Nabil I Alshurafa

Nabil I Alshurafa is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University, holding dual appointments in the Feinberg School of Medicine (Department of Preventive Medicine/Behavioral Medicine) and the Mccormick School of Engineering. His research focuses on developing data analytic methods and wearable sensor technologies to model health behaviors, particularly obesity, diet, and physical inactivity. He leads projects in collaboration with behavioral intervention researchers to design personalized and scalable solutions for public health challenges.

Education:

• BS in Computer Science, University of California Los Angeles (2003)
• MS in Computer Science, University of California Los Angeles (2010)
• PhD in Computer Science, University of California Los Angeles (2015)

Research Interests: Passive sensing technologies, machine learning for health behavior analysis, wearable devices for monitoring energy expenditure, dietary patterns, and stress. His lab emphasizes translating technical innovations into evidence-based interventions for obesity and cardiovascular risk reduction.

Notable Achievements:

• Recipient of NSF Doctoral Travel Awards and multiple conference best paper awards (ACM, IEEE)
• Editorial roles at journals like IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing and Journal of Medical Internet Research
• Leadership in conference program committees (ACM Ubicomp, IEEE PerCom)

Grants & Clinical Trials: Leads the CalorieHarmony for Obesity trial (recruiting), exploring wearable sensors to estimate calorie expenditure during daily activities. Collaborates on NIH-funded projects and industry partnerships (e.g., NeoScholar).

Labs & Affiliations: Member of Northwestern’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences. Active in interdisciplinary teams bridging engineering, medicine, and behavioral science.