{"id":43260,"date":"2026-02-19T11:36:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/?p=43260"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:43:19","slug":"bu-researchers-showcase-the-future-of-systems-engineering-at-cgsw-12-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/bu-researchers-showcase-the-future-of-systems-engineering-at-cgsw-12-0\/","title":{"rendered":"BU Researchers Showcase the Future of Systems Engineering at CGSW 12.0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE) student researchers at Boston University took center stage to demonstrate how they are solving the world’s most complex problems, sharing ideas from cutting-edge soft robotics.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday, January 30th, 2026, CISE hosted its 12<\/span>th<\/span> annual Graduate Student Workshop (CGSW 12.0). <\/span>The event provided a dynamic platform for students to present their latest research in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and autonomous systems, engaging with peers, faculty, and industry leaders while fostering collaboration and innovation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

CGSW was established in 2014 to provide students with an opportunity to share their research while strengthening their communication and presentation skills and building a network for potential future collaborations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The day began with opening remarks from CISE Director Ayse K. Coskun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a rich program spanning a wide range of areas,\u201d Coskun said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see presentations in AI, machine learning, security systems, robotics, formal methods, and more. These works have been published as papers at leading top-tier conferences in their respective fields.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to research presentations, the workshop featured keynote addresses from industry pioneers and a CISE alumni-faculty panel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first plenary speaker, Rania Khalaf, Chief AI Officer at WSO2, highlighted a shift from “passive tools” to the widespread use of autonomous AI agents in her talk titled \u201c<\/span>From Hubris to Hope When It\u2019s Agents All the Way Down.\u201d <\/span>These agents can perform complex tasks but often struggle with simple ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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This unpredictability creates a “Moral Crumple Zone,” where humans are unfairly blamed for the errors of systems they can’t fully control. To move past the current hype and avoid costly mistakes, Khalef argued for building stronger management platforms. These platforms serve as a technical foundation, ensuring agents are treated as tools that require guardrails, rather than as experts. These platforms are necessary, as more than 33% of enterprise apps are expected to integrate AI agents by 2028, Khalef added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rahul Chandan, a Research Scientist at Amazon Robotics, delivered the afternoon plenary address, \u201c<\/span>Multi-Agent Coordination in Extremely Dense Environments.\u201d<\/span>He detailed how the company is optimizing its network of over one million robots by solving the “Block Rearrangement Problem” (BRaP) in high-density warehouses.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/b>Chandan shared that while industry-standard symbolic planning and configuration searches fail at the scale of Amazon’s 80×80 grids, his team\u2019s “BR-LaCAM” algorithm achieves high efficiency and a theoretical completeness guarantee. By successfully coordinating assigned blocks alongside unassigned “movable obstacles,” these algorithmic advances ensure that even in highly dense environments, customer orders are fulfilled faster and more reliably.<\/span><\/p>\n

15 student presentations were delivered throughout the day, highlighting pivotal research across disciplines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n