Case Study: Oakland University advances Alzheimer’s research and cloud-based learning with Google for Education

Oakland University looks to the cloud to detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease

Oakland University, working with Google for Education, wanted to give students and researchers practical cloud skills while also exploring new ways to support medical research. Dr. Erik Fredericks used Google Cloud Natural Language API and other Google Cloud tools in his teaching and early-stage research, including a prototype aimed at detecting speech changes that may signal the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Google for Education helped Oakland University use Google Cloud as a flexible platform for both classroom learning and research, including Compute Engine, BigQuery, Speech-to-Text, and Vision API. The solution enabled students to work on real-world projects without expensive on-premises infrastructure, while Dr. Fredericks’ research benefited from remotely managed, scalable processing power. The main impact was greater student engagement, easier access to advanced tools, and the ability to prototype research that would otherwise be too costly or complex to run locally.

Oakland University

Erik Fredericks

Assistant Professor