Each year, the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering awards funding and institutional support to early career faculty, doctoral students and research teams across disciplines and departments at Boston University. <\/span>These awards<\/span><\/a> serve the Institute\u2019s mission to foster and accelerate impactful research in computing and AI. ECE researchers were among the recipients in each category of their 2026 cohort.<\/span><\/p>\n Wei-Lun (Harry) Chao<\/span><\/a>, who joined the ECE faculty in January 2026, was selected as one of five new Hariri Junior Faculty Fellows. This three-year appointment carries $10K in research funding and collaborative opportunities, including leading participation in the Institute\u2019s Distinguished Speaker Series. Professor Chao\u2019s research is centered on computer vision and machine learning, with broad applications in autonomous driving, ecological science, healthcare, and beyond. He holds a 2025-2028 Peter J. Levine Career Development Professorship, and was recently promoted to Associate Professor.<\/span><\/p>\n ECE Ph.D. student <\/span>Ilker Isik<\/span><\/a>\u2019s graduate research is centered around neuro-symbolic AI, a blended approach to artificial intelligence which integrates symbolic computation (logic, formal methodology, automation) with data-driven learning (neural networks, deep learning), combining the strengths of both. Working with advisor Professor <\/span>Wenchao Li<\/span><\/a> (ECE, SE), he aims to build reliable and interpretable AI systems. As one of five new Hariri Graduate Student Fellows, a three-year appointment, he will benefit both from the opportunity to collaborate with his peers on the Institute-sponsored \u201cDid you know \u2026?\u201d series, and from $5K in research support.<\/span><\/p>\n The Hariri Institute\u2019s Focused Research Programs (FRPs) support faculty-led, multidisciplinary research teams to pursue ambitious projects which, as the institute\u2019s director and ECE faculty member Distinguished Professor of Engineering <\/span>Ioannis Paschalidis<\/span><\/a> (ECE, BME, SE) puts it, \u201ccan drive meaningful advances in research and innovation\u201d at the convergence of multiple disciplines.<\/span><\/p>\n Professor <\/span>Venkatesh Saligrama<\/span><\/a> (ECE, SE) and co-PI Professor <\/span>Mark Howe<\/span><\/a> (Psychology & Brain Sciences) are spearheading <\/span>one such effort<\/span><\/a>, with $90K in seed funding from a Hariri FRP grant. In Saligrama\u2019s words, they plan to \u201cuse AI to uncover how the brain learns\u2013and use brain learning circuits as a testbed for building more interpretable, adaptive AI.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The project, titled \u201cMulti-Scale Neuro-AI for Striatal Learning: Machine Learning, Voltage Imaging, and Safe Perturbation Design\u201d centers on the effects of interactions between the neurotransmitters dopamine and acetylcholine, often referred to as the \u201creward system.\u201d Their project blueprint involves computational modeling of these chemical dynamics, analysis of their connections to behavior, and the identification and codification of learning rules. These insights, enabled in part by machine learning, may assist in both the design of safe and effective neuromodulation methods, and that of biologically-informed approaches to AI\/ML development.<\/span><\/p>\n Several other ECE researchers, including Professor Wei-Lun (Harry) Chao and Research Scientist Aditya Gangrade, are attached to the project, alongside collaborators from the departments of biomedical engineering, psychology, computer science, anatomy & neurobiology, computing & data sciences, and the Neurophotonics Center.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hariri Institute recognizes ECE researchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18241,"featured_media":174984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,257,1092,325,287,977,978,240,975,907,1425,1165],"tags":[1021,1019,372,1020,1426,742],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174986"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174986"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174989,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174986\/revisions\/174989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A computational visionary<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2026\/01\/ece.faculty.26.chao_-150x150.png\")
Robust and multifaceted<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2026\/06\/eceNEWS.26.06.16.Haririhonors4-150x150.jpg\")
Modeling neural dynamics for reward-based learning<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2024\/08\/ece.faculty.24.saligrama-150x150.jpg\")