Software Engineering Intern @ CognoTrain

For summer 2022, I interned at CognoTrain, a newly formed startup. CognoTrain’s goal is to develop a personalized cognitive training app for early-stage Alzheimer’s patients to help improve their memory and quality of life.

This internship builds upon the research I conducted during the previous year regarding the practicality and feasibility of such an idea (see more).

Throughout my internship, I was tasked with working on both the frontend and backend of the app as the company worked towards releasing its minimal viable product (MVP).

For the app’s frontend, I used the Flutter framework to create the user interface. We chose this framework because we wanted our app to be multiplatform (Android, iOS, and web), which would involve 3 separate codebases. However, using Flutter means that we only needed to maintain one codebase.

My work on the frontend mostly consisted of designing and coding various memory games and pages of the app (like the home and settings screen). I also worked on an API client to communicate with the backend. Throughout the development process, I would always make sure to thoroughly test and document my code.

For the app’s backend, my work consisted of integrating the login system on the company’s website and the online onboarding form where patient information is entered with the frontend. I did this by creating and utilizing multiple RESTful APIs in order to ensure seamless and secure user experience.

As a member of CognoTrain’s founding team, I also helped to create fundraising pitch decks and demo videos and design the website.

Currently, the app is available to download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. To learn more about the app, visit CognoTrain’s website.

Research

From the summer 2021 to the beginning of summer 2022, I was a CS researcher at ASDRP. There, I worked with the CognoTrain project’s research advisor to evaluate the feasibility of the personalized cognitive training app by reading papers and conducting literature reviews on existing cognitive training solutions and the needs of Alzheimer’s patients. I also helped to create various research posters (linked below) to document our progress, which were presented at various expos and colloquias (each with 300+ people). Eventually, this led to the filing of a provisional patent in the spring of 2022.

Posters: Spring 2022, Fall 2021, Summer 2021