Animal Informatics

Animal informatics is about using technology to improve our understanding of how nonhuman animals think and live, to promote their health and well-being, and to advance the mutually beneficial ways in which we interact with them. The animal informatics track in the informatics Ph.D. will prepare graduates for a career in academia; local, state, federal, and global wildlife conservation and management; research laboratories; animal-centered nonprofits such as shelters and sanctuaries; assistive and therapeutic programs; zoos and aquariums; livestock care and management; and the commercial pet industry.

We focus on five main areas of interest:

  • Maker applications for animals
  • Automated quality of life data capture and analysis
  • Wildlife (and poacher) tracking and monitoring
  • Animal cognition
  • Interspecies relationships and education

Track Guide

Primary Track faculty

Profile for Christena Nippert-Eng

- Track Director

Christena Nippert-Eng is a sociologist and Professor of Informatics at IUB. Her scholarly interests include cognition, culture, gender, privacy, time, space, everyday life, ethnography, user-centered design and, most recently, the social behavior of nonhuman animals, especially the rest of the great apes.

Profile for Patrick Shih

- Track Director

Patrick Shih's research focuses on the study of sociotechnical systems and mechanisms to support health and wellbeing and reduce health disparity of marginalized and underserved populations in rural areas. Specifically, his lab designs, prototypes, and deploys novel personal health informatics devices, interfaces, and platforms to support people with physical, developmental, and mental conditions. He also designs technologies to amplify human and animal capabilities in animal-assisted interventions and to improve animal welfare.

Profile for Justin Wood

Justin Wood’s research aims to link psychology to artificial intelligence with the goal of reverse-engineering the origins of intelligence to build machines that learn like newborn animals. His ultimate goal is to build end-to-end (pixels-to-actions) artificial agents that mimic cognitive development in newborn animals.

Profile for Christopher Martin

Christopher Flynn Martin is a research scientist at Indianapolis Zoo and affiliate faculty in the Department of Informatics. He conducts studies on animal cognition at the zoo, and runs a consulting business that builds custom electronics and software to enhance animal enrichment, research, and husbandry practices at zoos around the world.

Faculty research in ACI

Professor of Informatics, Christina Nipper-Eng talks about her research in Animal Computer Informatics at the Luddy School.

Description of the video:

Professor of Informatics, Christina Nipper-Eng talks about research in Animal Computer Informatics at the Luddy School.
Assistant Professor of Informatics, Patrick Shih talks about his research in Animal Computer Informatics at the Luddy School.

Description of the video:

Assistant Professor of Informatics, Patrick Shih talks about his research in Animal Computer Informatics at the Luddy School.
Professor of Informatics, Justin Woood talks about his research in Animal Computer Informatics at the Luddy School.

Description of the video:

Professor of Informatics, Justin Woood talks about his research in Animal Computer Informatics at the Luddy School.

Third Year

Fall

    • Minor 2 (3 cr)
    • Elective (3 cr)
    • Elective (3 cr)

Spring

    • Minor 3 (3 cr)
    • Elective (3 cr)
    • Elective (3 cr)