College of Engineering Annual Report 2023-2024

We are a leader in experiential education and interdisciplinary research, focused on innovating for global impact.

DEAR COLLEAGUES, FRIENDS, AND STUDENTS,

Experiential, global, and inclusive. These characteristics define the unique brand of the College of Engineering at Northeastern University. The co-op program, established by the college in 1909 and consistently ranked as the No. 1 such program nationally, produces outstanding undergrads who are in high demand in the workforce. That signature offering drives unprecedented undergrad applications, and now also propels increasing demand for the nation’s largest graduate engineering program. But an emphasis on experiential permeates all we do, as this annual report will highlight.

When I first arrived at Northeastern in March 2021, I wondered how a university and college initially defined by the co-op program could also attain such high achievements in research scholarship. The answer is simple. We focus on research that is use-inspired, motivated by the challenges of the world that need the attention of scholars who are deeply connected to the world around us and want to make an impact. The results are amazing! For the second consecutive year, we exceeded $100 million in external research awards, and we launched a number of cross-disciplinary research centers aimed at important challenges in health, sustainability, and security. You will read about the honors and achievements of many of our faculty at all levels.

The global element of Northeastern and the College of Engineering dates back to the 1980s, when the co-op program started to establish partnerships outside the New England region and across the world. We engage with over 2,420 corporate and research partners in 43 states and 23 countries. In the past 12 years, Northeastern has developed campuses across North America and the United Kingdom, as well as a network of partners that support firstyear programs around the world. The College of Engineering has educational and/or research activity in 12 of the 13 Northeastern campuses, with new opportunities being considered every year. We are a uniquely global and experiential college.

Recent engineering reports indicate wide-open opportunities to broaden the appeal of engineering by adopting teaching, learning, and research practices that remove systemic barriers to success. I am very proud that the College of Engineering has taken a national role of leadership in addressing opportunities to broaden participation in engineering. We have specific programs to address needs to build a community that supports everyone, regardless of gender, race, ethnic and sexual identity, or disability status.

I hope you will spend time to review this year’s annual report and enjoy reading it as much as we did preparing it.

Sincerely,

Gregory D. Abowd, D.Phil. Dean, College of Engineering

Northeastern

University dean@coe.northeastern.edu

COE.NORTHEASTERN.EDU

Photo by Bella

Martinez

Quick Facts college of engineering

Five-year performance 2018 to 2023, unless otherwise indicated

(Fall 2023)

of first-year undergraduates are women up from 36% in Fall 2018

Students employed or in graduate school within nine months after graduation (Class of 2023) of first-year undergraduates are underrepresented minorities up from 18% in Fall 2018

2,420

First-Year Acceptance Rate, from 14,545 apps (Fall 2023) vs. 26.8%, from 10,272 apps (2018) of undergraduates participated in co-op (Class of 2023) of undergraduates had two or more co-ops (Class of 2023)

(Fall 2023)

Degree Conferrals (Class of 2023)

minors, and graduate certificates

Academic Programs and/or Research on 12 Campuses, 3 Countries, and Online Boston, Burlington, and Nahant, MA

246

73 NSF CAREER Awards, and 24 DOD Young Investigator Awards 105 hired since AY2018 (COE home college)

20 Multidisciplinary Research Centers and Institutes

FUNDING BY

EIGHT FEDERAL AGENCIES

AI-EDGE AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence; National Science Foundation multi-university research center that leverages the synergies between networking and AI to design future generations of wireless edge networks

ALERT Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats; an emeritus multi-university Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence

ARROW Academic Center for Reliability and Resilience of Offshore Wind; a multi-university center of excellence on offshore wind from the Department of Energy and the states of Massachusetts and Maryland

CENTER FOR PANDEMIC INSIGHTS National Science Foundation multiuniversity center to harness new technologies and develop sensing to detect, investigate, and ultimately prevent pandemics at their source

CHEST Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust; a multi-university National Science Foundation Research Center, part of the Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers Program

CHN Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing; a multi-institution National Science Foundation Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center

CURENT Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks; a National Science Foundation and Department of Energy multi-university Engineering Research Center

GLOBAL RESILIENCE INSTITUTE Northeastern University institute, focuses on practical and innovative tools, applications, and skills that strengthen the resilience of individuals, communities, infrastructure, systems, networks, and societies.

GORDON-CenSSIS Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems; a National Science Foundation graduated multiuniversity Engineering Research Center

HSyE Healthcare Systems Engineering Institute; a Department of Health and Human Services Center through the CMMI program; a university-level institute focused on healthcare improvement

IIA Institute of Information Assurance; a National Security Agency/ Department of Homeland Security Center of Academic Excellence

INSTITUTE FOR CHEMICAL IMAGING OF LIVING SYSTEMS An interdisciplinary Northeastern University institute focused on creating technologies to view chemical processes in the brain and body in real time

INSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENTIAL ROBOTICS An interdisciplinary, Northeastern University institute focused on designing machines that adapt to people in real time for a more collaborative human-robot experience

INSTITUTE FOR NANOSYSTEMS INNOVATION An interdisciplinary Northeastern University institute focused on pioneering semiconductor research, learning, and innovation

INSTITUTE FOR MECHANOBIOLOGY Northeastern University interdisciplinary institute, investigates the role of force and mechanics in biological systems, from the molecular level to the whole body

INSTITUTE FOR THE WIRELESS INTERNET OF THINGS An interdisciplinary, Northeastern University institute focused on advancing wireless technologies for next-generation networked systems

PROTECT A National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Superfund multi-university Research Center; one of the largest mother-child cohorts in the U.S. focused on environmental health and engineering

SENTRY Soft-target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality; multiuniversity Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence addressing the challenges of protecting soft targets and crowded places

SPIRAL Center for Signal Processing, Imaging, Reasoning, and Learning; a federation of collaborating research laboratories

TANMS Center for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems; a National Science Foundation university collaborative Research Center

Department Research Areas

Bioengineering

Biomechanics and Mechanobiology

Biomedical Devices and Bioimaging

Molecular, Cell, and Tissue Engineering

Systems, Synthetic, and Computational

Bioengineering

Chemical Engineering

Biomolecular and Biomedical Systems

Complex and Computational Systems

Energy and Sustainability

Engineering, Education, and Pedagogy

Materials and Nanotechnology

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Civil Infrastructure Security

Environmental Health

Sustainable Research Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Communications, Control, and Signal Processing

Computer Networks and Security

Computer Systems and Software

Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and Algorithms

Electromagnetics and Optics

Microsystems, Materials, and Devices

Power Electronics, Systems, and Controls

Robotics

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Biomechanics, Biofluids, and Mechanobiology

Complex Fluids, Multiphase, and Multiscale Matter

Data Analytics, AI, and Operations Research

Energy Systems, Sustainability, and Environmental Protection

Engineering Education

Human-Technology Integration

Intelligent and Additive Manufacturing

Materials for the Future

Mechanics

Networks and Complex Systems

Resilient and Sustainable Service Systems

Robotics and Control Systems

New Research Centers and Institutes

DOE Academic Center for Reliability and Resilience of Offshore Wind

Andrew Myers, professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE); Nathan Post, associate research professor of CEE and mechanical and industrial engineering; and Jerome F. Hajjar, University Distinguished and CDM Smith Professor and Chair of the CEE department, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a consortium of 40 partners, were selected to join a

NSF Center for Pandemic Insights

first-of-its-kind $11.9 million Department of Energy research center, the Academic Center for Reliability and Resilience of Offshore Wind (ARROW). Dedicated to accelerating reliable and equitable offshore wind energy deployment across the nation, ARROW will focus on workforce development, targeted research, and partnerships and strategies to embed equity in offshore wind development.

Nian Sun, Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, is co-principal investigator of the new Center for Pandemic Insights focused on preventing the next pandemic before diseases emerge. Funded over seven years through the National Science Foundation’s Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP), the $18 million center is led by the University of California, Davis, and is in collaboration with 10 partnering institutions, including Northeastern. Sun is leading innovative sensing technology to enable pre-emergence detection efforts for pathogen sensors, including sensor development, tests, optimization, validation, and deployment. Jennifer Love, associate teaching professor for engineering, is part of an education, outreach, training, and workforce development project team.

Institute for NanoSystems Innovation at Northeastern

The Institute for NanoSystems Innovation at Northeastern is a global institute focused on research, education, and entrepreneurship in semiconductors and related technologies. Matteo Rinaldi, professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), is the institute’s director and David Horsley, ECE professor, is deputy director. With locations on Northeastern’s Boston, Massachusetts, and Oakland, California, campuses, NanoSI’s bicoastal, open innovation environment fosters partnership between university, industry, and government. NanoSI’s interdisciplinary

team consists of 22 core faculty and over 150 researchers (graduate students and research staff). The institute receives over $20 million annually in federal and industry funding and is home to leading national programs supported by DARPA, ARPA-E, DoD, DHS, and NSF in RF and mmWave devices and systems, ultra-low power sensors, advanced functional materials, nano-photonics, quantum devices and systems, and microelectronics for medical devices. NanoSI researchers and partners have access to unique experimental capabilities.

Institute for Mechanobiology at Northeastern

The Institute for Mechanobiology at Northeastern is one of only a few in the world specifically dedicated to mechanobiology study and innovation. It aims to accelerate mechanobiology discovery and technology to advance human medicine and health. Ning Wang, professor of bioengineering, is director of the institute, which is made up of faculty experts from the College of Engineering, College of Science, and Bouvé College of Health Sciences. The institute will investigate the role of force and mechanics in biological systems, discover the root causes of mechanobiological pathologies that negatively affect quality of life, design interventions and sensors to alter mechanical inputs and biological outputs, and pursue mechanotherapeutics that restore function or slow the progression of diseases. Mechanobiology can provide the critical link between a variety of pathologies and their root causes, leading directly to the development of effective therapeutics and prevention strategies for many currently untreatable and debilitating medical conditions.

Matteo Rinaldi (left) and David Horsley (right), both co-directors of the Institute for NanoSystems Innovation, open the NanoSI launch event held in the EXP building on Northeastern’s Boston campus.

Named a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Eduardo Sontag, University Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, and bioengineering, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his career that has made breakthroughs in the mathematics of nonlinear and complex systems, with repercussions for biomedicine, systems biology, and neural networks. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the most prestigious organizations a scholar can be invited into. An interdisciplinary organization, it “convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor” to address the issues facing the world and to tackle new ideas.

Sontag’s work has focused on determining how to “model systems mathematically and how one can steer them in order to achieve desired purposes,” a field more broadly called control theory. These systems— and the purposes they might be steered toward—are numerous. The unifying concept in his work is the idea that states of systems change over time, such as the variables describing the dynamics of an airplane or a car in the context of a self-driving vehicle, or a cell in the

human body. His research is on theoretical foundations and underlying mathematics, developing conceptual principles and algorithms which enable applications by scientists and practitioners in different fields.

Sontag is a Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), American Mathematical Society, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Other prestigious honors include the IFAC Technical Committee Award on Non-Linear Control Systems, which is the “highest distinction on nonlinear control systems research,” the Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award—the highest recognition in control theory and engineering in the U.S., the W. T. and Idalia Reid Prize presented by SIAM, the IEEE Control Systems Field Award, and the IEEE CSS Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize.

Expanding the Global Network

The College of Engineering continues to add academic offerings to meet evolving industry needs and provide students with flexible options to meet career goals. The college also continues to expand academic programs and research opportunities across Northeastern’s global university system to provide additional flexibility for students and to further opportunities for students to develop as global engineers, prepared to address the complex challenges of the world.

With Northeastern’s Global Scholar’s program, firstyear students spend a year at two campuses, including a semester in London and a semester in Oakland, California, while first-year students in the London Scholar’s program spend one full academic year at the London campus. For second-year students, our new Semester In program provides the opportunity to spend a semester at University College Dublin as well as at the Oakland, California campus, pursuing their engineering degree while participating in industry sitevisits, alumni and networking events, guest lectures, and opportunities for co-op in the region. Also, students pursuing a minor in aerospace engineering participate in the Summer in Seattle program.

In the past year, several master’s programs were offered at campuses outside of Boston in the U.S. and Canada. In total, engineering academic programs are offered at 10 Northeastern campuses in three countries and online, as well as through the partnership with University College Dublin. Engineering research facilities in addition to Boston include Burlington and Nahant, Massachusetts; Oakland, California; Portland, Maine; Seattle, Washington; and Arlington, Virginia, with more expansion planned. Northeastern’s global university system provides flexible academic offerings, innovative partnerships, and the ability to scale ideas, talent, and solutions.

Newest Academic Programs

Undergraduate Programs

BS in Environmental Engineering and Chemical Engineering

BS in Environmental Engineering and Data Science

BS in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration

Graduate Programs

BS in Industrial Engineering and Computer Science

BS in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science

MS in Semiconductor Engineering

Certificate in AI Applications for Data Mining and Engineering

Newest Graduate Programs

at Global University Network Campuses

Miami, Florida

MS in Information Systems

MS in Information Systems-Bridge

Oakland, California

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Portland, Maine

PhD in Bioengineering

MS in Information Systems

MS in Information Systems-Bridge

Toronto, Canada

MS in Information Systems-Bridge

Vancouver, Canada

MS in Information Systems-Bridge

Global Network Accelerator Award

Matteo Rinaldi and David Horsley, professors of electrical and computer engineering, received the 2024 Northeastern University Global Network Accelerator Award, which recognizes the contributions of faculty who continue to push the advancement of experiential learning and discovery beyond the boundaries of place. Rinaldi and Horsley launched the new Institute for NanoSystems Innovation, the university’s first bi-coastal research institute located in Boston and Oakland.

First-Year Engineering Students Tackle Client’s Real-World Challenge

As part of their Cornerstone course, a group of first-year engineering students in Boston designed and built a set of portable rehabilitation stairs to address a real-world challenge of the physical therapy department at Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport, Maine, as part of a collaboration with Northeastern’s Roux Institute. Students include Alexander DeGregorio, Ryan Wai, Ava Gami, and Gavin Flood.

Northeastern and University College Dublin Expand Partnership

Northeastern expanded its longstanding undergraduate partnership with University College Dublin of Ireland to include research and doctoral education. As part of the collaboration, the universities are jointly funding five new research projects that address global challenges in healthcare. Rebecca Carrier, Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering, and University College Dublin Professor David Brayden are partnering on one of the new research projects, titled “Examining the Interaction of a Silica-coated Nanoparticle Containing Insulin With a Human-derived Intestinal Organ-on-a-Chip.”

Bay Area Experiential Entrepreneurship Program

Students on the Oakland, California, campus participated in the two-day Experiential Entrepreneurship program. About 800 students alternated between spending a day on campus— hearing speakers from private industry and the public sector, as well as working on their own solutions to real-world problems. They visited 31 worksites in

New Robotics Club on London Campus Wins UK Competition

As first-year engineering students on Northeastern’s London campus, Aidan Carrier and Mark Yang created a robotics club. Andrew Schwebel and Justin Steenstra also were part of the club team. Together they developed NUtron, a robot that was coded to follow a certain route, using sensors and a camera to navigate its surroundings for the Unibots UK robotics competition at Cambridge University. The team built the robot piece by piece at Northeastern’s London campus and won the Unibots UK robotics competition. The club also created an opportunity for students to connect and create a community.

the Bay Area. Organized around three themes: health and wellbeing, tech and creativity, and food and sustainability, the program attracted more than 130 on- and off-campus speakers from public and private companies. Participating businesses included Google, Kaiser Permanente, PayPal, Dignity Moves, the Oakland Zoo, and many more.

Leader in STEM Education Outreach

Over the course of more than three decades, Northeastern’s College of Engineering, propelled by the leadership of Michael B. Silevitch and Claire J. Duggan, with their dedicated colleagues, have built and supported a community of educators, researchers, and students, to strengthen the K-20 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educational ecosystem. Their success established Northeastern as a STEM innovator in Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, and nationally.

In 2024, the Center for STEM Education at Northeastern was renamed the Michael B. Silevitch and Claire J. Duggan Center for STEM Education as a tribute to their legacy of contributions and impact. Duggan serves as its executive director and Silevitch, the Robert D. Black College of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, remains a staunch advocate for STEM education.

Scan the QR code to read our special K-20 STEM issue of The Brief

8500+ 500+ 180+ 650+ 86 $28M

K-8 students participated in field trips from over 100 schools

middle school summer program participants

Young Scholars Program participants, 80% alumni pursuing or graduated with STEM degree full scholarships for underrepresented populations

students (45% from community colleges) from 28 schools participated in REU programs

by Bella

Contributed to in external research awards in past decade

Photo

Martinez

Abowd Named PI of NSF Engineering-PLUS Alliance

Gregory D. Abowd, dean of the College of Engineering, was named principal investigator of the Engineering PLUS (Partnerships Launching Underrepresented Students) Alliance, a $10 million National Science Foundation INCLUDES Alliance award to create networked communities nationwide to build an inclusive infrastructure that will drive the transformative, systemic, and sustainable change needed to increase the annual number of Black, Indigenous, other people of color (BIPOC), and women earning undergraduate/graduate degrees in engineering to 100,000/30,000 by 2026. He presented in April 2024 at the ASEE Engineering Deans Institute conference on the importance of joining a national effort to create inclusive engineering communities to drive systemic change.

Neurodiversity Initiative

Northeastern University’s College of Engineering, along with Vanderbilt University, University of Connecticut, and Fisk University, together with the College Autism Network, are working to provide holistic support for neurodivergent engineering students so they are successful in college, on co-op, and in the workforce after graduation. Each university has unique strengths to leverage to support neurodivergent students:

• Vanderbilt University – Graduate experience

• Univ. of Connecticut – Undergraduate experience

• Fisk University – Intersectionality

• Northeastern University – Cooperative education By combining their expertise, the universities are developing trainings for faculty and support staff; providing employer education for workplace transformation; developing programs for self-advocacy, leadership, and self-identity; and creating programs for private-sector workforce development. With its strength in cooperative education, Northeastern is addressing the un/under-employment challenge of neurodivergent students while the students are still in the academic environment. Northeastern is also working with its network of employer partners and building new ones interested in supporting neurodivergent individuals.

In addition, in August 2024, Northeastern, in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island and the University of Connecticut, held the first Northeast Regional Higher Education Neurodiversity Coalition Conference. It brought together more than 200 higher education practitioners and industry professionals dedicated to enhancing work outcomes for neurodivergent individuals. The conference had two keynote speakers, Jeff Karp, a renowned biomedical engineer at Harvard Medical School and MIT who grew up being “written off” for his learning differences; and John Elder Robison, a leading voice for autism and neurodiversity and well-known author of a book which details his life with Asperger syndrome. Additionally, participants engaged in training sessions to gain a comprehensive understanding of neurodiversity. The foundational insights paved the way for sessions delving into specific strategies and solutions and establishing a Regional Higher Education and Employer Neurodiversity Coalition.

by Matthew Modoono

Photo

Erik Brenner, director of the Neurodiversity Initiative at Northeastern, addresses the conference attendees.

Honored Among Leading Women in Visual Tech and AI

Octavia Camps, professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), and Sarah Ostadabbas, ECE associate professor, were recognized by LDV Capital, a venture fund, as two of the “120+ Women Spearheading Advances in Visual Tech and AI”, which highlights contributions of women in fields such as machine vision, pattern recognition, and generative models.

Research To Enhance Diversity in Engineering Departments

Research of Rebecca Willits, professor and chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, on “Framework for Department-Level Accountability To Diversify Engineering” was published in Nature Reviews Bioengineering. The paper presents a framework for building, assessing, and continuously improving strategic plans to improve recruitment and retention and to make departments more inclusive.

PhD Student Spotlights

Vineel Kondiboyina, PhD’24

BIOENGINEERING

Advised by Sandra Shefelbine, Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and Bioengineering

After earning his master’s degree in bioengineering at Northeastern, Vineel Kondiboyina worked in industry as a product development engineer before beginning his PhD in bioengineering in 2020. Kondiboyina focused his research on the mechanobiology of limb growth. Using mechanical testing, computational modeling, and biochemical characterization, he explored the dynamics of tissue stiffness and composition changes during limb development.

His investigations elucidated the role of calcium signaling in mechanotransduction processes within cartilage cells. By applying mechanical load to cartilage under a confocal microscope, he observed and quantified changes in calcium signaling, shedding light on the intricate interplay between mechanics and cellular responses during limb growth.

Kondiboyina was a co-author of published research in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, and Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. He also shared his research and fostered academic dialogue at industry conferences such as the Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering & Biotransport Conference.

As a student, Kondiboyina excelled as both an educator and a mentor. He was honored with the 2024 Outstanding PhD Student Award in Teaching from Northeastern, and the 2023 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award from the College of Engineering. In 2023, he conducted a virtual workshop on research principles with graduate-level students at Sarojini Naidu Vanitha Mahavidyalaya, a women’s college in Telangana, India. He is also the founder of the Rachapalli Suryakumari Scholarship, created in honor of his grandmother who was an advocate for women’s education and social change, to support female students in Kodiboyina’s hometown in India. To date, scholarships have been awarded to 20 female students.

Following graduation, Kondiboyina began postdoctoral work at Northeastern to continue his research on how cartilage mechanical properties and material composition change during skeletal growth. He will be collaborating with Niamh Nowlan, professor of biomedical engineering at the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and teach mechanical testing of cartilage to UCD students.

Shicheng Yang, PhD’24

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Advised by Srinivas Sridhar, University

Distinguished Professor of Physics, and Eno Ebong, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering

After receiving a master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences from Northeastern in 2018, Shicheng Yang began pursuing a PhD in chemical engineering and a graduate certificate in nanomedicine. His research focuses on innovative drug delivery systems, including polymeric implants and lipid nanoparticles, for cancer treatment. These formulations are designed to improve drug pharmacokinetics, overcome the emergence of drug resistance, and minimize drug toxicity.

Yang contributed to six peer-reviewed journal articles, serving as lead author on five. To date, four are published. He delivered three oral presentations and 13 poster presentations at conferences and research expos. Yang also participated in several cross-disciplinary collaborations with several health care organizations, including The University of Texas Health Science Center, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

In 2024, Yang was named an inventor on “Processes for Nanoformulation of Molecular Inhibitors and Chemotherapeutics,” work that has been filed as a disclosure with Northeastern’s Center for Research Innovation.

Yang served as a mentor to 16 students at CaNCURE, a program funded by the National Cancer Institute. His students produced or contributed to research papers, abstracts, and posters. Of that group, 10 are now pursuing PhD or MD programs, and six are employed at major pharmaceutical companies.

He completed a one-year internship at Theranano, a company that focuses on nanoparticles and depot technologies that was founded by his advisor, Srinivas Sridhar. Yang refined a hot-melt extrusion method for implant fabrication, transitioning the technique from laboratory scale to GMP-compliant production processes. The fabricated implants are being tested in large animal models at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, as the next step towards clinical translation. In 2024, Yang was inducted into Northeastern’s Lux. Veritas. Virtus. society of distinction. After graduation, Yang is continuing his research at Theranano.

R. Bailey Bond, PhD’24

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Advised by Jerome F. Hajjar, University Distinguished and CDM Smith Professor and Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering

R. Bailey Bond completed a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering at the University of Texas. Through a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at Lehigh University, Bond conducted research on self-centering cross laminated timber, which laid foundational insights for his graduate studies. He began pursuing a PhD in civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern in 2019.

Bond initiated his doctoral research on steel diaphragms through the Steel Diaphragm Innovation Initiative, with a focus on building resilience. His work led to the development of a novel predictive model for headed shear stud strength in concrete-filled steel composite decks.

In his second year of studies, Bond integrated machine learning into his research under the additional mentorship of Hao Sun, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, and created data enhanced methods of modeling structural resilience against seismic hazards. His principal dissertation project focused on a physics-reinforced machine learning paradigm for probabilistic metamodeling of nonlinear structural systems with applications in seismic risk analysis.

Bond has published numerous articles and conference papers, including in Journal: Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics. The publication focuses on advancing the field’s understanding of machine learning in structures for structural resilience. He also gained industry experience as a structural engineering intern at DCI Engineers in Austin, Texas, where he honed his skills in structural analysis and design.

As a graduate teaching assistant, Bond excelled in mentoring, and received a College of Engineering Graduate Student Teaching Award in 2023. He served as president of Northeastern’s Graduate Structural Engineering Association, ASCE Structural Engineering Institute NU Student Chapter. Additionally, he served as president of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate Student Council. During his tenure, the student council received the Civil and Environmental Engineering Building Community and Belonging Award in 2023.

Bond is currently pursuing opportunities in industry that focus on the integration of machine learning and innovative technologies in civil engineering through hazard analysis and design.

PhD Student Spotlights

Amani Al-shawabka, PhD’24

COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Advised by Tommaso

Melodia, William Lincoln Smith Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Originally from Jordan, Amani Al-shawabka earned a master’s degree in computer engineering from Northeastern in 2019 and transitioned to the PhD program in computer engineering. She also received a master’s degree in business administration from German Jordanian University and a bachelor’s degree in communication engineering from Yarmouk University in Jordan. Additionally, she has more than a decade of professional experience in the mobile and cellular network industry.

At Northeastern, Al-shawabka made substantial contributions to the computer engineering field, particularly in the application of AI for wireless communication systems, with a focus on radio frequency fingerprinting through deep learning. She excelled in utilizing advanced techniques and algorithms in computer vision and natural language processing to address complex challenges within wireless systems. Al-shawabka developed and customized various neural networks, and she employed Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and transformers to solve different problems in the wireless communications domain.

Additionally, Al-shawabka designed and implemented testbeds to examine protocols connecting internet of things (IoT) devices, such as Wi-Fi, long range IoT and narrowband IoT. She used these testbeds to create extensive datasets and made them available to the research community, where researchers could develop their AI models and use these datasets to benchmark their work and advance the domain.

Al-Shawabka worked with InterDigital Inc., a leading wireless communications and video research company, on applying machine learning to the physical layer of communications systems. Her efforts involve creating a testbed for real-world over-the-air RF data collection, curating RF datasets with detailed labeling in formats used by both industry and academia, and developing machine learning models for enhancing physical layer security in lowcost IoT devices.

Her commitment to research was recognized with Northeastern’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Excellence in Research Award in 2023. Al-shawabka has authored several publications that were presented at esteemed conferences, including the IEEE INFOCOM and MobiHoc, and received notable recognition within the academic community.

She plans to pursue further research, aiming to make significant contributions to AI for wireless systems.

Haoqing Li, PhD’24

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Advised by Pau Closas, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Prior to joining the PhD program in 2018, Haoqing Li earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Wuhan University and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 2018 from Northeastern.

Li’s research interests broadly include robust signal processing and statistical machine learning, with applications in satellite-based positioning systems and satellite-based image remote sensing. The focus of his dissertation was on developing inference techniques that are robust to different modalities of outliers. He has proposed groundbreaking methodologies to perform automatic outlier rejection, which will impact such processes as mitigating interferences in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. He applied these methodologies to directpositioning schemes yielding to high-sensitivity and robust positioning solutions using GNSS signals. Li also explored machine learning data-driven models that contributed to improving the overall performance of physics-based models, particularly to address the long-standing problem of multipath propagation in the GNSS literature. Additionally, he contributed to the field of hyperspectral imaging and satellite-based remote sensing through the development of robust filtering techniques for multi-sensor data fusion.

Haoqing’s technical contributions were published in more than two dozen peer-reviewed publications. His dissertation work was published in top-tier journals such as IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, and the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. In these works, he collaborated with multiple leading researchers from around the globe. He participated in projects that were funded by the National Science Foundation, DARPA, National Geographic Society, and Google.

During his thesis period, Li actively participated in the academic community by mentoring incoming PhD students and serving as teaching assistant for several signal processing courses. He has also been a regular reviewer in prestigious journals and conferences.

Li will be continuing research on GNSS interferences (multipath and spoofing) detection and mitigation techniques as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Calgary, Canada.

Burcu Ozek, PhD’24

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Advised by Sagar

Kamarthi, Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

In 2018, Burcu Ozek began pursuing her PhD after receiving a bachelor’s degree from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and working in industry for two years. Her doctoral research focused on developing objective pain assessment methods through machine learning, aiming to accurately quantify uncertainty and preexisting pain conditions. She co-authored six peer-reviewed journal articles, with four as lead author. She also presented her research at the INFORMS conference, as well as at Northeastern’s RISE Expo and the Cutting-Edge Connections in PhD Research event.

Ozek completed two consecutive internships as a PhD data scientist at Merck through Northeastern’s LEADERS program, an experiential learning opportunity that combines leadership and professional skills education with a research project. At Merck, she developed innovative machine learning and knowledge graph frameworks to enhance drug development processes. Her internship experience contributed to her PhD research and addressed real-world challenges, demonstrating her commitment to practical and impactful research.

As the head teaching assistant for the Data Mining in Engineering class for more than three years, Ozek led a team of 30 teaching assistants and guided their efforts to effectively manage classroom dynamics and enhance learning outcomes. She mentored more than 600 students, supporting them through complex coursework and fostering a positive, inclusive, and respectful learning environment.

Her achievements in research, teaching, and leadership have been recognized with prestigious awards from Northeastern at the university and college levels, including induction into the Lux. Veritas. Virtus. society of distinction, the MIE Ferretti and Yamamura Award, a 2023 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, a LEADERS Fellowship, and the Yaman Yener Memorial Graduate Scholarship in 2021.

In the next chapter of her career, Ozek will be working at a startup that addresses healthcare challenges by leveraging innovative artificial intelligence innovations to enhance patient care delivery.

Daniel Braconnier, PhD’23

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Advised by Randall

Erb, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Daniel Braconnier began his PhD journey in 2019, when he received a Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Chair’s Fellowship and joined the Directed Assembly of Particles and Suspensions Laboratory. He previously earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in materials science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

As a doctoral student, Braconnier led a project developing long-lasting superhydrophobic coatings, resulting in a paper published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, and additionally presented at the Materials Research Society (MRS) conferences and the American Chemical Society Colloids Symposium. The paper earned a Best Presentation Award at an MRS conference in 2023.

Braconnier’s dissertation was on the creation of thermally conductive polymer composites (TCPCs)—a budding material class that combines the processability and electrical resistivity of polymers with the property of high thermal conductivity. He received the College of Engineering’s PhD Conference Best Poster Award in 2023.

He developed a patent-pending TCPC that far exceeded current standards for such a material and received the inaugural Student Innovator of the Year Award in 2024 from the Northeastern University chapter of the National Academy of Inventors. Braconnier’s invention will allow future electronic devices to be slimmer, lighter, and more efficient. Braconnier has submitted elements of this work for publication to the Additive Manufacturing Journal and continues to work towards more publications on this new material.

Throughout his PhD, Braconnier made it a priority to grow as an educator. He mentored nine undergraduate researchers, advised a master’s research project, led a seminar for the Building Bridges program for high school students, and voluntarily took on teaching assistant positions. In 2020, Braconnier received the Academic Technology Scholars Award for aiding faculty in the transition from in-person to online courses during the COVID pandemic. In 2021, he was awarded the MIE Teaching Fellowship as the sole instructor for the PhD course, Soft Matter.

He currently holds a postdoctoral associate position as a Digital Learning Laboratory Fellow at the MIT.

Academy Members and Fellows of Professional Societies

American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member

Eduardo Sontag, University Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, and bioengineering, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his career that has made breakthroughs in the mathematics of nonlinear and complex systems, with repercussions for biomedicine, systems biology, and neural networks. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the most prestigious organizations a scholar can be invited into. See page 6.

European Academy of Sciences and Arts Member, and Fellow National Academy of Inventors

Yun Raymond Fu, Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, jointly appointed in Khoury College of Computer Sciences, was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, in the technical and environmental sciences class. He was also named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors. Additionally, Fu received the 2024 Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Computer Society for innovative and impactful contributions to representation learning, computer vision, face and gesture recognition.

AIMBE Fellows

Three faculty were named Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. This prestigious honor is drawn from the top 2% of biomedical engineers. Mansoor Amiji, University Distinguished Professor of pharmaceutical sciences and chemical engineering, was recognized “for pioneering contributions to nucleic acid delivery for treating a range of conditions using novel biomaterials and advanced nanotechnology systems.” Eno Ebong, associate professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering, was elected “for outstanding contributions to the field of vascular and endothelial cellular mechanobiology, focused on glycocalyx-mediated health and disease mechanisms.”

Yun Raymond Fu (pictured above), Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, jointly appointed in Khoury College of Computer Sciences, was named “for outstanding contributions to innovative artificial intelligence technologies for biomedical image analysis and pioneering leadership in technology translation and commercialization.” Additionally, Rebecca Willits, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, was elected to the AIMBE board of directors.

Biomedical Engineering Society Fellow

Guohao Dai, professor of bioengineering, was named a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society for contributions in vascular mechanobiology, 3D bioprinting vascular networks for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine applications, and transcriptional regulation of arterial venous vascular differentiation in health and diseases.

IEEE Fellow

Josep Jornet, professor and interim chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named an IEEE Fellow for contributions in terahertz communication and nanonetworking.

Optica Fellow

Matteo Rinaldi, professor of electrical and computer engineering, was selected as a Fellow of Optica, the leading society for optics and photonics, for pioneering contributions to the research, development, and commercialization of zero-power wireless infrared sensors.

Controlled Release Society Fellow

Rebecca Carrier, Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering, was elevated to the College of Fellows of the Controlled Release Society. The CRS recognizes exceptional individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of delivery science and technology. Carrier’s current research focuses on the interaction between biological systems and materials, with specific applications in drug delivery and regenerative medicine.

AAAI Fellow

Jennifer Dy, Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, jointly appointed in Khoury College of Computer Sciences, was elected a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence for significant contributions to unsupervised and interpretable machine learning, advancing AI to address healthcare challenges, and service to the AI community.

ASME Fellow

Yi Zheng, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, was selected as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) for his exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession, particularly in the research field of micro/nanoscale heat transfer for sustainable energy harvesting, conversion, and storage.

INFORMS Fellow

Ozlem Ergun, Distinguished Professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, was elected a Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) for her applications of operations research methods to humanitarian and health systems, emergency response, and transportation and logistics problems. She was also recognized for establishing a community of operations research professionals with interest in public programs.

Faculty Early-Career Award Grants

DARPA Young Faculty Award To Develop Ultra-Low Power Machine Learning Hardware

Aatmesh Shrivastava, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded a Young Faculty Award for up to $1 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for “Nano-Watt Power Machine-Learning Hardware Using Precision Analog Computing.” The research aims to create ultra-low power (nano-watt level), analog computing, machine-learning (ML) hardware for applications at the edge that are otherwise not possible due to power consumption.

$2M NIH Early-Stage Investigator R35 MIRA Award for a Computational Model To Make Biomedical Materials That Function Like Mucin

Srirupa Chakraborty, assistant professor of chemical engineering, jointly appointed in the College of Science, received a $1.99 million National Institutes of Health R35 MIRA (Maximizing Investigators Research Award) for Early-Stage Investigators for “Modeling the Mucosal Glycopeptide Mesh for Improved Disease Understanding and Mucin-Inspired Biomaterial Design.” Mucins and other densely glycosylated proteins play critical roles in biological processes, disease conditions, and therapeutics. Experimental techniques for capturing information about their structural dynamics can be extremely challenging. The goal of the research is to improve existing tools and design new in-silico techniques to provide robust alternatives to current experimental techniques.

NSF CAREER Award To Improve Immune Response With AI

Mona Minkara, assistant professor of bioengineering, was awarded a $827,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award for “Decoding the Code of Glycan-Collectin Interactions: Computational Engineering of Surfactant Proteins for Tailored Glycan Recognition.” The project aims to understand and improve the binding of collectins to glycans and to develop design rules using artificial intelligence tools that would enable the collectins to better detect pathogens. The research could drive the development of improved therapies.

$1.95M NIH Early-Stage Investigator R35 MIRA Award To Advance Knowledge of Bacterial Glycan Behavior

Mona Minkara, assistant professor of bioengineering, was awarded a $1.95 million National Institutes of Health R35 MIRA (Maximizing Investigators Research Award) for Early-Stage Investigators for “Foundational Investigations Into Bacterial Surface Glycan Dynamics.” Bacteria communicate through molecules on their surface, called glycans, which can help them invade our bodies. The research investigates these molecules and how they interact, using advanced computational techniques. In doing so, the goal is to advance knowledge of bacterial glycan behavior, leading to new ways to enhance health and prevent infections.

NSF CAREER Award To Strengthen Federated Learning

Lili Su, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded a $611,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award to consolidate the theoretical foundations and enrich the algorithmic toolbox of distributed machine learning. Her research seeks to quantify the effectiveness of existing algorithms and design new and more efficient ones, all with a focus on enhancing resilience against three main challenges: data heterogeneity, inherent system faults, and external attacks.

NSF CAREER Award To Design Autonomous Robots That Navigate Crawlspaces

Alireza Ramezani, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded a $681,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award for “Dynamic Locomotion With Plasticity for Remote Sensing in Crawlspaces.” The research will focus on developing an autonomous robotic device that mimics bird and bat movement to effectively move through tight crawlspaces while gathering data through sensors.

NSF CAREER Award for Novel Microsystems To Advance Integrated Signal Processing

Siddhartha Ghosh, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded a $540,082 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to develop novel microsystems that enable seamless interaction between acoustic, optical, and electrical fields to generate transformative effects in communications and information processing.

DARPA Young Faculty Award To Improve All-Acoustic RF Signal Processing

Siddhartha Ghosh, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was awarded a $500,000 Young Faculty Award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to create single-platform microsystems that can process acoustic waves in the radio frequency domain while also incorporating active functionality with passive acoustic wave (AW) devices.

NIH Career Development Award To Generate Quantitative Metrics of Vocal Communication for Minimally-Speaking Individuals

Kristina Johnson, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, jointly appointed in Bouvè College of Health Sciences, received a $700,000 Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health to generate a sensitive, quantitative metric of vocal communication for minimally-speaking individuals using a novel remote and highly personalized data collection methodology.

American Ceramics Society Lifetime Award

Vincent Harris, University Distinguished and William Lincoln Smith Professor of electrical and computer engineering, was selected to receive the American Ceramics Society’s W. David Kingery Award, which recognizes distinguished lifelong achievements involving multidisciplinary and global contributions to ceramic technology, science, education, and art.

IEEE Senior Member

Chen-Hsiang “Jones” Yu, teaching professor of multidisciplinary graduate education, was elevated to a IEEE Senior Member, the organization’s highest professional grade of for which a member may apply. Only 10% of the more than 450,000 members have achieved this level.

10-Year UbiComp Impact Award

Gregory D. Abowd, dean of the College of Engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering, was a recipient of the 2023 UbiComp (ubiquitous computing) 10-Year Impact Award for his paper, “Instant Inkjet Circuits: Lab-based Inkjet Printing To Support Rapid Prototyping of UbiComp Devices,” which was originally published in 2013. This is Abowd’s fifth impact award.

ACM Distinguished Members

Auroop Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Tommaso Melodia, William Lincoln Smith Professor of electrical and computer engineering, were recognized as Distinguished Members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Ganguly was elevated for foundational advances, sustained service, and entrepreneurial accomplishments in climate data mining and machine learning. Melodia was honored for contributions to architectures and algorithms for software-defined wireless networked systems.

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Photo by Adam Glanzman

Fulbright Specialist Roster

Cristian Cassella, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was recommended by a panel of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning to join the prestigious Fulbright Specialist Roster for three years.

Named to ASEE-NE Leadership

Bala Maheswaran, Distinguished Teaching Professor of electrical and computer engineering and first-year engineering program, was named to the leadership of the American Society for Engineering Education board of directors, and Kai-tak Wan, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, was named ASEE-NE section chair for 2024-2026.

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AISC Special Achievement Award

Jerome F. Hajjar, University Distinguished and CDM Smith Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is one of five individuals who received a 2024 Special Achievement Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) for innovative research through the Steel Diaphragm Innovation Initiative.

University Excellence in Teaching Award

First-Year Engineering Teaching Professor Joshua Hertz received the 2024 Northeastern University Excellence in Teaching Award. Nominations are made by students. Hertz has inspired students to pursue careers in environmental conservation and sustainability, supporting the university’s mission to create socially responsible citizens.

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Matthew Modoono

Materials Science and Manufacturing

$4M Army Research Lab Award for Large-Format Metal Additive Manufacturing

Sinan Müftü, Distinguished Professor of mechanical and industrial engineering (MIE), and Ozan Özdemir, MIE assistant professor, are leading a team that was awarded a $4.38 million grant from the Army Research Laboratory to advance wire-arc direct energy deposition for large-format metal additive manufacturing.

$1.5M Army Research Lab Award for Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing

Sinan Müftü, Distinguished Professor of mechanical and industrial engineering (MIE), and Ozan Özdemir, MIE assistant professor, were awarded $1.5 million by the Army Research Laboratory for research focusing on Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing and developing innovative initiatives in cybersecurity and enhancement of mechanical robustness in parts and coatings related to this manufacturing process.

Discovery To Revolutionize Thermal Management

After pioneering thermoforming technical ceramic matrix composites, Randall Erb, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, and Jason Hoffman-Bice, PhD’22, mechanical engineering, created Fourier LLC, a spinout company to commercialize their groundbreaking innovation in thermal management known as thermoforming technical ceramic matrix composites. Their materials and manufacturing technology is capable of creating large deformations in fully sintered ceramic pre-formed sheets that can be applied to an array of potential applications ranging from high-powered printed circuit boards to RF devices and medical devices.

$1.5M NSF Award To Develop New Photonic Materials

Professor Yongmin Liu, mechanical and industrial engineering, jointly appointed in electrical and computer engineering (ECE), and ECE Assistant Professor Sunil Mittal, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University, are leading a $1.5 million National Science Foundation DMREF grant for “Accelerating the Design and Development of Engineered Photonic Materials Based on a Data-Driven Deep Learning Approach.” This project uses advanced artificial intelligence techniques to develop new artificial photonic materials that can be engineered to have prescribed properties and surpass naturally occurring materials.

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$3.97M ONR Award To Improve Navy Ship Power Management

Vincent Harris, University Distinguished and William Lincoln Smith Professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), is leading a multi-institutional $3.97 million Office of Naval Research award to develop advanced magnetic materials that will operate at higher frequency and power levels, enabling more efficient and cost-effective power usage aboard Navy ships. The research team includes ECE Assistant Research Professor Parisa Andalib, who serves as a co-principal investigator for Northeastern’s portion of the project; Kostas Research Institute Senior Research Scientist Yunume Fitcherova; the University of Pittsburgh; Dartmouth College; and the University of Missouri.

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$1M Air Force Award To Harness Solar and Thermal Energy for Spacecrafts

Yi Zheng, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, in collaboration with Faraday Technology, Inc., received a $1 million research grant from the U.S. Air Force for “Concentric Ultra-Dark Solar-Thermal Absorber and Metasurface Thermal Emitter for Thermophotovoltaic Power Conversion.” He is creating materials for satellites, spacecrafts, and space vehicles to enable them to absorb heat sources and convert them to reusable energy at power generation capacity that meets the U.S. Air Force’s needs.

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AI, Computing, and Data Modeling

$2M NSF Award To Improve Power Delivery for High-Performance Computing

Nian Sun, Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Aatmesh Shrivastava, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, in collaboration with Cornell University, received a $2 million National Science Foundation grant to develop next-generation integrated power delivery systems for high-performance computing.

$1.6M Grant To Create Inclusive Cities Through Technology

Qi “Ryan” Wang, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Yanzhi Wang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the University of Virginia, received a $1.6 million National Science Foundation award for “Strengthening Elderly Mobility in Urban Landscapes: Towards Age-Inclusive and Equitable Communities.” The team will use a novel methodology for transforming infrastructure planning, design, and operation through advanced technologies with an emphasis on social equity and user experience.

$1.5M ONR Award To Improve Interactions Between People and AI Agents

Mahdi Imani, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, in collaboration with George Washington University, was awarded a $1.5 million Office of Naval Research (ONR) award. The project aims to enhance collaboration, communication, and learning among teams of humans and AI agents.

$1M NSF Award for Modeling Group Behavior To Fight Epidemics

Babak Heydari, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, in collaboration with Northeastern’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities and College of Science, in the areas of public policy, math, and economics, was awarded $1 million from the National Science Foundation for “No One Lives in a Bubble: Incorporating Group Dynamics Into Epidemic Models,” to build computational models for group behaviors.

$1M NSF Award for Enhancing Educational Research With AI and Cloud

Infrastructure Training

Ningfang Mi, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, in collaboration with Temple University, George Mason University, and the University of North Carolina, is leading a $999,969 National Science Foundation grant for “AI4EDU: Cloud Infrastructure-Enabled Training for AI in Educational Research and Assessment.” The project addresses fundamental issues of user training on advanced cyber infrastructure, such as cloud computing systems, and the challenges of working with large quantities of education data.

Potential in Stem Cell Manufacturing

The research of Wei Xie, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, on how AI can be used for the largescale manufacturing of pluripotent stem cells, which have great promise for new cell treatments and regenerative medicine, was published in two papers, “Metabolic Regulatory Network Kinetic Modeling With Multiple Isotopic Tracers for iPSCs” in Biotechnology and Bioengineering and “Stochastic Biological System-of-Systems Modelling for iPSC Culture” in Communications Biology

Advancing Ultra-Fast Sound Technology

Yoseob Yoon, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, published “Terahertz Phonon Engineering With van der Waals Heterostructures” in Nature. He discovered a way to create atomically thin transducers that could one day enable quantum computing at room temperature.

AI Architecture To Detect Breast Cancer

Saeed Amal, assistant research professor of bioengineering, and his research team developed a new AI architecture that has detected breast cancer with a 99.7% accuracy rate. His research was published in the journal Cancers. The AI looks at highresolution images and learns from historical data to identify cancer patterns and perform diagnoses. The framework could also help develop new AI models that can be used to diagnose rare and uncommon cancers that lack a lot of patient data.

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Environment and Sustainability

$3M DOD Study To Fend Off Cyberthreats in the Wake of Natural Disasters

Auroop Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of civil and environmental engineering, and his interdisciplinary team, are conducting a $3 million, five-year Department of Defense study on recovery from disruptions to military and civilian critical infrastructure. The focus is on mapping failure and recovery pathways and adapting to changing conditions, including extreme weather events due to climate change and evolving security challenges such as terrorism and cyberattacks. The study will pay particular attention to compounded threats.

Fellow of Scialog Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials Initiative

Damilola Daramola, assistant professor of chemical engineering, jointly appointed in the College of Science, has been named a Fellow of the three-year Scialog initiative on Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials, which is designed to spark advances in the mining, design, manufacture, and disposal of materials needed to achieve a more sustainable and low-carbon energy system. Scialog supports research, intensive dialogue, and community building to address scientific challenges of global significance. This interdisciplinary community of Fellows represents institutions across the U.S. and Canada.

New Model for Wind Turbine Blade Design

Luca Caracoglia, professor of civil and environmental engineering, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was awarded a $704,942 National Science Foundation grant for “Modeling the Influence of Turbulence on FlowInduced Instabilities of Large Flexible Structures With Innovative Applications in Wind Turbine Blades.” Caracoglia will focus on the stochastic modeling side, while the UMass team will focus on experimental validation at various scales.

Chemicals in Household Products Cause Long-Term Health Issues

Julia Varshavsky, assistant professor in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, jointly appointed in civil and environmental engineering, published research in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, on research from a study she led in Puerto Rico in affiliation with the PROTECT Center that shows that chemicals, like phenols and parabens in products such as sunscreen and makeup, can result in long-term health problems for both the woman and fetus.

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ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship To Develop More Sustainable EV Batteries

Juner Zhu, assistant professor, mechanical and industrial engineering, received an Electrochemical Society (ECS) Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, one of only three individuals this year to receive the award. He is developing technology to monitor and identify the health of individual batteries in an electric vehicle (EV) through a mechano-electrochemical approach that would use sensors to gather data on a battery’s physical changes. The data would then be analyzed using machine learning techniques to determine a battery’s condition, patterns of deterioration, or other problems. This information can bring efficiencies or even reduce some of the more labor-intensive and potentially unsafe processes involving EV batteries—the handling, transporting, recycling, and disposing phases.

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Boosting Solar Energy and Water Purification With

Advanced Nanotechnology

Allison Dennis, associate professor of chemical engineering, in collaboration with Boston University, was awarded $708,937 from the National Science Foundation for “Interfacial Excitation Transfer in Hybrid Metal/Chalcopyrite Plasmonic Nanostructures.” The research investigates charge and energy transfer between metal nanostructures and semiconductor nanocrystals through single particle spectroscopy. Optimization of these transfer processes has the potential to result in enhanced photocatalytic activity for the hybrid nanomaterials, and benefit society in areas such as solar energy conversion and wastewater remediation.

Pioneering Technology To Convert Renewable Energy to Liquids

Magda Barecka, associate professor of chemical engineering, jointly appointed in the College of Science, was selected to lead a $986,200 Department of Energy project managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) GREENWELLS program for “Modular Electrochemical Ethanol Production Using Intermittent Power (Electricity).” She is pioneering new technology to convert dilute carbon dioxide into a concentrated ethanol product using intermittent renewable electricity.

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Bella Martinez

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$13M ARPA-H Award for Breakthrough 3D Imaging To Detect Lung Cancer Early

Soner Sonmezoglu, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a $13 million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, titled “PAIL: PhotoAcoustic Imaging technology for diagnostic Lung assessment.” The effort will result in a radically new, miniaturized optical photoacoustic imaging system with advanced image reconstruction algorithms. It is expected to transform the photoacoustic imaging field by providing real-time and high-contrast volumetric images that can assist in diagnosing and treating cancer and other major diseases. Collaborators include pathologists, surgeons, and engineers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Washington.

$1.27M NSF Award for Engineering Clostridia for Sustainability and Human Health

Benjamin Woolston, assistant professor of chemical engineering, in collaboration with Tulane University and Tufts University, was awarded $1.27 million from the National Science Foundation for “New Approaches To Rapidly Domesticate Nonmodel Clostridia for Applications in Sustainability and Human Health.” The research team is developing novel approaches to streamline genetic engineering of Clostridia, which are important microbes with diverse roles in biotechnology and human disease, but notoriously difficult to engineer.

Improving Synthetic Ecology for Studying Gut Bacteria

Benjamin Woolston, assistant professor of chemical engineering, in collaboration with Boston University, was awarded $900,000 from the National Science Foundation for “Synthetic Ecology of Mixed Aerobic/Anaerobic Microbial Consortia.” The research addresses the constraints of a synthetic ecology approach by developing a low-cost bioreactor system for precise generation and simultaneous delivery of headspace gas mixtures across individual culture vessels in various cultures.

Research Published in Matter Discovers How Connective Tissues Are Formed

Research by Jeffrey Ruberti, Distinguished Professor of bioengineering, published in the journal Matter, suggests that connective tissues in the human body are more likely formed by cells pulling apart than coming together. Collaborators include Associate Research Scientist Seyed Mohammad Siadat, bioengineering; Alexandra Silverman, MS’21, bioengineering; and Jason Olszewski, E’24, bioengineering. The discovery could help lead to better treatments for fibrosis and other medical conditions that cause wounds to heal poorly.

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Matthew Modoono

$4M NIH Grant To Develop Tools To Analyze Individual RNA Molecules

Meni Wanunu, professor of physics and bioengineering, and Sara Rouhanifard, assistant professor of bioengineering, in collaboration with Yale University, were awarded a $4.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/ National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) for “Direct RNA Sequencing Using Electro-optical Zero-mode Waveguides and Custom Click Fluorescent Nucleotides.” They are developing an ultra-sensitive technology capable of reading the sequence and detecting the diversity of chemical modifications in RNA molecules, which would be a huge step forward in understanding the biology and disease-causing events in human cells.

Cell Nuclear Force Probe Reveals Mechanomemory That May Impact Cell Memory and Health

Ning Wang, professor of bioengineering, published research in Cell Reports that demonstrates a process of mechanomemory, or response long after applied force has ceased, within a cell’s nucleus. This discovery prompts a prolonged period of activation of a protein complex responsible for gene expression, which can lead to making new proteins and potentially healthier cells. Coauthors were his PhD students Fazlur Rashid and Sadia Kabbo

Developing Methods To Control Cell-State Transitions

Lei Wang, assistant professor of bioengineering, jointly appointed in the College of Science, published research on “Sensing and Guiding Cell-State Transitions by Using Genetically Encoded Endoribonuclease-mediated MicroRNA Sensors” in Nature Biomedical Engineering. Such conditional activation of gene expression is durable and resistant to epigenetic silencing and could facilitate the monitoring of cell-state transitions in physiological and pathological conditions and eventually the “rewiring” of cell-state transitions for applications in organoidbased disease modelling, cellular therapies, and regenerative medicine.

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Matthew Modoono

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Wireless Communications

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$2M NSF Award for Designing New Chips for AI-Enabled Spectrum Perception

Francesco Restuccia, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, in collaboration with Florida International University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Arkansas, was awarded a $2 million National Science Foundation grant to provide constant Gigabit-persecond wireless connectivity for future applications like augmented reality and smart vehicles.

The World’s First Sub-THz Satellite Network Platform

Josep Jornet, professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), and interim ECE department chair; Andrew Gouldstone, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering; Tommaso Melodia, ECE William Lincoln Smith Professor; and Ken Duffy, ECE professor, jointly appointed in the College of Science; and in collaboration with the Morehead State University Space Science Center, were awarded $750,000 from the National Science Foundation for “Development Towards a Community Research Platform for sub-THz Satellite Communication Networks.” The project explores the development of the world’s first community research platform for sub-terahertz satellite communication networks.

$2M NTIA Award To Develop Testing Technology for 5G Open RAN

Pedram Johari, principal research scientist of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), is leading a $2 million project awarded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Wireless Innovation Fund to develop a digital framework for testing 5G Open RAN systems called “DigiRAN: High-Fidelity Digital Twins for Interoperability, Security and Performance Testing of Open RAN Systems.”

NSF $4.8M Renewal Award for Growing the Cybersecurity Workforce

Associate Professor Wil Robertson, Khoury College of Computer Sciences, jointly appointed in electrical and computer engineering (ECE); David Kaeli, ECE Distinguished Professor; and ECE Affiliated Faculty Guevara Noubir were awarded a $4.8 million National Science Foundation renewal CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service program for “Securing the Future: Scholarship for Service at Northeastern University.”

Enhancing AR/VR Performance in 5G Networks

Edmund Yeh, professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), and Dimitrios Koutsonikolas, ECE associate professor, in collaboration with Tufts University, received a $600,000 National Science Foundation award for “TARGET: Latencyaware Edge Computing for VR/AR in 5G and Beyond Networks.” The project will address shortcomings in current 5G millimeter wave networks and edge infrastructure with an enhanced edge architecture for Beyond 5G (B5G) networks.

$2M NTIA Award To Develop AI-Powered Testing for NextGeneration Cellular Networks

Michele Polese, assistant research professor of electrical and computer engineering, is leading a $2 million project awarded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Wireless Innovation Fund for “AutoRAN: Automated End-to-End Continuous Testing for Open and Disaggregated Cellular Systems.”

Learn more about our accomplished faculty

Student Successes

selected highlights

ACM/IEEE CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship

Rohan Basu Roy, PhD’24, computer engineering, was awarded the prestigious Association for Computing Machinery/IEEE Computer Society George Michael Memorial High Performance Computing Fellowship for enhancing the productivity of computational scientists and environmental sustainability of high-performance computing with novel methods and tools exploiting cloud computing and on-premise HPC resources. Basu Roy is advised by Devesh Tiwari, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award Recipients

Northeastern engineering students and alumni were recipients of the prestigious 2024 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to be high-achieving scientists and engineers early in their careers.

ASTM Award for Innovative Amputation Implant Design

A team of Northeastern students, including bioengineering students, received an ASTM International Grant for their design of an implantable osseointegrative pylon for transradial amputations. The award recognizes senior undergraduate and graduate student projects that incorporate ASTM International standards.

2024 Amazon Robotics Day One Fellowship

Sophia Jonas, MS’26, robotics, is one of seven new fellows selected for the 2024 Amazon Robotics Day One Fellowship, which supports students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM fields pursuing robotics degrees. She is pursuing work in humanrobot interaction and augmentation, such as exoskeletons, or terrain-based search-andrescue robots.

Hannah Boyce, E’21 chemical engineering

Jonathan Gray, E’16 mechanical engineering

Nathan Carmichael, PhD’28 mechanical engineering

Kathryn Lee, PhD’28 mechanical engineering

Shalom Fadullon, PhD’27 chemical engineering

Jason Olszewski, E’24 bioengineering

Eden Gordon, E’23 bioengineering

Ashka Patel, E’24 bioengineering

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Barry Goldwater Scholarship

Kaitlyn Ramesh, E’25, bioengineering, received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of the nation’s most prestigious, merit-based awards for undergraduate students who plan to pursue research careers in natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. She aspires to earn a PhD in computational biology to investigate the gene regulatory mechanisms underlying tissue regeneration.

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Research Fellowships

Andrew Ashdown, PhD’27, electrical engineering, and Connor McLaughlin, PhD’27, computer engineering, were recipients of the 2024 Department of Defense National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Research Fellowship. Highly competitive, it is awarded to promising U.S. scientists and engineers to encourage them to pursue doctoral degrees in designated research disciplines of military importance.

IBSA Foundation for Scientific Research Doctoral Fellowship

Helna Mary Baby, a bioengineering PhD student advised by Associate Professor Ambika Bajpayee, is one of only six students worldwide to earn the prestigious IBSA Foundation for Scientific Research Doctoral Fellowship to continue her work on developing a novel gene delivery system to treat osteoarthritis. Her project was selected from a group of 248 project entries from 47 countries.

Three Fulbright Scholarships

Bioengineering students Emin Abrahamian, E’24, Benjamin Field, E’24, and Matthew Hiller, E’24, received Fulbright Scholarships, which are awarded to exceptional students to research, study, or teach English abroad, fostering diplomacy and mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries.

American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowships

PhD students Ana Vargas, bioengineering, and Nicholas O’Hare, chemical engineering, received Predoctoral Fellowships from the American Heart Association. Vargas was selected for her project “Pregnancy Induced Mechanobiological Remodeling in Maternal Vasculature in Health and Disease.” O’Hare was selected for his project “The Role of the Endothelial Glycocalyz in Alzheimer’s Disease Neurovascular Pathology.”

Student Successes

Mars Rover Team Places First at International Rover Challenge

The Northeastern Mars Rover team competed in the inaugural Winter Canadian International Rover Challenge, where they took home the gold, placing first and securing their first-ever competition win. Northeastern competed against teams from McMaster University, the University of Toronto, and York University.

‘Emerging Investigators’ in the Journal Software Matter

Sara Hashmi, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and Barrett Smith, PhD’24, chemical engineering, were recognized as part of the “Emerging Investigators” series of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Soft Matter. Smith was first author of their paper, “In Situ Polymer Gelation in Confined Flow Controls Intermittent Dynamics,” which uncovers novel flow behavior in crosslinking biopolymers.

Research on Cover of Biomaterials Science

Research conducted by Chenzhen Zhang, PhD’23, bioengineering, and Hengli Zhang, PhD’25, bioengineering, advised by Associate Professor Ambika Bajpayee, was featured on the cover of Biomaterials Science Rebecca Carrier, Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering, collaborated with the team.

Engineering Management Team Wins International Competition

An MS in engineering management student team secured third place in the “Virtual Best Case Analysis Competition” and second place in the “Live Best Case Presentation Competition” in the 2023 17th Annual International Engineering Management Student Case Competition organized by the American Society for Engineering Management.

Donald F. & Mildred Topp Othmer Scholarship

Lina Abu-Absi, E’24, chemical engineering, is the recipient of the 2022-2023 Donald F. & Mildred Topp Othmer Scholarship Award, which is awarded to 15 American Institute of Chemical Engineers students annually for their outstanding academic achievement and involvement in student chapter activities.

Inventors on U.S. Patent

Hannah Giusti, E’25, and Graham MacDonald, E’25, chemical engineering, were named inventors on a provisional U.S. patent for a groundbreaking PFAS treatment. They contributed to this development while on co-op at Practical Applications, Inc. The advanced PFAS treatment technology, which offers an improvement for public water system operators, ensures compliance with EPA drinking water standards while dramatically reducing treatment costs compared to existing adsorption methods. The new process also eliminates the production of toxic residuals, a common issue with current treatment methods.

Knight-Hennessy Scholarship

Kritika Singh, E’20, bioengineering, was awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, which will enable her to pursue a doctor of medicine degree at Stanford University. She received the Rhodes Scholarship in 2020. She also previously received the Harold D. Hodgkinson Achievement Award, and was a National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholar, and a Truman Scholar.

2024 Condit Award

Dominic Pizzarella, E’25, chemical engineering and biochemistry, received the Sears B. Condit Award, one of the highest honors that a junior or senior can receive. Pizzarella is interested in disease research and has worked in the laboratory of Ryan Koppes, associate professor of chemical engineering, for two years studying organ-on-chip technology.

Patent for Improving RF Resonator Technology

Cristian Casella, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Xuanyi Zhao, PhD’23, electrical engineering (shown on left), were awarded a patent for “Two Dimensional Rod Resonator for RF Filtering.”

Outstanding ASCE Student Chapter

The Northeastern University chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), was nationally recognized on multiple fronts, including being named the 2024 ASCE Distinguished Chapter for Region 1, and a recipient of a 2024 Certificate of Commendation. It also had strong showings in both the Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge competitions.

Student Spotlight

Research, Co-op, and Global Experiences Lead to Medical School

Zachary Hoglund, E’24, bioengineering and biochemistry, received the 2024 Harold D. Hodgkinson Achievement Award, one of the highest honors a Northeastern University senior can receive.

The award caps off a remarkable undergraduate journey that included achieving academic excellence; completing two co-ops in a research lab; serving as president of Innovators for Global Health, a student group that partners with industry and universities in underdeveloped countries; presenting at academic and industry conferences; and co-authoring published papers.

“I really don’t think there’s anywhere other than Northeastern that could have given me that breadth of experience,” says Hoglund, who is now attending the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hoglund was also the 2023 recipient of the Sears B. Condit Award, which provides a scholarship for outstanding scholastic achievement.

Growing up, Hoglund knew he wanted to be a physician, a plan that was inspired by two of his grandparents who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He chose Northeastern in part because of the co-op option, which he believed would help him acquire work and research experience.

“I really wanted to pursue engineering because I saw it as a more unique path to becoming a physician,” Hoglund says. “I felt a technical background could allow me to have a greater impact as a doctor.”

He enrolled as a bioengineering student and soon switched to the combined bioengineering and biochemistry major to include pre-med courses. For his first co-op, he joined the Hyman Lab at Harvard Medical School, affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, and worked with a team of researchers focused on the neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease. His researched focused on tau, one of the proteins known to have a role in Alzheimer’s.

He was so inspired by the research that he continued working in the lab on a part-time basis at the conclusion of his co-op and then returned to the lab for a second sixmonth co-op experience.

“One of the reasons this went so well was the relationships with the people in the lab,” Hoglund says. “We trusted each other, and it was a great collaborative experience. It showed me how I want to collaborate with others in the future.”

One result of this collaboration for Hoglund was co-authoring research papers, including “Spatial Characterization of Tangle-Bearing Neurons and Ghost Tangles in the Human Inferior Temporal Gyrus With Three-Dimensional Imaging,” which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Communications in 2023. He presented the research at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in 2023. He also presented an updated version of this research later in 2023 at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting.

During his undergraduate years, Hoglund made campus involvement a priority. His role as president of the Innovators for Global Health student group had the greatest impact on him. As part of the organization, he worked to develop low-cost medical devices for communities in Ghana through partnerships with three medical centers, the University of Ghana, and Academic City University.

Hoglund and other members of the student group received two Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships’ Project-based Exploration for the Advancement of Knowledge (PEAK) Experiences Awards from Northeastern in 2024 and 2023 to fund the design and development of a suction pump stopper, an oxygen line splitter, and hospital beds. In each case, materials that can be sourced in Ghana, including the bedding, were used.

The Northeastern team visited Ghana during Spring Break and worked with partners to ensure they could continue developing these products using local materials.

“This taught me about addressing the deficits in healthcare with current solutions that we have,” Hoglund says.

“I think this was the best place for my undergraduate experience,” Hoglund says. “The level of research experience I was able to get would not have been possible through traditional internships. I really appreciate the opportunities that were offered here.”

“ I really don’t think there’s anywhere other than Northeastern that could have given me that breadth of experience.”

Zachary Hoglund, E’24 Bioengineering and Biochemistry

Harold D. Hodgkinson Award recipient, Zachary Hoglund, E’24, bioengineering and biochemistry, completed two research co-ops, traveled to Ghana as president of the Innovators for Global Health student group, published research, and presented at conferences. Next step: medical school at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Celebrating 115 Years of Cooperative Education

The year 2024 marks 115 years of cooperative education at Northeastern University and it began in the College of Engineering. Co-op—our premier experiential learning program integrating academics with real-world experience—is what set Northeastern on a path of innovation. Since 1909, it has transformed the lives of students across the university, defined co-op excellence as a nationwide top-ranked program, and fueled the expansion of experiential learning to include an ever-growing myriad of opportunities.

To celebrate co-op’s legacy and further propel it across Northeastern’s growing global university system, Northeastern hosted a series of celebrations with alumni, industry partners, parents, friends, students, faculty, and staff at its campuses across the U.S., culminating in Boston during Homecoming Weekend on November 8-9, 2024.

1stRanked in Co-ops/Internships Six Years in a Row

U.S. News and World Report (2020-2025)

Scan to view the history of co-op in the College of Engineering, the future of experiential learning, and alumni stories of co-op’s impact.

With over 240 tenured/tenure-track faculty and 20 multidisciplinary research centers and institutes with funding by eight federal agencies, the College of Engineering is a leader in experiential education and interdisciplinary research focused on discovering solutions to global challenges to benefit society. Northeastern’s global university system— with engineering programs on campuses across the U.S. and in multiple countries—provides flexible academic offerings, innovative partnerships, and the ability to scale ideas, talent, and solutions.

About Northeastern

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experiential lifelong learning. Our approach of integrating real-world experience with education, research, and innovation empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create worldwide impact.

Northeastern’s personalized, experiential undergraduate and graduate programs lead to degrees through the doctorate in 10 colleges and schools across our 13 campuses worldwide. Learning emphasizes the intersection of data, technology, and human literacies, uniquely preparing graduates for careers of the future and lives of fulfillment and accomplishment.

Our research enterprise, with an R1 Carnegie classification, is solutions oriented and spans the world. Our faculty scholars and students work in teams that cross not just disciplines, but also sectors—aligned around solving today’s highly interconnected global challenges and focused on transformative impact for humankind.

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Yoseob Yoon, assistant professor of mechanical and

“Terahertz Phonon Engineering With

der Waals Heterostructures.” He discovered a way to create atomically thin transducers that could one day enable quantum computing at room temperature, and allow for the design of more efficient heat management components in classical computers. Scan the QR code to read the full article.

Photo by Matthew Modoono, Northeastern University