Christos Cassandras Offers Insights on Autonomous Vehicles in Nature
Christos Cassandras, Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Head of the Division of Systems, and Hariri Institute Faculty Affiliate at Boston University, is helping shape the future of autonomous transportation through a vision of connected, cooperative vehicles. His research, highlighted in a recent Nature report, examines how connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) could improve safety and efficiency. By […]
From Research to Policy Impact: BU’s Allison Portnoy Models RSV Prevention From Newborns to the Elderly
With NIH support, Portnoy is building the first dynamic model to guide country-specific RSV prevention strategies across all ages By Maureen Stanton With flu season upon us, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases are already rising. A leading cause of hospitalization in infants and older adults, RSV sends tens of thousands of people to the hospital […]
Roadmap for Intelligence and Resilience in Power Grids
By Brendan Galvin The challenge of delivering reliable, resilient, and sustainable power in the 21st century is growing, driven by the integration of renewable energy, new electric loads, and the increasing threat of severe weather. To address these critical issues, BU’s Center for Information & Systems Engineering (CISE) at Hariri Institute and the Division of […]
Hariri Faculty Awarded $3.2M NIH Grant to Predict Recovery from Stroke-induced Aphasia
Hariri Faculty Affiliates Drs. Swathi Kiran (Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences) and Archana Venkataraman (College of Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering) have received a $3.2 million NIH grant to transform post-stroke aphasia treatment. Aphasia, a language disorder often caused primarily by stroke, affects around 2 million people in the U.S. and 15 million worldwide – more […]
Large Language Models Advance Healthcare and Public Health
By Chloe de Leon, College of Engineering Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly transforming healthcare and public health, moving beyond buzzworthy tools into real-world clinical and research applications. Yannis Paschalidis, Hariri Institute Director and Distinguished Professor of Engineering, and his team at Boston University are at the forefront of that shift, using advanced AI systems […]
City Trees Have Their Own Microbiomes—and Urban Living Is Changing Them
Urban trees play a vital role in maintaining the health of cities and their residents by cooling neighborhoods, filtering air pollution, supporting biodiversity, and enhancing human well-being. However, these benefits are deeply connected to the tree microbiome—the community of microorganisms that supports tree health and resilience. As urbanization increases and cities face growing challenges from […]
Interpreting Genomic Data Through Computation
Junior Faculty Spotlight: Pawel Przytycki, PhD (CDS) By Maeve Smillie As a 2025 Junior Faculty Fellow at the Hariri Institute for Computing, Pawel Przytycki, PhD, applies computational thinking to some of biology’s most complex questions. An Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences and core member of the Bioinformatics Program, Przytycki develops […]
Reimagining the Future of Materials Discovery: From Automation to Collaboration
Hariri Faculty Keith Brown (ENG) Leads the Next Evolution of Self-Driving Labs By Maureen Stanton Self-driving laboratories (SDLs) — research systems that combine robotics, AI, and autonomous experimentation — are transforming discoveries of new and better materials. Capable of running and analyzing thousands of experiments in real time, SDLs accelerate discovery at a scale previously […]
Mark Crovella: How Hidden AI Bias Threatens Fairness
By Brendan Galvin, CISE Staff Boston University computer scientist Professor Mark Crovella has spent years studying the unseen mechanisms that shape what people encounter online—from recommendation algorithms on platforms like YouTube to the powerful large language models (LLMs) now driving AI systems. His research explores how these technologies can unintentionally amplify bias and misinformation, influencing […]
Advancing Alzheimer’s Research through Multimodal Data and Digital Innovation
For Dr. Huitong Ding, the path to understanding Alzheimer’s disease runs through the data that captures everyday life—how people speak, sleep, move, and think. As a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and investigator at the Framingham Heart Study, Ding’s research bridges data […]