Category: Research & Innovation

A team of researchers at the University of Florida will explore ways to increase trustworthiness and interpretability of artificial machine learning in healthcare under a new $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The team will also investigate ways to use AI to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases earlier.

“Everybody is calling it the new electricity,” said Diego Alvarado, M.E., an instructional assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. “It’s under the hood of almost everything. We need to be able to understand it.”

The first annual student Internet of Things (IoT) Design Competition recently wrapped up after nearly two months of competition. The national competition, hosted by the University of Florida IoT Students Club, required teams to design, build, and demonstrate the functionality of an IoT edge device to solve a real-world problem.

A multidisciplinary research team that includes Alina Zare, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Daisy Zhe Wang, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, is developing ways to understand the changes taking place in forests and protect the ecosystem benefits trees offer.

Damon Woodard, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), is using AI methods to develop algorithms that can detect deepfakes, while Sanjeev Koppal, Ph.D., an assistant professor in ECE, is building cameras that are intelligent about capturing data in order to preserve people’s privacy.

Juan Claudio Nino, Ph.D., a professor of Materials Science and Engineering, is collaborating with psychiatry and neuroscience assistant professor Marcelo Febo on a means of using AI to detect the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

A multi-departmental team of researchers from the University of Florida have been awarded a $1.1M grant from the NIH on AI-powered medical research on Parkinson’s disease.

Vladimir Rakov, Ph.D., professor in ECE and co-director of the International Center for Lightning Research & Testing (ICLRT) has been awarded a $1M grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project, “Lightning Studies Based on Measurements Spanning the Ranges from Radio Frequency to Optical (including Infrared and Ultraviolet) to Gamma-Rays.”

Maitane Olabarrieta, Ph.D., associate professor, and Arthriya Subgranon, Ph.D., assistant professor, in the Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering within the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment at the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, are the principal investigators of a multi-organizational project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

A group of Ph.D. students led by Eric Jing Du, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Florida, have trained and developed robotic dogs.