Lab Updates

Arsalan Heydarian, left, and Laura Barnes
Find out how UVA engineers and clinicians are using ‘Indoor Environmental Quality' sensors to try to improve patients' sleep and recovery

Homa Alemzadeh, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia, shared her expertise in resilient cyber-physical systems with members of the International Federation for Information Processing during the winter meeting of its Working Group on Dependable Computing and Fault Tolerance.Alemzadeh helped the working group publicly launch its project on Intelligent Vehicle Dependability and Security.

Two UVA Engineering computer science Ph.D. alumni have been elevated fellow status. Chenyang Lu, Fullgraf Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and director of the Cyber-Physical Systems Laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis, has been elevated to ACM Fellow. Lu was recognized for contributions to adaptive real-time systems, real-time virtualization, and wireless cyber-physical systems. He received his Ph.D. from UVA Engineering in 2001 and was advised by John A. Stankovic, BP America Professor of Computer Science and director of the Link Lab.

B. Brian Park, a professor in the Department of Engineering Systems and Environment, has received the 2014 George N. Saridis Best Transactions Paper Award for Outstanding Research for a paper in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. Park co-authored the work with former Ph.D. student Joyoung Lee, now an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Awards for years 2014-2017 were announced in the journal's December 2020 issue.

Josephine Lamp, a University of Virginia computer science Ph.D. student, is leading a team of researchers in novel approaches to diagnostics for advanced heart failure. The research project has been named a winner of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Big Data Analysis Challenge: Creating New Paradigms for Heart Failure Research.Team members are:
o Lu Feng, assistant professor with joint appointments in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Systems and Environment
o Steven Lamp, fourth-year computer science student at Colorado State University

Esen Yel, a systems engineering Ph.D. student at UVA Engineering, will give the prestigious Link Lab Student Seminar in recognition of her work to advance drones and self-driving vehicles, or autonomous systems. The seminar is the preeminent talk given by a student in the 280+ person lab; being chosen as the presenter is also a hallmark Link Lab award in recognition of excellence in research.​Yel's research uses model-based frameworks and machine learning to develop autonomous systems that can anticipate situations and make better decisions.

Fish and birds use complex high-speed maneuvers when chasing prey or escaping predators. How water and air flow around these animals during maneuvers is mostly unknown. Mapping out these flows will help biologists better understand the relationship between fish, birds, and their environment. Mapping out these flows will help bio-inspired roboticists, who currently rely on models of low-speed, symmetric gaits when designing and testing robots. Understanding the flows that govern rapid maneuvers will enable a new generation of fast, flexible, ultra-maneuverable bio-inspired robots.

Homa Alemzadeh and her research team have come a long way since winning a $1.1 million grant in 2018 to build an artificial intelligence assistant to help first responders make good decisions during emergency situations.

Faysal, class of 2022, is a native of Dhaka, Bangladesh and when he's not working towards his PhD, enjoys spending time with loved ones, traveling, and gardening. At the Link Lab, Faysal works with affiliated staff Dr. Yuan Tian on projects related to safety and privacy issues in emerging systems.What brings the most joy in your life?

Minghui Sun, class of 2021, enjoys having dinner parties in order to meet new people and in his free time also likes to read, swim, kayak, and travel. In the Link Lab, he works with faculty affiliate Cody Flemings on projects related to safety in engineered systems.What brings you the most joy in your life?
1. Making connections with people. Even though we might come from different backgrounds, the moments of having honest and open-minded conversations always give me the most joy in life.