive to optimize his mental and physical performance led him to maximize the quality and minimize the duration of his sleep. Using a sleep-tracking device called a Zeo, he adopted a polyphasic sleep pattern that combines three hours of core sleep with several short naps.
But Gordenker knew that people suffering from sleep deficiencies would also benefit from accurate information about the quality of their sleep and customized feedback to help them improve it. Working with Professor Jack Stankovic, he is writing programs for the Fitbit wireless sensing platform — which has an open API — to help people understand the intersection of specific environmental and behavioral factors like ambient light and temperature and sound, restorative sleep.
Gordenker, a fourth-year BA Major in the College, is currently developing a user interface for his program and will be beta testing it this spring. “I just want to develop cool software,” he says, “and helping people get the sleep they need is a satisfying way to harness that passion.”
Read more about the BA Major in the College here.