MOSCOW, ID — The University of Idaho has received $1.33 million as part of two U.S. Department of Defense–funded research projects aimed at improving the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and strengthening support systems for military families through the use of machine learning.
The funding is part of two multi-institutional grants totaling more than $6 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, with University of Idaho researchers contributing to both efforts. The projects are focused on early detection of PTSD among servicemembers and identifying risk factors that affect military families throughout the deployment cycle, according to a press release from the university.
The research is led at U of I by Colin Xu, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Communication, who will develop machine learning models to analyze psychiatric and public health data tied to military health outcomes.
One project includes a $4.2 million collaborative award, with $974,000 allocated to University of Idaho research. That study will examine how data from wearable devices — including biochemical and biophysical signals — can be combined with machine learning techniques to improve PTSD screening and diagnostic accuracy. The effort involves multiple partner institutions, with U of I responsible for developing the machine learning models used to interpret the data.
A second project, totaling $1.9 million overall with $361,000 supporting University of Idaho research, focuses on deployment-related stress and its impact on military families. Researchers will analyze large-scale, longitudinal health care records to identify predictors of family violence, substance misuse, suicidality and injury. The goal is to determine when families may be at higher risk and how those risks evolve before, during and after deployment.
The PTSD and wearable technology project is scheduled to run for four years, while the military family health study will span three years, beginning in 2025. Xu is recruiting graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to support the work, according to the university.
