Technology for Health, Resilience, Equity , and Decision-Making 

Team: A&S: Kelly Merrill, Lauren Forbes, Briana Simms, Paris Wheeler, Diego Cuadros, DAAP: Ming Tang

Funding: Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training. CCTST. Pilot Grant. $50,000. PI. Merrill, Forbes,  Co-I. Tang, Cuadros, Simms, Wheeler. 2026. University of Cincinnati.

Project Aims: 

Aim 1: Co-design a set of digital data governance policies that reflect Black community preferences, concerns, and expectations around the use of their digital health data.  

Aim 2: Assess the utility of digital twin technology (3D city modeling with VR) for community advocacy and population health-related objectives. 

Aim 3: Co-design and develop a community-driven, population health intervention and participatory planning tool. 

Ming Tang’s involvement in the human-centered digital twin can be traced back to his work at the MSU MIND Lab roughly two decades ago, and the THRED project builds directly on that foundation. There is also a clear conceptual link to HomeNetToo project then, where multiple interfaces—a standard web interface, a spatial interface, and an interpersonal interface—were developed to examine how different modes of interaction influence knowledge acquisition across varying cognitive styles. That early work established an important premise: the design of an interface fundamentally shapes how users interpret, understand, and engage with information.

THRED extends this line of inquiry beyond controlled experimental settings into a real-world, system-scale platform by integrating digital twins, and data-driven decision environments. Rather than comparing interfaces in isolation, it synthesizes them—bringing together spatial (3D environments), informational (data visualization and dashboards), and social (community and stakeholder engagement) interfaces into a unified ecosystem. In this sense, THRED represents a shift from experimental interaction design toward an applied, human-centered digital twin framework. It maintains continuity with earlier immersive technology research while significantly expanding its scope, enabling new forms of collective understanding, decision-making, and behavioral insight at urban and societal scales.

Adondale Digtal Twin (ADT) Prototypes

1. DATA VIZ ADT

mobile phone must be put in horizonal orientation in order to see buttons

Embeded example of  “DATA VIZ DT“. Full screen version click here. 

2. Social ADT

Social DT“. Embeded Version below. You can also check out the full screen version Here. 

Expalnination

screen shot of earlier versions.