In early February, with only 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, Good Systems grand challenge researchers were already anticipating the societal implications of a disease that has now come to dominate our lives.

Even in a life full of shocks big and small, people typically find their own personal equilibrium over time, balancing core feelings of sadness, happiness and fear. What people feel in the immediate aftermath of even the most significant life events — the excitement of buying a house, the sudden…

We’re often asked why advancing technology is so critical to our mission of working together with Central Texas communities to build a more complete picture of health. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the importance of technology as we lean on it to teach, work, learn, and connect with each…

Human economies are built by the transportation system.

Climate change is straining our natural and built environments as well as our social networks. Add to that a growing population — Texas’ numbers are expected to double in the next 30 years — and cities throughout our region are facing water scarcity, inadequate infrastructure, and other strains…

“The earth’s a big blue marble when you see it from out there… The sun and moon declare… our beauty’s very rare.”

Each decade has its defining moments. The first months of 2020 have brought one of ours: the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re only beginning to fathom the physical, emotional, social, and economic pains that accompany this crisis. Such events can fracture communities, but they can also build them up. The…

We learn better when we experience something.

Fernanda Leite, associate professor in Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, leads a VR-based project as part of the Planet Texas 2050 grand challenge. The Texas Futures Virtual Reality Experience will allow users to see, in 3D, what an urban…

As an Industry Fellow for the UT Ethics Project, I am grateful that Good Systems, one of the university’s three research grand challenges, is addressing the ways that artificial intelligence could be used for beneficial and nefarious purposes. Critical to this is the role of ethics and truth,…