Campaign apps are collecting a wealth of information not just about their users but also about everyone they come into contact with — so much so that they could, in fact, replace traditional social media as the preferred tool for collecting data about voters.

A partnership between the University of Texas at Austin and the city looks at how AI can identify residents at risk of experiencing homelessness, as well as helping those currently in need find access to services.

Texas is no stranger to drought seasons. Both the 1950s and 2010s saw long dry spells that threatened the way of life for people who call the state home. However, these intense droughts could be nothing compared to what Texas may see in the future, new research published in the journal Earth’s Future finds.

The landscape along the U.S.-Mexico border has changed drastically over the past 150 years — from fencing to surveillance infrastructure to damming and hydraulic projects.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to have extremely beneficial but also detrimental effects on society as we know it. From helpful home robots run amok to artificial intelligence that widens the gap between rich and poor, there are many ways the increasingly present AI in our lives can go bad.

UT researchers have been working with Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC) over the past three years to build a more efficient model that would show, very clearly, where flooding is expected during major storms. SETRAC could then use that model to decide where to stage assets like ambulances and how to evacuate patients.

It is widely anticipated that one of the enduring impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will be a drastic rise in mental health cases. This will necessitate more inventive ways to deliver care, including the use of technology, which Good Systems research is helping to address.

As Texas’s population is expected to nearly double in the next 30 years, Planet Texas 2050 grand challenge researchers find it important to understand what effect rapid urbanization will have on the natural environment.

University of Texas researchers argue that information scientists have a bigger role to play in the COVID-19 crisis because of the proliferation of conflicting messages. We asked three experts, who have been sheltering-in-place for the past two months in Austin, Texas, to tell us more about their perspectives on the pandemic.

To date, Good Systems researchers are leading at least a dozen projects related to COVID-19, just as our grand challenge moves into its second year.