The Institute awarded five Junior Faculty Fellowships (JFFs) <\/strong>and five Graduate Student Fellowships (GSFs)<\/strong>, representing early-career faculty and exemplary 1st<\/sup> and 2nd<\/sup> year PhD students who are pursuing computationally-driven research with the potential for high impact.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Four FRPs were also awarded<\/strong> to faculty-led multidisciplinary teams applying AI, machine learning, and computational modeling to biomedical and cognitive health challenges, including Alzheimer\u2019s disease, cancer metabolism, neuro-AI, and biomolecular design.<\/span><\/p>\n “The Fellows and FRP awardees reflect the Hariri Institute\u2019s commitment to fostering innovative interdisciplinary research at every stage \u2014 from emerging scholars to established multidisciplinary teams,\u201d says Yannis Paschalidis, <\/a>Director of the Hariri Institute.<\/span> \u201cThe breadth and ambition of this year\u2019s award recipients demonstrate how convergence across computing, AI, engineering, health, and the sciences can drive meaningful advances in research and innovation.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Each program drew a highly competitive pool of applicants, reflecting the depth and breadth of talent across our community. <\/span>Please join us in congratulating the remarkable recipients of this year\u2019s awards. <\/span><\/p>\n Learn more about our FY26 Fellows and FY27 FRP awards below.<\/p>\n We congratulate our FY26 JFF cohort and look forward to the impact they will make as members of the Hariri Institute JFF Community.<\/a><\/p>\n We congratulate our FY26 GSF cohort and look forward to the impact they will make as members of the Hariri Institute GSF Community<\/a>!<\/p>\n This FRP aims to establish BU as a leader in the application and interpretation of biological foundation models for biomedical research by pursuing two cross-cutting scientific goals\u2014developing principled fine-tuning strategies for adapting foundation models to new biochemical problems and building interpretability tools that reveal what these models encode about biomolecular interactions\u2014executed across three complementary interaction regimes that together enable cross-domain comparison no single-domain project could achieve. This FRP is sponsored by the Hariri Institute.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Learn more about this FRP.<\/a><\/p>\n This FRP will build a BU Neuro-AI community around multi-scale striatal learning by integrating neuromodulator recordings, voltage imaging, machine learning, and reinforcement-learning theory. Collaboration is essential because no single lab spans the measurement, modeling, and causal-testing capabilities needed to connect DA\/ACh dynamics to interpretable learning rules and experimentally test them.<\/span> This FRP is sponsored by the Hariri Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n Learn more about this FRP.<\/a><\/p>\n This program aims to develop a computational \u201cdigital twin\u201d of tumors by integrating genome-scale metabolism, spatial growth dynamics, and AI-driven regulatory modeling to predict cancer behavior and therapeutic targets. Its interdisciplinary approach, combining computational modeling, experimental validation, and machine learning, is essential for accurately capturing the complex, heterogeneous interactions within tumor microenvironments. This FRP is sponsored by the Hariri Institute.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Learn more about this FRP<\/a>.<\/p>\n The goal of this FRP is to establish BU as a global leader in the development of digital biomarkers of cognition that detect early cognitive decline and differentiate average cognitive aging from changes due to Alzheimer\u2019s disease and related disorders by bringing together expertise in aging, neuropsychology, linguistics, biostatistics, engineering, data science, AI\/ML, and computational methods. <\/span>This Special Track Health Data Science FRP is co-sponsored by the School of Public Health Center for Health Data Science<\/a>, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute<\/a>, the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research<\/a> and the Digital Health Initiative at Hariri Institute<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/hic\/files\/2026\/05\/2-636x358.png\")
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Learn more about our FY26 JFF award recipients here!<\/a><\/h5>\n
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Learn more about our FY26 GSF award recipients here!<\/a><\/h5>\n
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\n2027\u00a0<\/span>Focused Research Programs<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Awards<\/strong><\/h3>\n
FRP Title: “AI for Characterizing and Designing Biomolecular Interactions<\/a>“<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nFRP Leaders:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Core and Affiliated Faculty:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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\nFRP Title: “Multi-Scale Neuro-AI for Striatal Learning: Machine Learning, Voltage Imaging, and Safe Perturbation Design<\/a>“<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Core and Affiliated Faculty:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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\nFRP Title: “AI-Enhanced Biophysical Genome-Scale Modeling of Cancer<\/a>“<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nFRP Leaders:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Core and Affiliated Faculty:<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
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\nSpecial Track Health Data Science FRP<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
FRP Title: “Redefining Cognitive Aging and Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Through Next-Generation Digital Cognitive Biomarkers<\/a>“<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
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