Link Lab Adds New Faculty
By Audra Book abook@virginia.edu
In its 2030 Strategic Plan, the University of Virginia points to the power of shared spaces where faculty and students can collaborate across traditional disciplinary boundaries on research that will improve lives. UVA Engineering’s Link Lab is modeling this vision.
Link Lab, a 17,000-square-foot center of excellence for cyber-physical systems research and education, opened in 2018. Today, Link Lab brings together UVA Engineering faculty and graduate students and faculty from other UVA schools and disciplines.
Since UVA invested $4.8 million in 2016 to establish Link Lab, affiliated faculty have attracted $51 million in sponsored research funding in the areas of autonomous systems, smart cities and smart and connected health.
In the field of autonomous systems, including self-driving cars and drones, Link Lab researchers are creating models to better predict how autonomous systems will interact with the physical world around them in real-life circumstances. People and communities will only adopt autonomous systems if they are engineered to be safe and reliable.
In the area of smart and connected health, Link Lab is working with the UVA School of Medicine and the School of Nursing to advance health care through technology. One of the areas of promise is automated, in-home health care monitoring, a potential benefit at a time when the elderly population is surging and struggling with diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
For smart cites, the Link Lab is conducting research ranging from smart buildings, including a major project called the Living Link Lab where sensors and controls in the lab can improve the space’s function for occupants, to community and regional-scale projects across the world. Recently, the Link Lab has partnered with the Charlottesville community for smart cities research and outreach. Along with the citizen advocacy group Smart Cville, which promotes technology for making cities better places to live, the Link Lab, the UVA School of Data Science and the School of Architecture launched the Center for Civic Innovation as a home for this work.
The Link Lab has added seven new participating faculty members in 2019-2020, three who are new UVA Engineering faculty. The lab now boasts close to 40 faculty members and more than 200 graduate students working together in cyber-physical systems research.
These new perspectives serve to broaden research and further accelerate solutions to global challenges in the 21st century.
Mehdi Boukhechba
Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems and Environment
Ph.D., University of Quebec
My primary research interests are in health informatics and pervasive systems, specifically studying how technology-based interventions can improve patient health outcomes. My research goals are designing impactful solutions for improving health care delivery and chronic disease management.
Cindy Chang
Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Systems and Environment
Ph.D., University of Michigan
My research has focused on improving sustainability and efficiency of smart manufacturing systems. I specialize in dynamic manufacturing system modeling and simulation, data-driven analysis, real-time production control and human-robot interaction in industrial environments.
Afsaneh Doryab
Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems and Environment
Ph.D., University of Copenhagen
My research is at the intersection of mobile and ubiquitous computing, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction. I work on computational modeling of human behavior from data streams collected through mobile, wearable and embedded sensors to understand the state of health and well-being in individuals. I also use behavior modeling to build intelligent systems that act and respond according to human needs. These systems can be used in smart cities and smart health applications. In my research, I draw on methods from machine learning, data mining, statistics and human-computer interaction.
Tariq Iqbal
Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems and Environment
Ph.D., University of California San Diego
Post-Doctoral Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
My research focuses on building robotic systems that can fluently coordinate and collaborate with people in complex human environments -- for example, in a factory setting in close proximity with people. In order to successfully act within a group, a robot must be able to perceive and predict the intentions of other group members and use that knowledge to determine when, where and how to act for the team's benefit. My work uses robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine learning approaches to tackle these problems.
Barry W. Johnson
L.A. Lacy Distinguished Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ph.D., University of Virginia
My research helps ensure the safety and security of cyber-physical systems whose correct operation is necessary to protect property and human lives.
Venkataraman Lakshmi
Professor, Engineering Systems and Environment
Ph.D., Princeton University
My research interests are catchment hydrology, satellite data validation and assimilation, field experiments, land-atmosphere interactions, satellite data downscaling, vadose zone and water resources. I am particularly interested in harnessing big data in hydrology.
Sara Riggs
Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems and Environment
Ph.D., University of Michigan
My research has focused on improving display design in cyber-physical systems. My main research thrust areas include: the design and evaluation of multimodal displays (those including vision, audition, and touch), understanding perceptual and cognitive limitations of people working with automation/technology, and creating smart, adaptive displays based on real-time physiological data.
