2022-2023 IDSC Fellows Final Project Presentations 4/27 in person or via ZOOM

2022-2023 IDSC Fellows, University of Miami Institute for Data Science and Computing

2022-2023 IDSC Fellows Final Project Presentations 4/27 in person…

The 2022-2023 IDSC Fellows will gather once again to present the final project presentations at the Richter Library, 3rd Floor Conference Room, #343, on Thursday, April 27, from 3:00-4:30 PM. Join us in person for light refreshments (or via ZOOM) and hear their progress since their initial pitch.

Take a look back at their opening presentations. Each spoke briefly on what they hoped to accomplish, and we look forward to hearing what progress they have made, and what they learned as they utilized data science and advanced computing in their research.

WATCH—Initial project presentations (in this order): Jeffrey Serville (starts at 5:22), Kelly Soluri (starts at 14:00), Sadegh Tale Masoule (starts at 39:54), and Shara Sookhoo (starts at 48:00).

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Orientation-selective Deep Brain Stimulation of Midbrain Circuits in the Yucatan Micropig for Improving Gait After Spinal Cord Injury

Jeffrey Serville

Jeffrey W. Serville

MENTOR:  Ravi Vadapalli, PhD | Director, IDSC Advanced Computing

– Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
– Department to Neurological Surgery, Miller School of Medicine
– The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
– Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC)
– Institute for Neural Engineering (INEM)

Jeffrey is a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.  His research focuses on neuromodulation and rehabilitation for movement disorders, specifically spinal cord injury.  As an IDSC Fellow, he aspires to utilize the university’s Triton supercomputer to accelerate preprocessing algorithms designed for diffusion-weighted images (including eddy-current, susceptibility, and motion distortions) and automate MRI-based segmentation of the pig brain that is used for generating anatomically-constrained-tractograms (3D reconstructed fiber pathways) to predict neural activation patterns resulting from deep brain stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region (midbrain/brainstem) in pigs.  The purpose of his research project is to optimize stimulation programming, as it relates to generating locomotion while minimizing unwanted side-effects, by implementing the finite-element method to solve the associated bioelectric field problem on a subject-by-subject basis.
Project Overview

  • Overcome computational bottlenecks commonly encountered in traditional desktop or workstation environments, for, specifically, preprocessing of diffusion-weighted images (DWIs). This can take eight up to sixteen hours and it’s a huge bottleneck in the computational workflow.
  • Improve DBS (deep brain simulation) outcomes by offering more realistic visualizations and realizations (i.e. surgical planning and/or consultation)
  • Decrease the times it takes for potential DBS therapies to go from bench to bedside.

 

Forecasting Bycatch Hotspots Using Machine Learning

Kelly Soluri

Kelly S. Soluri

Kelly Soluri, M.S. Candidate for Marine Biology and Ecology, Rosenstiel School for Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science

MENTORS:
– Dr. Elizabeth Babcock, quantitative fisheries scientist and professor at the University of Miami with a specialty in fisheries stock assessments.
– Dr. Gang Ren, data and computer scientist and professor at the University of Miami with expertise in artificial intelligence
– Dr. Mitsunori Ogihara, Director of Workforce Development and Education at IDSC and Editor-in-Chief of the Theory of Computer Systems Journal with research interests in data mining
– Cooperative Institute for Marine And Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS)
– National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Kelly Sophia Soluri is a Marine Biology and Ecology Master’s student at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Sciences at the University of Miami. She is using machine learning to research quantitative fisheries with Dr. Beth Babcock with a focus in optimizing ways to forecast hotspots in the Gulf of Mexico where many untargeted species are caught. Previously, she has researched sea turtles with Dr. Mariana Fuentes of Florida State University, science diplomacy for the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Science and Technology Cooperation in Washington D.C., and environmentally equitable urban planning with the Miami-Dade County Office of Resilience.

Kelly has strong interests in ecological processes in oceanic and coastal systems as well as learning novel technologies and methods to better understand how these processes function as a response to climate change or anthropogenic pressure. As a native South Floridian, she wishes to support coastal communities that deal with sea level rise, resource insecurity, and intensifying natural disasters. She is also passionate about science literacy for all and the uplifting of minority communities in STEM.

Segmentation and Evaluation of Micro-Cracks from Micro-CT Images of Concrete Elements

Sadegh Tale Masoule

Sadegh Tale Masoule

MENTOR:  David Chapman, PhD | IDSC AI + Machine Learning

Sadegh is a second-year PhD student doing research in the advanced infrastructure materials lab in the college of engineering. His research includes measuring physiochemical properties of polymers in fluids and in cast construction materials, and then analyzing the results with different methods, one of them being machine learning that he’s currently pursuing. He hopes that with access to the IDSC’s expertise and resources, he can achieve good progress on his project.
Project Goals

  • Learn more about different segmentation models and transfer learning
  • Build a comprehensive database of micro-cracks with different samples
  • Develop a pipeline to accurately segment and measure micro-cracks as an estimation for the level of damage in elements
  • Publish the results

To Investigate the Co-Occurrence Patterns in the Microbiomes of Six Species of Corals

Shara Sookhoo

Shara Sookhoo

MENTOR:  Manohar Murthi, PhD, Associate Professor | College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

– Dr. Nikki Traylor Knowles, Associate Professor, Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, Rosenstiel School for Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science | Secondary Faculty in Biology
– Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium
Shara is a Junior majoring in Marine Biology and Ecology with minors in Computer Science and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. After learning to SCUBA dive at 14, she became passionate about coral conservation. Through her work with University of Miami’s Marine Genomics lab and Mote’s Coral Health and Disease lab, she is learning the skills to find and develop corals that are more resilient to climate change and disease. In the last year, these interests have led her to jump off a bridge in the Florida Keys and climb a volcano in the Galapagos. Both in and out of the lab, Shara always looking for the next adventure.