Student Receptiveness to Circadian-Aware AI-Driven Scheduling; The Intersection of Technology and Circadian Health and Its Impacts on the Well-Being of Healthcare Shift Workers

Disruptions to natural circadian rhythms are becoming increasingly common in today’s fast-paced society. Circadian rhythms are internal biological processes that regulate the sleep-wake cycle and repeat roughly every 24 hours. When these rhythms become misaligned, particularly in medical shift workers and students, they can lead to decreased productivity, impaired cognitive performance, and long-term health risks. Institutions and employers have historically failed to adapt their expectations or environments to support circadian health. While wearable devices and digital tools now track sleep and activity patterns, few translate this data into practical decision-making tools that respect or optimize natural biological rhythms. This thesis portfolio explores how both technological systems and sociotechnical structures can be redesigned to address this gap. By leveraging personalized, circadian-aware solutions, we aim to promote health, productivity, and ethical responsibility in scheduling.

The technical portion of my thesis focuses on designing a circadian-driven AI task scheduling application. My team began with the hypothesis that users would perform better and feel more satisfied if their daily task schedules aligned with their natural rhythms. We designed several interactive prototypes using mock biometric and behavioral data to recommend ideal task timing. In a survey study with 102 undergraduates, 67.1 percent of participants rated the circadian-aware prototype that incorporated the health data as the most helpful and applicable compared to traditional scheduling approaches. The app includes a personalized dashboard, task prioritization, and adaptive rescheduling. These results suggest that integrating biological rhythms into digital tools may offer meaningful benefits for student productivity and well-being.

Complementing the technical project, my STS research investigates the ethical implications of circadian rhythm disruption in shift workers, using the framework of biopolitics and the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) theory. My research question asked “Can technology implemented in healthcare shift work optimize circadian health, or does it contribute to long-term harm for workers?” I analyzed medical literature on the long-term health impacts of shift work and combined this with scientific reports from industries such as healthcare and policing. These sources indicate that while individual coping strategies exist, the burden of adaptation has been unfairly placed on workers. I argue that employers and policy-makers have a moral obligation to redesign shift schedules, incorporate wearable monitoring technologies responsibly, and implement organizational policies that account for chronobiological well-being. Ultimately, my research highlights the need for systemic change to support healthier, more ethical labor practices.

These two projects offer a comprehensive look at how circadian health can be better supported through both technological design and sociotechnical reform. The technical project provides a proof-of-concept tool that empowers individuals to optimize their schedules, while the STS research advocates for institutional accountability and policy change in sectors where workers lack scheduling autonomy. Though the scope of each project is distinct, they both address the same overarching problem: the widespread neglect of circadian rhythms in modern society. In future work, I recommend expanding the application for larger-scale deployment and integrating it into institutional systems such as university advising platforms or healthcare worker scheduling software. Additionally, further STS analysis could explore how wearable devices and AI scheduling tools may create new ethical dilemmas around surveillance and autonomy. Nevertheless, this portfolio offers a valuable starting point for reimagining human-centered systems that respect biological time.

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering

Technical Advisor: Afsaneh Doryab

STS Advisor: Kent Wayland

Technical Team Members: Chloe Hutchinson and Caleb Rose