CHEMP grad student awarded Graduate Residency in Digital Scholarship!

Elyse Letts (she/her) is a PhD student in Medical Sciences at McMaster University with the Child Health & Exercise Medicine Program. Her research focuses on improving physical activity and sedentary time measurement in toddlers as well as investigating the impact of physical activity on toddler health outcomes. She completed an undergraduate degree (BSc) in Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo. Outside of research, she loves to read, travel, and bake!

The aim of Elyse’s project is to develop a publicly-available tool to assess toddler physical activity using machine learning, without needing any technical coding experience. Physical activity is essential for healthy growth and development in children and supports improved health. For young children, the Canadian 24-hour Movement Behaviour Guidelines for the Early Years suggests that toddlers get 180 minutes of physical activity each day. But to understand if toddlers are meeting these guidelines, we must first be able to accurately measure their activity levels. In her thesis work, Elyse has developed a machine learning model that can measure toddler activity. She will now expand this this into a tool that can be used by anyone who works with toddlers, for example clinicians, researchers, and public health agencies.

Click here to read more about the Sherman Graduate Residency Program.