Graduate Student Researchers Earn IGS Support for Sustainability-Focused Projects
Five Hariri Institute-affiliated graduate students have received 2026 Graduate Student Summer Fellowships from the BU Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS). The students are among 11 fellows selected across BU to advance interdisciplinary research addressing pressing sustainability challenges. The IGS Graduate Student Summer Fellows program supports independent research by graduate students from across Boston University. Fellows […]
Boston University’s Sarah Milligan Launches First Comprehensive R Package Bringing Variational Autoencoders to Tabular Data
By Hariri Institute Staff Sarah Milligan, a 2025 Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow and PhD candidate in Biostatistics at the BU School of Public Health, has developed a groundbreaking R package that brings Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) to tabular data, the first comprehensive tool of its kind available in the R programming language. VAEs are a […]
Boston University’s Sarah Milligan Launches First Comprehensive R Package Bringing Variational Autoencoders to Tabular Data
By Hariri Institute Staff Sarah Milligan, a 2025 Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow and PhD candidate in Biostatistics at the BU School of Public Health, has developed a groundbreaking R package that brings Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) to tabular data, the first comprehensive tool of its kind available in the R programming language. VAEs are a […]
Advances in Synthetic Data Generation for Public Health Research
By Maeve Smillie Graduate Student Fellow Spotlight: Sarah Milligan (SPH) The Hariri Institute welcomes Sarah Milligan as part of the 2025 Graduate Student Fellow cohort. Milligan is a PhD candidate in the Department of Biostatistics, where she is advised by Fatema Shafie Khorassani, assistant professor of biostatistics, and Janice Weinberg, professor of biostatistics. Building on […]
Graduate Student Fellow Masha Lazou is developing computational methods for drug discovery
Masha Lazou is a third-year PhD student, advised by Diane Joseph-McCarthy, Professor (ENG), and Sandor Vajda, Professor (ENG), and a 2024 Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow. Lazou’s research is in developing computational methods to enhance the understanding of protein structure ensembles. Lazou received her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Boston University in 2022. The […]
Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow Spotlight: Xinyi Hu, CDS PhD Student
Hu’s research focus using multimodal data integration to predict neurodegenerative diseases by John Eaton Xinyi (Selena) Hu is an incoming Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow and a second year PhD student in the Center for Computing & Data Science studying algorithmic and statistical modeling, as well as machine learning. Since starting the doctoral program, Hu has […]
Graduate Student Spotlight: Ryan Senne, Computational Neuroscience PhD Student
How does the brain implement adaptive decision-making strategies? By Hariri Institute Staff Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow Ryan Senne studies how the brain implements adaptive decision-making strategies, focusing on internal systems like neurotransmitters and astrocytes, and developing state-of-the-art machine learning models to describe datasets. His research interest is at the intersection of machine learning, statistical […]
GSF Spotlight: Fatih Acun on his Innovative Data Center Research
by Gabriella Zaff, CISE Staff As artificial intelligence and supercomputing workloads continue to grow, data centers are consuming more power, putting a significant strain on the power grid. This surge in demand has created a pressing need for innovative solutions to integrate large-scale data centers with power grids. Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow Fatih Acun, […]
Graduate Student Fellow Spotlight: Taylor Beauvais, Sociology, CAS
by Margo Stanton Taylor Beauvais is a third-year PhD candidate in Computational Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences studying Sociology and a 2024 Hariri Institute Graduate Student Fellow. His research area is on the impact of artificial intelligence in economics, social, and governmental systems. Beauvais is advised by Joan Donovan (COM), Jonathan Mijs (Sociology), and Neha […]
Cansu Demirkiran Selected as 2024 ML and Systems Rising Star
Boston University College of Engineering PhD candidate Cansu Demirkiran was selected as one of the 2024 Machine Learning and Systems Rising Stars. Demirkiran is a final year doctoral candidate at the Intergrated Circuits and Systems Group led by Ajay Joshi (ENG, ECE), which focuses on developing novel architectures and circuits to design low-power, high-performance, and […]