The winning team includes Mubarak Shah, the director of the 麻豆原创 Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IAI); Helen Huang and Qiushi Fu, associate professors of biomedical engineering; Yue Wen, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering; Abhilash Durgam, a doctoral student who works in the Center for Research in Computer Vision; and Jerry Fu, a postdoctoral scholar mentored by Huang and Wen.

As top 10 winners, Team Marque鈥檚 code will be added to the competition鈥檚 open-source repository, contributing to the future advancement of EEG research. They also receive a certificate in recognition of their achievement. Shah says that placing in the top 10 at the world鈥檚 premier venue for AI and machine learning is a tremendous accomplishment for 麻豆原创 and its newly established IAI.

鈥淚t speaks to the strength of 麻豆原创鈥檚 interdisciplinary culture,鈥� Shah says.

鈥淥ur students and faculty, with their combined expertise in machine learning, neuroscience, signal processing and computer vision can compete with some of the world鈥檚 best teams.鈥� 鈥� Mubarak Shah, Trustee Chair Professor

The competitors had to prevail in two individual challenges that utilized data from the Healthy Brain Network, which includes EEGs of more than 3,000 children who were multitasking. Challenge 1 asked the teams to improve the predicted reaction time of a subject seeing change in contrast of an image while Challenge 2 called for an improved prediction of mental health traits in a subject.

Durgam says the secret to Team Marque鈥檚 success was to look for the patterns that hold true for all people.

鈥淩ather than treat this as a regression problem to predict a number, we used a classification approach where we taught our model to recognize the unique ‘profile’ of the person,鈥� Durgam says. 鈥淭his encouraged the model to understand the individual’s distinct characteristics rather than just treating the task as a simple math problem.鈥�

The team鈥檚 efforts are more than just an accomplishment for themselves and for the university 鈥� their code can now be used by scientists to advance EEG research.

鈥淥ur open-source repository supports open-science efforts, which I believe is necessary to make substantial breakthroughs in EEG research at a faster rate than any one group could accomplish alone,鈥� Huang says. 鈥淏eing able to predict mental health traits in developing children is a challenging problem that has great societal impact and could be solved faster collectively as a field by working in parallel and sharing data and code so groups don鈥檛 have to repeat something that has already been tried.鈥�

Team Marque came together after Durgam reached out to Huang to learn more about EEG. Each of them had already formed teams for the competition, but decided to combine efforts for better results. For Huang, the competition also had a personal connection as one of the organizers, Seyed Yahya Shirazi 鈥�21PhD, is her former student.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we have been in the top 10 if we didn鈥檛 combine efforts,鈥� Huang says. 鈥淭ogether, we could work in parallel to explore fundamentally different approaches first to identify the most promising one and then focus on optimizing specific parameters.鈥�

A Leader in Simulation

The study noted Orlando鈥檚 strength in the simulation technology field and the robust talent pipeline from 麻豆原创. The Institute for Simulation and Training, based at 麻豆原创 and partnering with government and industry for more than 40 years, boasts a statewide economic impact of $11.6 billion. Within the College of Engineering and Computer Science, 麻豆原创鈥檚 School of Modeling, Simulation and Training has awarded more than 550 graduate degrees since its founding in 2018, advancing both research and workforce development in the field.

鈥淎t 麻豆原创 鈥� and especially within the Institute for Simulation and Training 鈥� we have a long-standing commitment to cutting-edge research at the intersection of humans and technology, particularly through simulation and training,鈥� Agere Chair Professor in Computer Science Carolina Cruz-Neira says. 鈥淥ur integration of advanced research with academic programs has become a cornerstone of Central Florida鈥檚 simulation ecosystem. We produce a strong talent pipeline, graduating thousands of well-trained professionals each year, from undergraduate to highly specialized graduate degrees, many developed in close collaboration with industry and government.鈥�

The university鈥檚 impact in the simulation sector also includes startups developed through 麻豆原创鈥檚 Business Incubation Program, which has supported more than 1,000 companies in the region over the past 25 years. One of the most recent simulation-based businesses includes ZuLeris Interactive, a Knight-founded startup that develops virtual training for the defense industry.

Developing Game Design

Orlando has emerged as one of the fastest-growing regions for video game development 鈥� part of an industry that generated nearly $455 billion in global revenue last year. 麻豆原创 is contributing to the industry through talent educated in the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA), 麻豆原创鈥檚 graduate game design program located at 麻豆原创 Downtown and surrounded by major companies. FIEA has ranked No. 1 in the world for four of the last five years, and the undergraduate program holds the No. 5 spot globally.

鈥淢ost great and growing cities have university presences in their downtown,鈥� says Ben Noel, executive director of FIEA. 鈥淚n terms of FIEA and 麻豆原创 Downtown, we are a short walking [distance] to thousands of developers and dozens of video game and simulation companies. The 麻豆原创 Downtown campus investment near Creative Village, as well as FIEA鈥檚 reputation in the video game industry, have provided proven results.鈥�

麻豆原创鈥檚 FIEA program maintains strong partnerships with major game companies like Electronic Arts (EA), Epic Games, Iron Galaxy Studios, Microsoft鈥檚 Undead Labs, Ubisoft and Universal Creative. These companies provide scholarships, guest lectures, adjunct faculty and internships that often lead to full-time employment for 麻豆原创 graduates. Over 100 FIEA alumni work at EA鈥檚 Tiburon studio, and many employees at Iron Galaxy and Undead Labs are FIEA graduates. The close ties formed during students鈥� time at 麻豆原创 Downtown help maintain ongoing collaboration, with alumni frequently returning to recruit new talent.

鈥淥rlando has the advantage of having [thousands of] college students within [15] miles and 麻豆原创 as its hometown university,鈥� Noel says. 鈥淭he quality of life, comparable affordability to other media hubs and critical mass of industry [here] have Orlando and Central Florida on almost all economic development maps.鈥�

Advancing with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most impactful technological developments today, influencing nearly every industry. More than three-quarters of respondents say their organizations use AI in at least one business function, according to a report from global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

To meet the growing demand for expertise in the field, 麻豆原创 launched an聽Artificial Intelligence Initiative, which includes hiring 30 new faculty members across five colleges to elevate the university鈥檚 expertise and education in AI.

麻豆原创 researchers are already exploring ways to use the developing technology, particularly in healthcare. Under the mentorship of College of Medicine Associate Professor Laura Brattain, six students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science recently developed an AI system to increase efficiency during robotic surgeries at Orlando Health. Brattain is also working with College of Health Professions and Sciences Assistant Professor Colby Mangum to study how AI can be used to diagnose and treat back pain by using AI with ultrasounds 鈥� a cost-effective alternative to MRI and CT scans.

The complex imaging of these medical scans is related to another advancing technology connected to AI: computer vision.

Enhancing Computer Vision

Computer vision is a field of AI that teaches computers to process and interpret meaningful information from digital images, such pictures and videos. Key challenges include detection and recognition of objects, features, or actions; segmentation of videos; and using image or video data in computational processes.

As Orlando鈥檚 tech hub evolves, 麻豆原创 computer vision studies will contribute to the region through strategic investment in AI education, says Mubarak Shah, 麻豆原创 trustee chair professor of computer science and founding director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Research in Computer Vision.

鈥淎I is the future,鈥� Shah says. 鈥淚t will have much more impact than what [the] Industrial Revolution had on our society.鈥�

麻豆原创 has been a leader in computer vision for most of its existence. The university has been home to the U.S. National Science Foundation鈥檚 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Computer Vision for 37 consecutive years 鈥� the longest-running REU in the nation. It is also the only public university in Florida offering a computer vision master鈥檚 degree program, with plans underway to launch an online version of the program.

The Center for Research in Computer Vision is consistently ranked among the top 10 in the country, recognized for conducting prominent research that evolves with the growing field. But to stay competitive with other countries, Shah emphasizes the importance of preparing 聽the nation鈥檚 AI workforce.

鈥淭he U.S. still has an edge in AI research. However, the majority of AI workforce consists of foreign nationals, who are not eligible to work in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other national security organizations,鈥� Shah says. 鈥淭he nation needs to prepare an AI workforce for the future to be competitive with other countries.鈥�

Orlando has a great opportunity to lead the nation in tech sectors, Shah says. In addition to innovative research and strategic partnerships driving tech forward, the city offers enticing advantages for companies considering relocation: no state income tax, a low cost of living and great weather. The Orlando metro area accounted for approximately 74,000 tech workers in 2023 鈥� an increase of 2,000 from the previous year and 9,500 more than five years ago, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit American trade association.

鈥淥rlando can attract some of these tech companies if we can keep strengthening our AI research and education,鈥� Shah says. 鈥淭his will create lots of new jobs and improve the local and state economy. Our professors and students will continue to create startup companies, which will help Florida鈥檚 economy and living standards.鈥�

Each early-career faculty researcher is making a substantial impact through their respective areas of expertise.

As in previous years, the variety of disciplines represented through the awards showcases 麻豆原创鈥檚 commitment to cultivating and recognizing groundbreaking and academically diverse research.

Honorees will receive a $10,000 annual research grant for three years in addition to the distinction of being an award recipient.

The prestigious award is second only to Pegasus Professor as 麻豆原创鈥檚 highest faculty honor.

The 麻豆原创 community is cordially invited to come and congratulate the recipients from 3 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2 in the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union as part of the 2025 Founders鈥� Day Faculty Honors Celebration.

This year鈥檚 Reach for the Stars honorees are:

Amrita Ghosh

• Assistant professor of South Asian literature at 麻豆原创鈥檚 within its and a member of The India Center at 麻豆原创
• Ph.D. in postcolonial literature and theory from Drew University.

Amrita Ghosh hopes to create an understanding in conflict zones and bridge gaps in cultural interpretations spanning the varied peoples of South Asia through her cultural and literary research.

Her research as an assistant professor of South Asian literature at 麻豆原创 focuses on studying literature and media from countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, among others.

Ghosh says she hopes to bring to light a better understanding of the nearly 2 billion people inhabiting these countries and how some of them have adapted since gaining independence and sovereignty from occupying nations.

鈥淢y research is important because it creates an understanding of the effects that colonialism had over South Asia for over 200 years, including the sources of conflicts, but also the resilience of the people,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t enables us to build cross border solidarity with a part of the world that鈥檚 often mired in essentialized representations.鈥�

Ghosh says she believes there is value in learning about South Asia鈥檚 profoundly rich history for not just the 2 billion people living there, but for everyone.

鈥淭hrough my research I hope to underscore solidarities and critical intimacies that can help mitigate the increasing rhetoric of division and fragmentation that is there in some South Asian nations,鈥� she says. 鈥淪outh Asia has many different communities, ethnicities, identities and cultures living together. Through my work I hope to highlight syncretic pasts and how to also forge ahead together toward ethical futures.鈥�

Ghosh was inspired by her family history tracing back to modern day Bangladesh. She had studied the aftermaths of the British partitions of the Indian subcontinent into Bangladesh, India, Pakistan.

鈥淧rior to researching the Partition, I was always interested in this huge historical rupture because of stories I heard within the family,鈥� Ghosh says. 鈥淚 grew up hearing stories of Partition, of courage, resilience and of friendship of cross border relations. Many such families exist in South Asia with stories of Partition that are there buried within families and that created an interest for me to enter this field of study.鈥�

In addition to her research and student mentorship, Ghosh has shared her prolific findings through authoring or editing a variety of unique books spanning topics on India鈥檚 largest film industry in Mumbai, popularly called Bollywood, and literary and media analysis of the militarized border zone such as Kashmir.

She says she鈥檚 also working on more enlightening discoveries to be published soon.

鈥淚 am also very excited about upcoming research that is coming out on intersecting the narratives of Partition and [artificial intelligence] AI,鈥� Ghosh says. 鈥淭his upcoming journal article is on how AI can be used in creative imaginations to rethink hatred and foster solidarities and friendships in the so-called rival nations of India and Pakistan.鈥�

While some people may think the arts and humanities are distinct from STEM, Ghosh says she believes they are is both complementary to science and essential in enhancing the human experience.

鈥淟iterature, arts and the humanities have an important role at a time when the world is rapidly shifting through technology, scientific and business innovations constantly,鈥� she says. 鈥淟iterature and the arts can enable us to understand the significance of human reliance towards each other, the values of pluralistic thinking and help us come closer. I say this with hope especially because 麻豆原创 has been such a space where knowledge is built together alongside many different divergent fields.鈥�

Ghosh鈥檚 proficiencies aligned with 麻豆原创鈥檚 desire to expand its literary offerings, as the university was looking for an expert in South Asian literature. She says she the mutual interest was evident almost instantly.

鈥淲hen I interviewed with 麻豆原创, I was very impressed with the wide variety of different research expertise that is there in my department,鈥� Ghosh says. 鈥淎fter getting to know the department and my colleagues, I knew it was absolutely the right place for me. I also had the chance to meet with students for an interview and I still remember the fantastic energy they had even in a short meeting.鈥�

While she still holds dear the memories of where she had lived before, Ghosh says she feels at home here in Orlando.

鈥淲hen I first visited Orlando, I was particularly impressed with the dynamism of the city and what it offers to the people,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n my third year here, I call myself a Floridian now.鈥�

Although Ghosh is comfortable here at 麻豆原创, she says that she鈥檚 far from finished with furthering her aspirations.

She says that being a Reach for the Stars honoree is incredibly humbling, and that it encourages her to continue growing with 麻豆原创.

鈥淚 am so thankful for the support 麻豆原创 has shown me and this award means the world to me to be able to continue my research,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 feel overjoyed and so grateful for all the amazing opportunities that last three years of 麻豆原创 have provided me that led to this award.鈥�

Leland Nordin

• Assistant Professor of materials science and engineering at within its with a joint appointment with .
• Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Semiconductors are specialized components omnipresent in everyday electronics 鈥� including the phone that Leland Nordin answered to hear President Alexander N. Cartwright congratulating him on earning a 2025 Reach for the Stars award.

鈥淚t was a great honor and surreal moment to receive a call from 麻豆原创鈥檚 president informing me of the award,鈥� says Nordin, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering whose research focuses on semiconductors. 鈥淚 deeply appreciate that 麻豆原创 recognizes the hard work my students and I are doing, and I am excited about the research opportunities this award will unlock.鈥�

Nordin, who also holds a joint appointment at CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, works to realize better and more efficient semiconductor materials and devices. Specifically, he and his group of students work on specialty devices that emit, detect, or manipulate light 鈥� such as lasers, LEDs and photodetectors like those found in a cell phone camera.

鈥淢y research is important because semiconductor materials and advanced devices drive nearly every critical technology today and will be central to future innovations,鈥� Nordin says. 鈥淭hese future applications include, but are not limited to, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, next generation 5G/6G communications, autonomous systems, space exploration, and hypersonics.鈥�

While many of these terms may seem cumbersome and unfamiliar, Nordin says he hopes his research helps to translate these technologies into ways that improve the lives of people everywhere.

鈥淚 strive to develop semiconductor materials and devices that make a real impact,鈥� he says. 鈥淔or example, we are working on ultraviolet light emitters, particularly lasers, that could help efficiently sterilize hospitals and other critical environments. Additionally, we are exploring ways to improve computer memory, which is a key bottleneck in modern data centers that power the AI revolution.鈥�

Nordin leverages 麻豆原创鈥檚 plentiful semiconductor resources, such as its state-of-the-art cleanrooms, to grow his research and educate students.

鈥淲e take a 鈥榝ull stack鈥� approach to semiconductor materials and devices, meaning we design, synthesize, fabricate and test our own materials and devices,鈥� he says. 鈥淯sing molecular beam epitaxy (a process akin to spray painting with atoms) we grow high-quality semiconductor materials. We then carve these materials into working devices in a cleanroom before testing their performance in our lab.鈥�

In evaluating universities where he could launch his career, Nordin says he found 麻豆原创 to be the most opportune place to harness his multidisciplinary research without excluding or overplaying any one aspect of his work.

鈥淏efore joining 麻豆原创, I worked across a range of disciplines, including physics, electrical engineering, and materials science and engineering,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 chose 麻豆原创 because it is the ideal place to pursue this interdisciplinary work, offering world-class facilities, outstanding colleagues and as I鈥檝e come to appreciate, exceptional research support. I am especially fortunate to have a joint appointment as well.鈥�

Since joining 麻豆原创 in 2023, Nordin has not only prioritized accelerating semiconductor and optoelectronic research but preparing students for a career in STEM.

鈥淥ne of my primary goals is to train the next generation of the U.S. semiconductor workforce,鈥� he says. 鈥淎s an educator, I believe my most significant contribution is the students I mentor and graduate. I want them to be the most hardworking, well-equipped scientists and engineers in the field.鈥�

Nordin says he takes great pride in the student research group he assembled, and that he greatly appreciates their trust in his ability to focus and guide meaningful research.

鈥淚 know it may sound corny, but I鈥檓 especially proud of the research group I鈥檝e built and their enthusiasm for semiconductor materials and devices,鈥� he says, 鈥淭here鈥檚 always some risk in joining a junior faculty member鈥檚 lab, and I couldn鈥檛 be more grateful for the students in my group.鈥�

Nordin says he is elated to receive this award, and he reiterates his appreciation for the support of his many close collaborators and friends.

鈥淚 am incredibly honored, humbled, and excited to receive this award,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 would like to express my gratitude to my current graduate students, undergraduate students and my academic mentors.鈥�

Yogesh Rawat

• Assistant professor at the .
• Ph.D. in computer science at the National University of Singapore.

Yogesh Rawat aspires toward a future where artificial intelligence (AI) is accurate, efficient and ultimately trustworthy.

Rawat, who completed his postdoctoral training at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Research in Computer Vision (CRCV) from 2017 to 2019, continues to hone his expertise in AI and computer vision as an assistant professor.

His work with computer vision focuses on video understanding, which enables AI to interpret media and respond to real-world events automatically.

鈥淭he world generates massive amounts of video data every second 鈥� whether through CCTV cameras, medical imaging or autonomous systems,鈥� Rawat says. 鈥淗owever, manually analyzing such data is nearly impossible. My research focuses on developing AI models that can efficiently process and understand video streams in real time, allowing for faster decision-making in high-stakes environments.鈥�

Allowing AI and machine learning to sift through and decipher video datasets may prove to be valuable as data interpretation can be automated to free up human expertise for high-level decision making, he says.

鈥淭he ability to analyze video in real time has immense potential to make our world safer and more efficient,鈥� Rawat says. 鈥淔rom healthcare to security, disaster response and law enforcement, AI can provide instant insights where human analysis may be slow or impractical.

His research is funded by a variety of sources including the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity as part of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and it has resulted in multiple patents and even a startup company. Among his proudest accomplishments are his contributions to secure and AI-powered identification systems.

鈥淭he intersection of technology and real-world impact is what drives my passion for this field,鈥� Rawat says.

He credits 麻豆原创鈥檚 enduring legacy as one of the top computer vision programs in the world to several key factors which ultimately led him here.

鈥溌槎乖� is one of the fastest-growing universities in the country, with a strong commitment to innovation and interdisciplinary research,鈥� Rawat says. 鈥淚t is home to one of the top computer vision research groups, led by [CRCV Director] Mubarak Shah, and offers a collaborative, resource-rich environment that enables groundbreaking AI research. The university’s strong connections with government agencies also provide an excellent platform for translating research into real world impact.鈥�

Earning a Reach for the Stars award is something, he says, that is both humbling and profoundly inspiring.

鈥淚t is incredibly motivating to see my research acknowledged in this way and it reaffirms my commitment to pushing the boundaries of AI for societal benefit,鈥� Rawat says. 鈥淭his award is not just a personal achievement 鈥� it is a testament to the hard work of my students, collaborators and the incredible research environment at 麻豆原创.鈥�

Similar to how his work with AI and computer vision is guided by human guidance, Rawat says his success is guided by those who support him at 麻豆原创.

鈥淭his recognition would not have been possible without the unwavering support of 麻豆原创,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 am deeply grateful to the technical assistance team, Mubarak Shah, [Department of Computer Science Chair] Damla Turgut, [Professor] Gary Leavens and [CECS Dean] Michael Georgiopoulos. I must give special recognition to [CRCV Administrative Coordinator] Cherry Place, whose incredible support has made a profound impact on my success.鈥�

There are so many people at 麻豆原创 to thank that at times it may be challenging to quantify just how crucial of a role they play, but Rawat says he鈥檚 particularly grateful for Place鈥檚 assistance and coordination.

鈥淭o be honest, at least 30% of what I have achieved would not have been possible without her,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 truly appreciate everything she has done for me and for our research group.鈥�

Kelly Stevens

• Assistant professor of public administration at within its , and a member of聽麻豆原创鈥檚 Resilient, Intelligent, and Sustainable Energy Systems (RISES) Faculty Cluster听补苍诲听.
• Ph.D. in public administration from Syracuse University.

There鈥檚 no better place for remaining resilient and adaptive than the Sunshine State.

Kelly Stevens, assistant professor of public administration at 麻豆原创, thrives by navigating Florida鈥檚 unique weather conditions, energy opportunities and challenges through her research in sustainable and resilient technologies.

Much like the technologies she researches, Stevens harnesses creative methods of pursuing a bright future.

鈥淎 major part of my work right now looks at what community members identify as problems related to energy, resilience, and sustainability,鈥� says Stevens, who is a member of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Resilient, Intelligent and Sustainable Energy Systems (RISES) Faculty Cluster. 鈥淚t鈥檚 useful for people who are engineers or policy makers to understand how something like a power outage impacts people differently across the state 鈥� the elderly, the poor, people with medical conditions.鈥�

Before she adopted the signature black and gold of 麻豆原创, she donned shades of garnet and gold while earning her master鈥檚 in meteorology from Florida State University and working as a meteorologist for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in the Division of Air Resource Management. Stevens says she was drawn to policy and program design as she continued immersing herself in the field of air quality modeling and monitoring.

Stevens returned to Florida after completing her doctoral degree in public administration from Syracuse University and supplementing her existing background with electricity and energy expertise.

She says bridging the gap between academic research and practice within Florida and beyond is part of how she ensures work makes a positive impact.

鈥淚’m excited to be back in Florida applying what I’ve learned to different energy and environmental projects here in Central Florida,鈥� Stevens says. 鈥淲ith my background in both social and physical sciences, I try to move beyond typically siloed disciplines to talk about complex questions in our energy system from a more holistic perspective. I believe this strategy is important to so we can better translate from science to practice by making sure technologies we create here at 麻豆原创 are useful and user-friendly.鈥�

Disaster preparedness is a critical component of resiliency, and it is something Floridians need to be particularly aware of given the state鈥檚 susceptibility to adverse weather such as hurricanes, she says. Her efforts to help local people is something Stevens says is incredibly rewarding.

鈥淭he project I am most proud of is the NSF-funded Resilience, Education and Advocacy Center for Hazard preparedness, the REACH hub,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e worked closely with the City of Orlando to design a portable and innovative resilience hub to provide energy-related services before and after disasters here.鈥�

The hub eventually will be delivered to and used by the City of Orlando for local use to help residents stay safe, recharged and informed.

鈥淲ith community feedback 鈥� we designed a solar-powered, portable hub with an extensive battery system to provide internet connection, cooling, information via display screens, and device charging that can help residents prepare for and respond to a disaster,鈥� Stevens says. 鈥淭he hub is built, we are conducting demonstrations, and anticipate the hub will be used by the City of Orlando as soon as this hurricane season.鈥�

Stevens says she鈥檚 grateful for the collaborative nature of 麻豆原创, particularly for the Faculty Cluster Initiative, which links faculty from different colleges, institutes and centers together to accomplish interdisciplinary breakthroughs.

鈥淚 am deeply grateful to be part of a talented and innovative team of researchers who embrace challenging questions and different perspectives in their work,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 am also grateful for the support and opportunities provided by the Faculty Cluster Initiative in fostering interdisciplinary work, as well as support from the College of Community Innovation and Education as well as the School of Public Administration for highlighting the great work that happens here.鈥�

Stevens says that the funds earned from the Reach for Stars award will sustain and further her research while helping to inspire and energize students.

鈥淚t is a huge honor to be recognized for this early-career award,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he research funding will be beneficial for funding more students to continue research on power outages and resilience over the next few years.鈥�

This includes using AI to assist in collecting and deciphering diagnostic data among medical professionals.

One such model, 鈥淏ioMedGPT,鈥� has shown great potential to expand patient access to healthcare. The new model has been detailed in a study in Nature Medicine.

The AI tool was developed by a collaborative team of researchers that was led by Lehigh University and included Chen Chen, an associate professor at 麻豆原创鈥檚 (CRCV).

Chen says there are many existing examples of AI used for healthcare, but many are highly specialized and may only perform limited tasks.

However, BiomedGPT can perform multiple tasks, including image classification, report generation and visual question answering, and is designed to be computationally efficient and open-sourced to foster collaboration, according to the study.

BiomedGPT could find a niche in providing easily accessible data to bolster hospitals that may not have a robust number of personnel, so relying on shared knowledge from medical networks via BiomedGPT could be of great help, he says.

鈥淚n these hospitals, they may not a lot of physicians or clinicians that can address a case immediately or they don’t have enough resources to diagnosis,鈥� Chen says. 鈥淭his powerful AI tool is able to provide that knowledge to help to reduce [challenges] in healthcare.鈥�

The model is open source, which means practitioners can use the framework and plug in their own data to collaborate and review amongst themselves in a community network.

BiomedGPT also aims to be generalist, meaning it can be more comprehensive and thorough so that it may be applied to a wider breadth of medical data and analysis, Chen says.

鈥淏iomedGPT is a unified AI model that is able to process a variety of data and perform multiple tasks,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o, this is useful, because it can be potentially can streamline the healthcare workflow, improve the diagnosis accuracy and reduce the need of multiple specialized systems. This model can even generate reasonable results on tasks or data that hadn’t been trained on before.鈥�

Leveraging 麻豆原创鈥檚 Expertise in Computer Vision

Chen used his computer vision and machine learning expertise to develop the AI model to understand medical images.

鈥淢y role was to figure out how we can extract useful information from visual data, especially for medical imaging and how can we integrate this information with other types of data modalities like text,鈥� Chen says. 鈥淚maging modalities are a big part of this because in healthcare, we have a lot of imaging data such as X-rays, CT scans and MRI.鈥�

BiomedGPT can perform multiple tasks, including image classification, report generation and visual question answering, and is designed to be computationally efficient and open-sourced to foster collaboration, the researchers state in their study. A clinician can upload an image and enter queries into BiomedGPT such as 鈥淲hat disease does this image depict?鈥� or 鈥淧lease determine the patient鈥檚 eligibility by comparing the given patient note and clinical trial details鈥� and receive feedback based on an existing set of provided data integrated into the AI model鈥檚 framework.

According to the study, BiomedGPT exhibits robust prediction ability with a low error rate of 3.8% in question answering and a satisfactory performance with an error rate of 8.3% in writing complex radiology reports, and competitive summarization ability with a nearly equivalent preference score to human experts.

Chen emphasizes though that clinicians and experts ultimately are responsible for reviewing the accuracy AI predications and supplementing the data.

鈥淲e are not trying to replace the clinician, but rather to enhance or make their workflow more efficient,鈥� Chen says. 鈥淎 physician can look at an AI report and perhaps for some of the less complex cases they can quickly check to see if it is correct. The human will still be involved and with their expertise, they can make the correct prediction or the diagnosis.鈥�

He says the model is designed to be computation friendly and also fully open sourced.

鈥淭his is trying to foster the collaborations with research institute hospitals to use this and also improve the model over the time,鈥� he says.

Next Steps

The study and analysis of BiomedGPT are promising, but there is still much to refine, Chen says.

New datasets and imaging could be integrated while there also remains more evaluations for the platform鈥檚 consideration of safety, equity and bias.

鈥淥ne thing is that we are looking to incorporate is more or [varied] data and modalities,鈥� he says. 鈥淔or example, we can include more video data and physiological signals like EKGs and heart rate monitoring. Another direction is we want to address are some of the most important issues in healthcare AI in general, like the privacy.”

The University of Georgia, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, Children鈥檚 Hospital of Philadelphia, University of California, Santa Cruz, The Mayo Clinic, Samsung Research America, Stanford University and UTHealth (University of Texas) also contributed to this research.

The BiomedGPT open source model is available .

Researcher鈥檚 Credentials:

Chen is an associate professor at 麻豆原创鈥檚 CRCV and previously served as a postdoctoral scholar for the center from 2016 to 2018. His main research interests are computer vision, image and video processing, and machine learning. In 2016 Chen earned his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery.

麻豆原创鈥檚 REU site, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, connects promising STEM students with established faculty at REU sites, enhancing their in-class learning experience with research, workshops and events.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Office of Undergraduate Research and Office of Research collaborate to support REU principal investigators and student participants. There are six cohorts covering distinct areas of research that are comprised of 11 principal investigators and dozens of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty mentors:

• Research Experience for Undergraduates in Computer Vision
• Advanced Technologies in Hypersonic, Propulsive, Energetic and Reusable Platforms
• Research in Materials for Energy Applications
  • and
• Engineering and Nanoscience of Materials and Device Applications in Biotechnology and Medicine
  • and the
• Conservation, Restoration and Communication
  • and Coastal Cluster
• Applied Computation Mathematics

麻豆原创’s CRCV, led by director Mubarak Shah, has run the nation’s longest continuous REU program for 37 years. The university has maintained five or six REU programs since 2022, and 麻豆原创-based nonprofit has been approved for next summer鈥檚 REU.

Students engage in a 10-to-12-week program and participate in workshops, labs and an individual research project that they may select from topics provided by corresponding mentors. Students then present their research to their cohort at the conclusion of the REU just before the start of the fall semester.

Launching Research and Accelerating Learning

Isabella Llamazares, a rising junior studying mechanical engineering at Florida International University, wanted to learn more about aerospace engineering but opportunities were limited at her school. She was accepted into the HYPER REU at 麻豆原创 and was excited to supplement her learning.

鈥淚 always knew that I had to find other opportunities, and I knew that I wanted to come to 麻豆原创 either for undergraduate or graduate studies,鈥� Llamazares says. 鈥淭his REU will help me back at my university. Although we don鈥檛 have aerospace down there, I鈥檓 part of an aviation club, and I have this as knowledge that I can build upon.鈥�

With an interest in fluid dynamics and propulsion, her project described timing detonations as part of the combustion process for rockets and how to ultimately make them safer.

鈥淚 came in just having very basic knowledge from my classes,鈥� Llamazares says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have the average aerospace engineering experience, but it was that dedication and really wanting to continue in this field that got me here. This REU and this project have really helped solidify that I want to pursue something related to the fluids field.鈥�

James Hippelhauser 鈥�11 鈥�20MS 鈥�23PhD, a HYPER REU mentor and postdoctoral researcher for astrodynamics and space robotics, was pleased with his students.

鈥淚’m definitely satisfied with their progress,鈥� he says. 鈥淎strodynamics is a topic that they don’t really get to learn from a classroom standpoint. I know they learned a lot just from a concept standpoint, but also applying it.鈥�

Hippelhauser was impressed with how well the students absorbed and applied complicated topics such as orbital mechanics.

鈥淚t kind of reminded me a lot when I first started research,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t can be a challenge. Orbital mechanics isn鈥檛 a common topic especially for undergrads. They learned as much as they could and as fast as they could.鈥�

Hippelhauser encourages prospective REU students interested in hypersonics, space, propulsion and energy to explore something they may not know.

鈥淒on’t limit yourself to a topic you’re comfortable with,鈥� he says. 鈥淭ry to go for a topic that you would not have considered.鈥�

Emmelia Lichty, a junior mechanical engineering major at Oral Roberts University, was drawn to 麻豆原创鈥檚 REU because she says she鈥檚 always loved space.

鈥淢y dad was an Air Force pilot and he flew fighter jets,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o, I got to see them up close and I鈥檝e always been infatuated. I came here because everything aerospace is right here with NASA, the space coast, and 麻豆原创 is so involved in aerospace research.鈥�

Lichty worked under the mentorship of Florida Space Institute (FSI) Interim Director Julie Brisset to enhance a precision cooling loop for a space-based payload.

鈥淎ny fluctuations would affect the actual experiment itself,鈥� Lichty says. 鈥淢y cooling loop had to be very precise, within plus or minus point one degrees. I had to make the improvements and monitor hardware and code modifications to get the cooling loop to that precision, which I was able to do by the end of the summer.鈥�

The ability to not just apply classroom knowledge but move beyond it was something she says was very appealing and rewarding.

鈥淕etting hands-on experience with problem-solving is a really a big part of the REU,鈥� Lichty says. 鈥淵ou also get a taste of research, and it helps you make those decisions about your career, like if you want to go to grad school or not.鈥�

Brisset, who also is an associate scientist with FSI, agrees that exposure to research is crucial in understanding and navigating a STEM education.

鈥淭here are two components that need to work together, both in the classroom and in the research lab,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ometimes it can be an abstract exercise working in a classroom, but if you have a real-life application, it can be easier to make a connection.鈥�

It was rewarding seeing Lichty immerse herself fully in her research, Brissett says.

鈥淚 think it was very complete,鈥� she says. 鈥淓mmie did mechanical work, fluid mechanics, some electronics and some coding. In the end, it was a very complete lab experience. The research was a success as she achieved the cooling precision.鈥�

The competitive nature of REUs across the board has increased, as well as the quality of applicants, Brisset says.

鈥淲e have undergrads who go through this program who stay in STEM and routinely end up in grad school,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e have people who are mid-career that come to us and say they discovered their love for astronomy when they did the REU program.鈥�

Getting Out and Shoring Up

Rowan Wyss, a senior biology student at Eckerd College, participated in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Coastal Cluster REU, where he studied feral hog populations and their interactions with the environment and other animals at the Mosquito Lagoon.

He says found the research experience gratifying and hopes to continue quantifying where and how these animal populations forage.

鈥淚 was looking for an REU experience and was aware of its transformative nature 鈥� how it exposes you to grad school and different software or programs used for biology research,鈥� Wyss says. 鈥淚 got way more out of the REU than I thought. I built so many connections and I鈥檓 much more proficient in software and the tools of the trade.鈥�

In the early stages of applying and even participating in the REU, it can be easy to feel the 鈥渋mposter syndrome,鈥� or feeling like you鈥檝e lucked into a position you鈥檙e not qualified for despite being actually qualified, Wyss says.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e surrounded with people extremely proficient in this field when you might have little to no research experience. But that’s just science. It’s never a competition. It鈥檚 people working together,鈥� he says.

Otis Woolfolk, a junior studying biology/marine biology track at 麻豆原创, tested the resiliency and sustainability of novel non-plastic oyster bags filled with recycled shells to restore shorelines throughout Florida. Woolfolk鈥檚 research marks the first test of the new materials in warm water restoration conditions.

He learned about REUs after being encouraged to apply by his ecology professor, Melinda Donnelly, and through his volunteer work with 麻豆原创鈥檚 Coastal and Estuarine Ecology Lab.

鈥淚 was asked about the ideas I had for my Ph.D., and I really want to work on microplastics and how they affect mangroves,鈥� Wolfolk says. 鈥淪o, this was close to that. Oyster bags generally use plastics, so I experimented with using more environmentally friendly materials made of potato starch or basalt that deteriorate within years.鈥�

He found the process exciting and enjoyed delving into a component of marine biology and conservation that he may not have considered had he not participated in the REU.

鈥淎s a novice scientist, I learned a huge amount,鈥� Wolfolk says. 鈥淚t’s a time for you to get messy and make mistakes. You鈥檙e doing research, doing workshops and you鈥檙e learning how the science world works.鈥�

During his poster presentation, Wolfolk says he felt a newfound confidence in his ability as a novice scientist when a freshman asked him how to get involved with research.

鈥淢y advice?鈥� he says. 鈥淰olunteer as much as possible and don鈥檛 doubt yourself.鈥�

Linda Walters, lead investigator for the Conservation, Restoration and Communication NSF REU site and Wolfolk鈥檚 REU mentor, says Wolfolk did an exemplary job in his research.

鈥淚t was very rewarding to watch this journey,鈥� she says. 鈥淥tis had the opportunity to be on the ground-floor of our cutting-edge research in marine restoration this summer. He is gifted at asking good, thought-provoking questions and communicating his science.鈥�

The program is very competitive and only 10 students were selected for the Coastal Cluster REU out of 377 applicants, says Walters, who also is a Pegasus Professor of biology. Those who participate in the REU usually continue their education through graduate school, she says.

鈥淒uring the 10 weeks, the students go from a very limited research background to developing their research questions, collecting data, analyzing their data and presenting their projects to the larger community,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is a lot of work for the mentors to keep everything on track for this accelerated timeline, but the students make it worthwhile. They become confident researchers in 10 weeks.鈥�

Honing a Vision

麻豆原创鈥檚 CRCV has hosted about 370 students since it was designated as an REU site 37 years ago and continues to guide undergraduates in the evolving field of computer vision, says Niels Lobo, associate professor of computer science and CRCV REU mentor.

鈥淭he nature of the REU has matured,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he field has evolved, and what students are doing now in their projects is vastly different than what people would have done 10 to 20 years ago.鈥�

Lobo came to 麻豆原创 31 years ago and was encouraged to assist with REUs within the first year. Lobo has seen the composition of student applicants and participates becoming more dynamic during his time at the university.

鈥淲hat we’re seeing is that the student population applying for these research opportunities is exploding,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat means that the overall experience of the cohort is going to be a little bit richer because everybody gets exposed to something different.鈥�

Computer vision is harnessing the power of technology to not just view things through a camera, but to understand them, Lobo says. Continually adapting to the constant evolution of the field while also considering computer vision鈥檚 ethical implications are two components he is teaching students.

鈥淓very two or three years, the field discovers something new,鈥� Lobo says. 鈥淚n research, there are no study guides, so you need to go out and explore. That process of discovery is only accomplished through research.鈥�

Claire Zhang, a junior studying applied mathematics-computer science at Brown University, was glad to have embarked on CRCV REU.

She previously conducted remote research, but she says the program at 麻豆原创 provided her with a more immersive and shared experience.

鈥淚t was really nice meeting this community and coming to work together,鈥� Zhang says. 鈥淚 imagined it being very independent, but I found that it was a lot more collaborative than I originally thought even though we all had our own independent projects.鈥�

Her project involved creating segmentation masks for solar cells to show their degradation in a quantitative way rather than the qualitative way of identifying degradation by darkened glass regions of cells. Zhang created and used a model that outlines the materials and can characterize how degraded the cells are.

鈥淚 have almost no experience with material science,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his project connected material science to computer science, and it was a great introduction.鈥�

Zhang gained not just expertise in a field she鈥檚 interested in, but also knowledge and momentum to continue her education and pursuit of a STEM career.

鈥淔or the past semester, I had been thinking about whether I should explore different concentrations,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his summer showed me that I can continue to explore other interests while remaining in this concentration, specifically, that I could apply computer science to these other聽interests.鈥�

Students interested in more information about 麻豆原创鈥檚 REU program should visit: .

A team of five faculty, led by 麻豆原创鈥檚 (CRCV), recently received a U.S. National Science Foundation grant totaling nearly $2.5 million over five years to serve as resources to uplift bright yet low-income or struggling undergraduate students in pursuing a well-rounded education in AI.

The initiative is called STRONG-AI (STEM Opportunities for Nurtured Growth in AI), and it is an effort to help students anticipate and navigate the intersections of STEM careers and AI through faculty and peer mentorship and scholarship.

STRONG-AI is a refocusing and continuation of longstanding NSF-supported mentorship programs at 麻豆原创 that have helped more than 100 low-income students since 2010 find success in STEM education and prepare them for the workforce. It also further reaffirms the university鈥檚 commitment to President Alexander N. Cartwright鈥檚 vision in continuing to be the University for the Future through the .

There are countless challenges and opportunities for implementing AI that span many STEM fields, and that is why STRONG-AI is important, says Mubarak Shah, 麻豆原创 trustee chair professor of computer science and founding director of CRCV.

鈥淭he idea is to support the financially challenged and academically talented students to pursue the degrees in STEM majors,鈥� he says. 鈥淎I is important, and we鈥檝e had a lot of success in computer vision 鈥� my area of research 鈥� but we want to broaden this to other areas of AI like robotics, machine learning and healthcare. There鈥檚 a big need in the workforce.鈥�

The team already has received more than 150 applications and ultimately will select about 10 to 15 yearly based on financial aid eligibility, academic success and interviews with faculty, Shah says.

Students are encouraged to accelerate their education, as they may take courses toward their master鈥檚 while they work toward their bachelor鈥檚, he says.

鈥淲e are looking for the students who are really interested to do well in STEM majors, and particularly AI,鈥� Shah says. 鈥淭hey need to have a good GPA and be expressive in their interviews as we鈥檒l have some questions for them.鈥�

There may be many 麻豆原创 students who already are confidently pursuing a path in AI in STEM; and so STRONG-AI is addressing the need to identify promising students and provide them with resources and raise their confidence in their ability to succeed, he says.

It is important to ensure these talented students are not overlooked, Shah says.

鈥淲e need to make sure that these students have our support,鈥� he says. 鈥淢any of the students may be able to finish their bachelor鈥檚 degree but they may not think they have the resources to get that graduate degree. They may not do well, and they may drop out or change their majors to non-STEM, and that鈥檚 a big problem because we need a qualified STEM workforce. We want to encourage those students to stay in the system. And our idea is to recruit these students and assign a mentor who each of these students can talk to and get help.鈥�

Nazanin Rahnavard, professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a STRONG-AI mentor and co-investigator, has seen the transformative potential of the previous NSF mentorship program.

鈥淏ased on my experience with that program, I know we changed their lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淥ur scholars may come from low-income families and may have many challenges outside of the classroom. This program is specifically designed to help those students who without this program might not find success. If there are students interested in pursuing a career in AI who think they might not have financial resources, we encourage them to apply.鈥�

Rahnavard says she hopes that accepted students not only will earn their bachelor鈥檚 degree but also get a head start on their graduate degrees and beyond.

鈥淥ur vision is to get students through their undergraduate program and provide them research experience so that they can move through to their master鈥檚,鈥� she says.

While Shah will work with students on computer vision and simulation, Rahnavard will focus on computer engineering.

鈥淎I by nature is interdisciplinary,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t integrates mathematics, engineering and computer science. It is beneficial to integrate many perspectives across these different fields, and it provides our students with a better background to be prepared for their career in AI.鈥�

Focusing on the foundational development of AI will give students a solid background and context to further their STEM careers, says Brian Moore, STRONG-AI program manager and mentor and associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mathematics.

鈥�With majors in computer science, computer vision, computer engineering, data analytics, and statistics and data science, our students will be more than just users of AI, they will be on the road to becoming the creators of tools for AI,鈥� he says. 鈥淓ach of our five majors are represented by faculty with strong records of research and mentoring in that field. They will guide students to opportunities, such as tutoring, research and internships, as well as organizing regular group gatherings.鈥�

The explosion of career opportunities in AI is reflective of its growing importance in everyday life, and so ensuring capable students are identified and assisted is crucial, Moore says.

鈥淪tudents from low-income households experience significant barriers to academic success,鈥� he says. 鈥淢any would not finish a college degree without strong financial and community support. STRONG-AI develops their sense of belonging, both at the university and in their major, as they become a part of a group of high-achieving scholars.鈥�

Although the applications for the inaugural STRONG-AI cohort has closed, students considering applying in the future as soon as early spring to apply for the next cohort.

STRONG-AI co-principal investigators include Niels da Vitoria Lobo, associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 CRCV and HanQin Cai, director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Data Science Lab and endowed assistant professor at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Statistics and Data Science.

Researchers鈥� Credentials

Shah began teaching at 麻豆原创 in 1986. He received his doctoral degree in computer science from Wayne State University in 1986 and is a fellow of multiple prestigious industry and multi-disciplinary organizations such as the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Shah has mentored hundreds of computer science students throughout his career.

Rahnavard came to 麻豆原创 in 2014 after spending six years teaching at Oklahoma State University. She earned her master鈥檚 degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2001 and her doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. Her research areas include wireless networking, radio frequency cartography and deep learning theory.

Moore joined 麻豆原创 in 2007. After earning his master鈥檚 degree in mathematical and computer sciences at Colorado School of Mines, Moore earned his doctoral degree in applied mathematics at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom in 2003.聽Prior to joining 麻豆原创, Moore held a postdoctoral research position at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, followed by a visiting assistant professorship at the University of Iowa. His research areas include numerical analysis and differential equations with emphasis on structure-preserving algorithms and lattice equations.

With video surveillance becoming more and more ubiquitous, 麻豆原创 Center for Research in Computer Vision (CRCV) Assistant Professor Yogesh Rawat, and his collaborators Mubarak Shah and Chen Chen, are working to address privacy issues with advanced software installed on video cameras. Their work is supported by $200,000 in funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation鈥檚 Accelerating Research Translation (NSF ART) program.

鈥淎utomation allows us to watch a lot of footage, which is not possible by humans,鈥� Rawat says. 鈥淪urveillance is important for society, but there are always privacy concerns. This development will enable surveillance with privacy preservation.鈥�

His video monitoring software protects the privacy of those recorded by obscuring select elements, such as faces or clothing, both in recordings and in real time. Rawat explains that his software adds perturbations to the RGB pixels in the video feed 鈥� the red, green and blue colors of light 鈥� so that human eyes are unable to recognize them.

鈥淢ainly we are interested in any identifiable information that we can visually interpret,鈥� Rawat says. 鈥淔or example, for a person鈥檚 face, I can say 鈥楾his is that individual,鈥� just by identifying the face. It could be the height as well, maybe hair color, hair style, body shape — all those things that can be used to identify any person. All of this is private information.鈥�

Since Rawat aims to have the technology available in edge devices, devices that are not dependent on an outside server such as drones and public surveillance cameras, he and his team are also working on developing the technology so that it鈥檚 fast enough to analyze the feed as it is received. This poses the additional challenge of developing algorithms that can process the data in real-time, so that efficient graphics processing units (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs) can handle the workload of analyzing footage as it is captured.

To that end, his main considerations in implementing the software are speed and size.

鈥淲e want to do this very efficiently and very quickly in real time,鈥� Rawat says. 鈥淲e don’t want to wait for a year, a month or days. We also don’t want to take a lot of computing power. We don’t have a lot of computing power in very small GPUs or very small CPUs. We are not working with large computers there, but very small devices.鈥�

The funding from the NSF ART program will allow Rawat to identify potential users of the technology, including nursing homes, childcare centers and authorities using surveillance cameras. Rawat is one of two 麻豆原创 researchers to have projects initially funded through the $6 million grant awarded to the university earlier this year. Four more projects will be funded over the next four years.

His work builds on several previous projects spearheaded by other CRCV members, including founder Mubarak Shah and researcher Chen Chen, including extensive work that allows analysis of untrimmed security videos, training artificial intelligence models to operate on a smaller scale and a patent on software that allows for the detection of multiple actions, persons and objects of interest. Funding sources for these works include $3.9 million from the IARPA Biometric Recognition and Identification at Altitude and Range program, $2.8 million from Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) Deep Intermodal Video Analysis, and $475,000 from the U.S Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office.

Rawat says his work in computer vision is motivated by a drive to improve our world.

鈥淚’m really interested in understanding how we can easily navigate in this world as humans,鈥� he says. 鈥淰isual perception is something I’m very interested in studying, including how we can bring it to machines and make things easy for us as humans and as a society.鈥�

About the Researcher

Yogesh Rawat is an assistant professor at the Center for Research in Computer Vision at 麻豆原创. He earned his doctorate in computer science at the National University of Singapore and completed his postdoctoral training in the Center for Research in Computer Vision at 麻豆原创 from 2017 to 2019. He obtained his bachelor鈥檚 degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Varanasi in 2009.

In an effort to expand the use of AI in agriculture, several 麻豆原创 researchers will work together to develop several AI-driven technologies that aim to improve the industry鈥檚 field operations. The team is supported by a $2.74 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) – National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The funded project will specifically enhance the agricultural applications produced by the AI Institute for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support (AgAID), an institute funded by NIFA. Professor Manoj Karkee from Washington State University is the team鈥檚 leading collaborator of AgAID.

Leading the charge for 麻豆原创 is Professor Yunjun Xu of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He will use his expertise to develop AI methods for motion control and scheduling in agricultural robots. These autonomous ground robots are used to conduct several operations in open fields such as detecting diseases and harvesting crops.

Collaborating with Xu are Professor Ladislau B枚l枚ni of the Department of Computer Science and Assistant Professor Chen Chen from the Center for Research in Computer Vision. B枚l枚ni will strive to integrate AI into the manipulation of agricultural robotic arms to improve the way they interact with their physical environment, while Chen will investigate a new AI method for the sensors used in precision agriculture, a farming practice that uses technology to make more accurate and informed decisions.

Also on the project is chemistry Professor Swadeshmukul Santra, who will work with Chen and Xu to integrate AI into the analysis of pesticide residues.

The 麻豆原创 team hopes that these technologies will be of use to both current and future generations of farmers and AgAID researchers.

鈥淲e anticipate that each AI method will advance its respective state-of-the-art technology and can have performance superior to existing or traditional methods,鈥� Xu says. 鈥淲e also hope to inspire more people, especially younger generations, to join the U.S. agricultural sector workforce.鈥�

To spark an interest in agriculture, the 麻豆原创 researchers plan to coordinate various outreach activities for students including a summer exchange program and workshops. They also plan to develop a new course and training materials around this work, which will be facilitated with the help of graduate students.

The project is funded via the NIFA interagency application program in conjunction with the U.S. National Science Foundation.

About the Researchers

Xu joined 麻豆原创 as an assistant professor in 2008. He earned his doctoral degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida. His research interests include agricultural robots, control theory and flying vehicles. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

B枚l枚ni is a professor of computer science and the co-director of the AI Things Laboratory at 麻豆原创. He has secondary joint appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Center for Research in Computer Vision. He is also a member of the 麻豆原创 Cluster for Disability, Aging and Technology. He received his doctoral and master鈥檚 degrees from Purdue University. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a senior member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the Upsilon Pi Epsilon honorary society.

Chen is an assistant professor at the Center for Research in Computer Vision and previously served as a postdoctoral scholar for the center. His main research interests are computer vision, image and video processing, and machine learning. He earned his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Santra holds a doctorate in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. After graduating, he worked at the University of Florida (UF) as a postdoctoral researcher and later as a research assistant professor at the UF Department of Neurological Surgery and Particle Engineering Research Center. In 2005, Santra joined 麻豆原创 as an assistant professor at the NanoScience Technology Center, the Department of Chemistry and the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. He is the director of the 麻豆原创 Materials Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture center, a USDA-NIFA-recognized Center of Excellence.

To further tap into the hidden gems of research produced by faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, 麻豆原创 is initiating a new program backed by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) with mentoring from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The $6 million, NSF-funded interdisciplinary project, led by Ivan Garibay, an associate professor in the will create a 麻豆原创 Venture Lab that supports budding entrepreneurs through the commercialization process and establishes a newly organized research umbrella at the university.

The funding for the 麻豆原创 Venture Lab is provided through NSF鈥檚 Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program, housed in the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. 麻豆原创 is one of 18 U.S. universities to receive funding through this newly established program.

“NSF endeavors to empower academic institutions to build the pathways and structures needed to speed and scale their research into products and services that benefit the nation,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan in a release. “The Accelerating Research Translation program in NSF鈥檚 new Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate identifies, and champions institutions positioned to expand their research translation capacity by investing in activities essential to move results to practice.”

The 麻豆原创 Venture Lab will train and enable faculty, graduate students and postdocs to identify and launch viable businesses based on their novel research. It will provide guidelines on business development, match 麻豆原创 researchers with relevant industry partners and, for a select few, provide funding through the NSF ART grant. The entity will be modeled after the business startup program at Georgia Tech, which will provide mentorship during the development phase.

鈥溌槎乖粹�檚 world-class faculty are preparing students to work and lead in the industries of tomorrow, and we are grateful to the NSF for their support in enabling us to speed up research, discovery, and entrepreneurship,鈥� says 麻豆原创 President Alexander N. Cartwright. 鈥淲orking with Georgia Institute of Technology, which will serve as a mentoring institution, we look forward to expanding pathways for ideas, products, and programs that make positive impacts on society and keep pace with the speed of innovation.鈥�

Garibay says after comparing notes with Georgia Tech, the project team realized they would benefit from a Venture Lab dedicated to the commercialization of 麻豆原创 research.

鈥淲e plan to create that infrastructure here at 麻豆原创 and hope to accelerate the growth of these businesses,鈥� Garibay says.

Community and Societal Impact

Georgia Tech will serve as a mentoring partner for 麻豆原创鈥檚 Venture Lab development. Keith McGregor, the founder of the Georgia Tech VentureLab, will serve as one of the mentors to the 麻豆原创 team, which includes co-principal investigators Carolina Cruz-Neira, a professor in the ; Cameron Ford, an associate professor in the , Svetlana Shtrom, the director of the ; and Winston Schoenfeld, interim vice president for research and innovation. The University of Florida will also collaborate on the project, providing input that will help 麻豆原创 adapt Georgia Tech鈥檚 model to the Florida ecosystem.

Locally, the program is expected to have a positive impact on the Orlando area.

鈥淐entral Florida is mostly a service-based economy,鈥� Garibay says. 鈥淥ur median salary is below the nationwide average. The 麻豆原创 Venture Lab will foster creation of technology companies, which will generate high-paying jobs and will attract a lot of growth to this area.鈥�

The program will also provide pathways for local industry to partner with 麻豆原创 researchers. Organizations such as DeepWork Capital, the Entrepreneurs Alliance of Orlando and the National Security Innovation Network have already agreed to mentor the 麻豆原创 entrepreneurs and to participate in the ART project advisory board.

ART Seed Translational Research Projects

Multiple seed translational research projects will be selected for funding through the ART program. The first project, led by Professor Guifang Li of the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), will establish a prototype receiver capable of high-speed space-to-ground laser communication that resists atmospheric turbulence. Once the prototype is developed, Li and his team plan to test the project at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Potential clients for the receiver include Blue Origin, OneWeb Technologies and SpaceX.

The second project is led by Center for Research in Computer Vision Assistant Professor Yogesh Rawat. He plans to develop a prototype software that can detect human activities shown in live video streams while ensuring that private information isn鈥檛 exposed. The software would be used in surveillance systems to identify emergency situations or potential threats to public safety so that law enforcement or first responders could act quickly to prevent harm.

Other seed translational research projects will be selected through a university competition that will commence next August. 麻豆原创 researchers from all disciplines will be encouraged to apply.

Education Through Action

麻豆原创 graduates like Wolfe, Drake and countless others were able to launch their businesses with the aid of the skills they developed at 麻豆原创 as well as the encouragement they received from 麻豆原创 researchers and business development programs. To keep the pipeline of Knight-trepreneurs flowing, the NSF ART grant will enhance 麻豆原创鈥檚 educational offerings in entrepreneurship.

The College of Engineering and Computer Science and the College of Business Administration courses already offered in this topic would expand to allow graduate students and postdocs to take the courses, allowing for a greater diversity of knowledge, skill and perspective in the classroom.

The goal is to instill an entrepreneurial skillset in the next generation so they can better qualify for jobs in changing industries or launch and grow their own business ventures, says Ford, who is also the executive director of the Blackstone LaunchPad and the director for the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

鈥淭he careers that our students are going into are dynamic,鈥� Ford says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a lot of changes and disruptions to the industries they work in, so our students need to be adaptable and resilient. They can add value to the companies they work for if they can learn to solve novel problems and execute initiatives. It鈥檚 not enough to innovate solutions 鈥� the goal is to deliver innovations to those who need them, improving social and economic wellbeing in the process.鈥�

Garibay says that, for engineering students in particular, learning about entrepreneurship can change their whole mindset.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 life-changing,鈥� Garibay says. 鈥淓ntrepreneurship is something we鈥檝e done for a long time and the feedback that I get back from students is that it鈥檚 transformative.鈥�

麻豆原创 Innovate

The NSF ART program doesn鈥檛 just allow 麻豆原创 to create a business hub and enhance graduate education 鈥� it also establishes a new research umbrella for the university called 麻豆原创 Innovate. This enhanced infrastructure will bring together the Office of Technology Transfer, the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the Business Incubation Program along with the developing Venture Lab. 麻豆原创 Innovate will be overseen by Schoenfeld, who leads the Office of Research.

鈥溌槎乖� has been consistently ranked as a leading technology-generating institution with a strong entrepreneurial spirit among faculty and students,鈥� Schoenfeld says. 鈥淭he NSF ART program leverages this to drive new levels of technology translation that ensures strong societal benefit from the innovation across 麻豆原创.鈥�

Shtrom says that through the ART program, the Office of Technology Transfer will strengthen and enhance the university鈥檚 commercialization infrastructure to transform promising research results into products that solve pressing problems and improve people鈥檚 lives.

鈥淭he NSF funding will allow us to dedicate resources toward cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset and culture at 麻豆原创, increasing the number of startup companies launched to commercialize university technologies, and growing funding and licensing revenue to support and expand the research enterprise,鈥� Shtrom says. 鈥溌槎乖� is committed to nurturing and sustaining this virtuous cycle of research and innovation to maximize impact for 麻豆原创, Central Florida, and the nation.鈥�

With 13,320 videos from 101 action categories, the is a challenging collection of actions due to the volume of classes and clips included. Datasets like 麻豆原创-101 and the famous ImageNet Dataset have played a very crucial role in the recent AI revolution as they train computers to automatically analyze video and images, says Mubarak Shah, one of the researchers behind 麻豆原创-101 and the director of .

鈥淭here are cameras all over,鈥� Shah says. 鈥淭here are millions of cameras watching, but there are not enough people looking at those videos because it鈥檚 a lot of effort. The idea in computer vision is how we automatically analyze those videos.鈥�

The Everingham Prize is awarded to a researcher or research team that has made a significant contribution to other members of the computer vision community. The prize was presented to Shah and his team during the European Conference on Computer Vision in Tel Aviv on Oct. 26.

麻豆原创-101 consists of videos collected from YouTube that display a range of actions taken with large variations in video characteristics, such as camera motion, object appearance and pose, and lighting conditions. Unstaged action footage serves as better examples for computers to train with due to their similarity to how these actions occur in reality.

Since its publication in 2012, 麻豆原创-101 has been cited over 4,000 times, establishing it as a benchmark dataset.

Shah says he hopes the award brings visibility to , which supports 麻豆原创 President Alexander Cartwright鈥檚 vision to make 麻豆原创 a 鈥淯niversity for the Future鈥� by hiring about thirty AI faculty. Those hired will be tenured in five different colleges: , , , , and .

As part of the initiative, Shah will be leading an interdisciplinary team that develops groundbreaking technologies to further AI research and commercialization in Orlando, the state of Florida, and the nation.

Shah is the founding director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Center for Research in Computer Vision and a professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He is also a fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association of Advancement of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the International Association of Pattern Recognition, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics.