Looking at projects around the world
Learn how Microsoft External Research has supported and collaborated with researchers on global projects.
On This Page:
Computer Science
Earth, Energy, and Environment
Education and Scholarly Communication
Health and Wellbeing
Tools and Services for Scientists and Researchers
Computer Science
Transforming Computer Science in the Gaming Age
Microsoft Research and academics use courses inspired by video games to lure the next generation of computer scientists.
Making Sense of Data Overload: An Innovative Approach to Progressive Data Analysis
With the help of Microsoft Research, University of Southern California's Cyrus Shahabi is working to help scientists manage data to provide better results, reliability, and overall accuracy of data analysis.
Low-Cost Networking Solution Holds Promise for Rural Latin America
Computers and communications technology can play an important role in improving people's economic prospects in all kinds of settings—even in communities that still rely on time-honored methods of manual production. A team of academic researchers in Uruguay is developing an innovative system to bring low-cost networking to rural enterprises so they can streamline their business processes and improve efficiency and communication.
The developing world is hungry for communications technologies that can bring vital services to underserved populations and help boost economic development. One team of researchers is blending computer science innovations with appropriate technology to create a system that could prove transformative in emerging economies.
Earth, Energy, and Environment
Graywulf Takes a Byte out of Data Overload
Astronomers at The Johns Hopkins University and protein scientists at the University of Washington are using inexpensive computer hardware combined with powerful computing and database software to help manage and analyze a growing volume of scientific data.
SciScope Helps Scientists in Quest for Environmental Data
Finding and retrieving relevant data can be a daunting and tedious task for environmental scientists and engineers. Microsoft External Research is developing an online search engine called SciScope that will make the job easier. SciScope enables researchers to search multiple data repositories simultaneously and retrieve information in a consistent format.
Wireless Sensor Network Provides Early Flood Detection for Underserved Countries
Devastation caused by flooding is often more severe in the developing world, where sophisticated flood-detection technologies are neither affordable nor practical. To address this urgent problem, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is designing a low-cost, wireless flood-detection system that meets the needs of communities with limited resources and rudimentary communications infrastructures.
Workflow Tool Brings Visual Clarity to Complex Research Data
A graduate student’s computer graphics project aimed at helping oceanographers visually manage sensor data has evolved into a potentially game-changing approach to scientific workflow. Scientists at the University of Washington are working with Microsoft External Research to demonstrate how combining visualization and workflow technologies can improve how researchers manage, evaluate, and interact with even the most complex scientific datasets.
More Studies:
- Biovitrum Research Organization Enhances Records Management with Electronic Lab Notebooks
- Environmental Scientists Network Environmental Scientists Join Forces Against Climate Change with Integrated Platform
Education and Scholarly Communication
Researchers Collaborate in Latin America with ConferenceXP
Academic researchers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean make important contributions to computer science, yet much of their work involves collaboration with project teams on other continents and does not address locally relevant challenges. Several universities have joined forces to change that by using ConferenceXP, a set of Web-based videoconferencing tools.
The Classroom of Tomorrow, Built with Today's Technology
Computers can be instrumental in transforming education in underserved communities, but not if they are simply used to facilitate memorization and test-taking. A team of researchers in Chile is exploring affordable and innovative uses of computers in the classroom that promote collaborative learning and nurture intellectual creativity.
Health and Wellbeing
A Contact Lens Interface
The incorporation of sensors in the structure of contacts lens presents an unparalleled opportunity for continuous healthcare monitoring. Because the surface of the human eye is covered by live cells in indirect contact with the blood serum, a device to continuously sample and analyze the biochemical makeup of the eye surface would, in effect, perform a blood test without collecting a blood sample.
Smartphone-Based Fetal Monitors Could Save Lives in Remote Areas
Indigenous women in remote and rural Australia experience premature births, fetal deaths and other complications at more than twice the rate of other Australian women. Researchers at Edith Cowan University in Perth are hoping to change that by providing affordable, portable fetal monitors that expectant mothers can use to check for signs of fetal distress and relay vital information to healthcare professionals.
Mobile Device Uses Images to Help Children with Autism Interact
Autism spectrum disorder, which affects more than 500,000 U.S. children and millions more worldwide, can make verbal communication a challenge. With support from Microsoft External Research, two U.S. academic researchers are developing mobile device software that can enable individuals with autism to communicate more effectively.
Cell Phone Technology Is Key to Better Health in Africa
Pneumonia is one of the world’s leading killers, yet it is often misdiagnosed and improperly treated due to its similarity to other febrile illnesses. Researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia are exploiting the ubiquity of cell phones by adapting them to help health workers in the developing world diagnose pneumonia and perform other critical tasks.
Smartphone-Based Medical Guides Aim to Improve Healthcare
Community healthcare workers in developing countries often have limited education and training, and studies show they are prone to providing incorrect diagnoses and treatment—even when they have printed guidelines. Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are hoping to reduce the frequency of such errors with the use of innovative smartphone-based treatment guides.
Cell Phone-Based Monitor Could Combat Leading Cause of Death
The world’s leading cause of death, cardiovascular disease frequently goes undetected. Often, when the disease results in a heart attack or other sudden condition, treatment arrives too late. A team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh is developing a low-cost, cell phone–based electrocardiogram device that could lead to earlier detection and treatment.
Cell Phone–Based System Could Improve HIV/AIDS Drug Tracking
Antiretroviral therapy can be a life-saving treatment for people infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS. But such treatment is scarce in Africa, where the disease kills millions each year. Researchers at New York University are working on a cell phone–based drug-tracking system aimed at improving the availability and use of HIV/AIDS drugs.
Mobile Life Sciences Platform Allows Easier Access to Online Resources
Vast compilations of life science data present logistical challenges to scientists and students in labs and in the field. A team of researchers seeks to transform the research process by developing a Mobile Life Sciences Platform (MLSP), allowing developers to build life sciences applications for smart phones. These applications will make it easier to access essential online biological resources, interface with a variety of database systems, and analyze experimental data.
CellScope Could Offer Low-Cost, Portable Options for Disease Diagnosis
A college class assignment spawned an invention that could help bring the benefits of modern microscopy to the developing world. Student researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and their professor developed a camera-phone microscope that is powerful enough to diagnose diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Ultrasound Imaging More Portable, Affordable with USB-Based Probes
Ultrasound is one of the most basic and important medical imaging technologies, yet it remains out of reach for people in many remote or poor regions of the world. That could change, thanks to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.
Portable Diagnostic Device Can Help Save Lives
Many people in the developing world live without easy access to medical care, especially in rural areas. When medical emergencies happen, crucial diagnostic equipment is rarely available and local health workers often lack the expertise to determine the appropriate treatment. A team of researchers at the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad, India, is addressing this challenge by developing a low-cost, portable diagnostic system that can collect vital patient data and transmit it to doctors in other locations who can direct timely treatment and help save lives.
HIV/AIDS Information System Taps Cell Phone Texting Capabilities
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has devastated communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa, which comprises just 11 percent of the world’s population but 63 percent of those currently living with this condition. There are an estimated 12 million AIDS orphans—children who have lost at least one parent to the disease—in the region. Here is how one group of researchers is using mobile phone technology to create a unique system for delivering HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment information to the people who need it most.
Mobile Language-Learning Tools Help Pave the Way to Literacy
In many developing countries, literacy in a "world language" such as English can make the difference between a life of poverty and socioeconomic opportunity. To help nurture these possibilities, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are combining the immersive nature of electronic games with the rapid growth of cell phones to create a mobile language-learning environment for children. Their innovative approach is yielding promising results among the rural poor in India.
HealthLine Offers Speech-Based Access to Medical Information
When cutting-edge innovations are employed to confront urgent real-world problems in poorer regions of the world, the results can be transformative. Here is the story of how one team of researchers is using technology to improve healthcare delivery in places where doctors and medical facilities are scarce.
Mobile Diagnostic Kit Targets the "Last Mile" of Preventive Healthcare
Lack of access to low-cost diagnostic tools prevents many people in developing countries from receiving the kind of medical screening that can help save lives. Here is the story of how one team of researchers is combining advanced computer science research with wireless technology to overcome these obstacles and make important medical technology and expertise available to underserved populations.
Wireless Device Gives African Women a Voice in Community Radio
In sub-Saharan Africa, women's living conditions and social status have declined in recent decades, despite efforts to alleviate poverty and disease. To help address these challenges, two researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder are aiming to empower women in Kenya by bringing their voices to the influential medium of community radio.
More Studies:
- Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research Early Detection of Cancer One Step Closer to Solution with Microsoft, Dell, and Intel
- Metalife Life Sciences Company Uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to Enhance Full-Text Searches
- Ohio State University Medical Center Service-Oriented Architecture Drives Improved Operational Efficiency and Quality of Data
- Perlegen Sciences Discovering Genetic Variations and Improving Lives with Windows High-Performance Computing Clusters
- Scripps Research Institute Collaboration, Visualization Tool Speeds Vital Cancer Research at Biomedical Center
- University of Cincinnati Genome Research Institute Supercomputing Solution Reduces IT Administration Needs at Research Institute
- Van Andel Institute Medical Research Institute Saves Time, Gains Efficiency with New Electronic Forms and Automated Workflow
Tools and Services for Scientists and Researchers
- Case studies for Windows HPC Server in academia
- Windows Compute Cluster Server Used toFind HIV Targets
Microsoft Researchers Boost Task Productivity Fiftyfold with Cluster Server Software - Daggett Research Group Use of HPC Clusters in Computational Chemistry
- Scripps Institute Researchers Gain Faster Insights; Cut Research Costs in Half
- CASPUR, Italian Supercomputing Center, Reaches New User Communities with HPC Solution
