Watson Review - Summer 2020

Binghamton

Watson U N I V E R S I T Y

THOMAS J. WATSON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE

M AG A Z I N E

SUMMER 2020

R E V I E W

Visions of 2020 Watson researchers are exploring the frontiers of digital technology

Watson offers aid to COVID-19 fight

Dean Srihari steps down after 11 years

Senior projects show ingenuity

| FROM THE DEAN |

Our work propels the Watson School forward

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or many of us, the year 2020 used to seem like a far-future date, and we envisioned a time of technological wonder when most of humanity’s problems would be solved.

It hasn’t quite turned out as expected, but our inventive spirit has inspired a world that we only could dream about when the Watson School was founded 37 years ago.

In this issue of the Watson Review, we share stories about some of the life-changing research we are doing here at Binghamton University, from artificial intelligence and robotics to improved power grids and potential cures for pervasive diseases.

The year 2020 also is a bittersweet one for me. I will be stepping down as dean at the end of July, after 11 years leading the Watson School.

I am extremely proud of what our team has accomplished. We dramatically increased the numbers of faculty, staff and graduate students who drive our research forward. Our externally sponsored research grew to over $18 million in 2018–19, and our committed funds for this fiscal year are 57% higher than last year as of Jan. 31, 2020. We’ve also grown our PhD programs by 72% since fall 2012.

In the 2020 rankings from U.S. News & World Report, Watson leaped 32 spots to #95 on the list of best graduate engineering programs in the nation. We started the first school-based diversity office at Binghamton in 2014. We dedicated a leading-edge Engineering and Science Building as part of the

Innovative Technologies Complex, and we are renovating our existing Engineering Building to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Off campus, we have raised the profile of Binghamton University and the Watson School on the global stage. The University’s status as R1 from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education puts us among just 131 elite schools in the United States. Times Higher Education ranks us among the top 200 engineering schools in the world. Earlier this year, President Harvey Stenger inaugurated five centers of excellence at partner institutions in India.

Each one focuses on research around one topic, from data science and design thinking to the autism spectrum and healthcare systems.

I will not be leaving the Watson School behind. In addition to retaining my role as the director of the Watson Institute for Systems Excellence (31 years and counting), I look forward to returning to the Systems Science and Industrial Engineering Department. The classroom is where the seeds for our future are planted, and I will continue to serve our school’s academic and research missions by working closely with our primary customer, the student.

THOMAS J. WATSON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE DEAN

Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND ADMINISTRATION

Peter J. Partell, MA ’97, PhD ’99 ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES

Junghyun Cho ASSISTANT DEAN FOR RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES

Lisa Gallagher ’89, MBA ’92 ASSISTANT DEAN FOR STRATEGY AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Elizabeth Kradjian ASSISTANT DEAN OF FINANCE AND HUMAN RESOURCES

Sarah Kane ASSISTANT DEAN OF ACADEMIC DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE

Monica Majors DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Alan Greene ’88 WATSON REVIEW EDITOR

Chris Kocher ART DIRECTOR

Burt Myers PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jonathan Cohen Casey Staff ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Greg Delviscio DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE SERVICES

Gerald Hovancik Jr. COPY EDITORS

Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari

Dean and SUNY distinguished professor, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science

Natalie Blando-George Eric Coker Katie Ellis Lori Fuller

Professor Lijun Yin from the Department of Computer Science has created several databases mapping hundreds of faces in 3D. Pictured as a facial scan is Sofia Fasullo, a junior with a double major of geography and math.

CASEY STAFF

On the cover

Volume 9 | SUMMER 2020

Contents

2 Watson aids COVID-19 fight Faculty, students and staff step up to help Binghamton-area healthcare providers.

4 Keeping the lights on

Power grids are probably the most complicated systems that humans have ever made. One Watson professor is working to make them more reliable.

7 Visions of 2020

Three Watson professors explore the cutting edge of digital technology, from “deep learning” and artificial intelligence to facial mapping and robotics.

12 A whole new look

A multimillion-dollar upgrade is giving the Engineering Building a second life.

14 Looking back on 11 years

Dean Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari is stepping down. He talks about how the school has grown.

17 Capstone projects

Before they get that undergraduate diploma, many Watson students finish a senior design project. What did this year’s standout teams accomplish?

20 Biomedical’s big year

The Department of Biomedical Engineering has racked up millions of dollars in grants.

22 Student profile

Computer science master’s student Priti Prabhakar Wakodikar is the first recipient of the Chandra Family Scholarship.

23 Alumna profile

JONATHAN COHEN

Lavanya Gopalakrishnan, MS ’98, discusses how her Watson education influenced her role at Cisco.

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24 New faces 25 News briefs

Reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the Watson School designed and 3D-printed ventilator adapters that could allow for more than one patient to use a single ventilator in an emergency.

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Watson rallies against COVID-19

Faculty, staff and students unite to aid healthcare providers

By Chris Kocher

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JONATHAN COHEN

ust as it did everywhere else around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic shaped the first half of 2020 on the Binghamton University campus and at the Watson School.

The influence was subtle at first, on the periphery. As the coronavirus spread among our families, friends and colleagues in China, we united in support. The most visible outpouring was in February, when faculty, staff and students signed a large “Watson ♥ Wuhan” banner and offered encouraging video messages.

When COVID-19 swept across Europe and spread to the U.S., Binghamton moved all classes online in mid-March, with students and faculty adjusting to the new reality of distance learning in the hope of “flattening the curve” of infection rates. Classes met in virtual space rather than the same room, but the exchange of knowledge continued.

The commitment of the Watson School’s faculty and staff during this challenging time was aweinspiring. Our Advising Office offered virtual appointments and resources, and all departments supported students during the transition. We thank them for their many efforts to provide our students with the best academic experience possible.

Meanwhile, about a dozen professors, graduate students and staff volunteered their talents to help regional healthcare providers fight the virus.

Four different projects made progress in just one week: adapters that could allow multiple patients on one ventilator; N95-style masks and full-face shields to protect healthcare workers; and ultraviolet sterilization stations for medical equipment exposed to COVID-19.

Fuda Ning and Jia Deng (both assistant professors in the Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering) worked around the clock designing the ventilator

adapters with Scott Schiffres (an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering) and four graduate students. As each prototype was 3D-printed, medical professionals at United Health Services (UHS) and Lourdes Hospital offered suggestions.

“At the very beginning, when we checked YouTube videos about these adapters, they only had the idea — they did not have the design,” Deng says. “We’ve had to spend a lot of time to design, to refine the design, to modify it and to test it.”

The Watson School posted the completed adapter designs on the University website so that anyone with a 3D printer could make them, aiding hospitals in the U.S. and beyond.

In addition to making new equipment for hospitals, Dean Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari and Professor Kaiming Ye (chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering) delivered several thousand disposable gloves, 600 surgical masks, 29 N95 masks and several disposable gowns from Watson School supplies to UHS hospitals as a donation.

“I am proud that the Watson School faculty and staff united to face these unprecedented challenges,” Srihari says. “It is a pleasure and an honor to work with them.”

All of us at Binghamton miss having our Watson family together and plan to be back on campus for the 2020–21 academic year. We hope our alumni and friends elsewhere have stayed healthy during the quarantine.

Learn more online about the Watson School’s COVID-19 response at go.binghamton.edu/watson and download the ventilator adapter designs at go.binghamton.edu/adapters.

Opposite page: Huimin Zhou, a PhD student in systems science and industrial engineering, 3D-prints medical devices in an Engineering and Science Building lab at the Innovative Technologies Complex.

This page: Fuda Ning, an assistant professor in the SSIE department, was part of a Watson School team responding to the COVID-19 pandemic that designed ventilator adapters and improved on others’ designs for masks and face shields.

“ I am proud that the Watson School faculty and staff united to face these unprecedented challenges.”

—Dean Hari Srihari

SUMMER 2020

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JONATHAN COHEN (ZHOU), BURT MYERS (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION)

Power

Player

ECE professor researches how to keep America’s lights on

By Chris Kocher and Katie Ellis

W

hen we enter a dark room and hit the light switch, we don’t give it a lot of thought.

Flick. It’s on.

Flick. It’s off.

A child can understand it. Our unconscious brain is trained to expect it. Only when the light doesn’t turn on do we wonder how it all works and what we need to do to keep the power flowing.

That’s where a researcher like Ning Zhou comes in. He’s an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Watson School, and his passion is imagining the future of power grids — which are, he says, “arguably the most complex systems ever built by human beings.”

Last year, Zhou received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to provide a vision for power systems as fossil fuels wane and renewable energy sources take center stage. He and his team of graduate students — three PhD students and a number of master’s students at any given time — are working on both the theoretical and applied aspects of the future of power generation, transmission and distribution.

POWER EVOLUTION

The basics of a power grid are fairly easy to grasp. Generating stations produce electricity, high-voltage transmission lines carry it over long distances, and distribution lines bring it into customers’ homes and businesses. In between are substations that increase or reduce the voltage as needed.

Starting with the first power stations in the 1880s, generation relied on three main pillars: coal, natural gas and hydroelectric. Nuclear plants joined the grid in the 1950s, with wind and solar added in the past few decades.

The need for renewable energy sources — ones that do not put more carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans — has become more urgent as the evidence for climate change mounts. Last year, for instance, New York state adopted the United States’ most ambitious climate target — neutral carbon output by 2050.

As important as it is to implement, Zhou and other researchers know that renewable energy also brings challenges: “We can’t get wind power without wind, or solar power at night, and that brings uncertainty and intermittent generation.

We know roughly what they will bring, but we don’t know with 100 percent confidence, for example, if the wind will blow in the next hour.”

Our 21st-century lifestyle — plugged in, mobile and ever-hungry for more electricity — also adds more unpredictable factors that affect the overall grid.

“Things are changing very fast,” Zhou says. “For example, when you drive an electric car, you can park it here today in Binghamton, but the next day you could drive it to Washington, D.C. The load shift is significant. If it’s going to be more dynamic, it will need to rely on traffic patterns.”

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| P O W E R P L AY E R |

At the heart of his research, then, is something that sounds nearly impossible: quantifying uncertainty in real time so that electricity keeps flowing.

To ensure grid efficiency and reliability, powersystem operators continuously monitor the grid through a process called state estimation, which collects measurements from various sensors throughout the system.

However, those data points offer only a snapshot of electric generation, load needs and transmission.

Shaobu Wang, a senior engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state, is collaborating with Zhou to develop “situational awareness” that will make power-grid oversight more dynamic.

“We need to not only estimate things — we should be able to predict the power grid’s behavior,” Wang says.

“Is it going to be stable or not stable following a crisis? What is the state of the grid in the next few minutes? We need to know what action to take to prevent instability.”

Their research dives deep into past data to create mathematical models that will use artificial intelligence to find the delicate balance of sustainability, cost and reliability.

“If there are variation and uncertainty, we need to be aware of that and let the operator know,” Zhou says. “If there’s a 70% chance of uncertainty, we need to be able to quantify that and present it clearly to the operators so that the

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operators can allocate resources to take care of it, by using reserves such as stored energy.”

Having such knowledge at their fingertips would help grid managers avoid smaller power disruptions and limit larger outages such as the 2003 blackout. What started as a software bug in the alarm system at an Ohio-based energy company

cascaded into failures that left 55 million people in the northeastern U.S., the upper Midwest and Ontario in the dark for hours, days or weeks.

“We do not want to wait for a day or two before we get electricity again. That would be terrible,” Zhou says. “A large-scale power outage can cause some big trouble because you can’t just go out to the gas station and use the electricity. Some people rely on electricity to get their water. A lot of things are supported by the power grid.”

Ning Zhou, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, explains a concept about power grids to, from left, graduate students Yuting Chen, Hossein Sangrody and Tawsif Ahmad.

JONATHAN COHEN

QUANTIFYING UNCERTAINTY

Visions of 2020 Watson researchers are exploring the frontiers of digital technology

When does science fiction become science fact?

Many of the everyday things we take for granted now — the internet, smartphones, streaming entertainment services and so many more — were unimaginable not that long ago.

BURT MYERS (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION)

By Chris Kocher

Pictured as a facial scan is Sofia Fasullo, a junior with a double major of geography and math.

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| VISIONS OF 2020 |

These three Watson School professors

are exploring where technology will take us next, from “deep learning” and artificial intelligence to facial mapping and robotics.

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EMBRACING THE THIRD DIMENSION

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f you’ve enjoyed a Hollywood blockbuster or played a best-selling video game over the past 15 years, chances are you’ve seen computer-generated faces based on or inspired by the work of Lijun Yin. A professor in the Watson School’s Department of Computer Science, Yin has been — and still is — a pioneer in the ever-evolving field of 3D modeling, specifically of the human face.

In the early 2000s, other researchers studied human facial expressions through static 2D images or video sequences. However, subtle details are not easily discernible using a flat perspective. Yin saw the problem as an opportunity: “I thought, ‘Why can’t we use 3D models to research human emotions?’ Actual conversations happen in 3D space.”

He and his team have released four groundbreaking facial databases since 2006, with a fifth one in the works. Each iteration has taken advantage of updated technology as well as refined the techniques used to capture the images.

“ W ITHOUT IMAGINATION, YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS A REALITY.” —Lijun Yin

The possible applications for the facial database go beyond entertainment and communications. Medical professionals could judge true pain levels in their patients, rather than asking for a subjective 1 to 10 ranking. Plastic surgeons could offer 3D examples of what patients will look like after surgery. Parents could better determine if a crying newborn is sick, hungry or has other critical problems. Law enforcement officials might find it a tool for lie detection.

Yin and one of his PhD students, Umur Ciftci, also are spearheading research to fight “deepfakes” — manipulated videos that show people saying and doing things they did not do. Social media websites have confronted the issue, especially in the political realm, and the technology to make the videos is becoming easier.

Still, Yin prefers to look at the positive side of his work: “You have to be brave enough to imagine what could happen in the future. Without imagination, you cannot make this a reality.”

JONATHAN COHEN, BURT MYERS (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION)

Hundreds of faces showing a wide spectrum of emotions — from anger and fear to happiness and sadness — are offered to researchers and licensed for commercial clients.

Yin’s Graphics and Image Computing Laboratory (GAIC) at Binghamton’s Innovative Technologies Complex is likely the most advanced in the United States, with its 18 cameras to capture images of faces from all angles as well as in infrared. A device strapped around a subject’s chest monitors breathing and heart rate. So much data is acquired in a 30-minute session that it requires 12 hours of computer processing to render it.

Refined and made smaller, though, such a setup not only could improve facial recognition but also help to create true-to-life 3D avatars for video conferences, games and other online activities.

“Maybe someday in the future,” Yin says, “we could conduct an interview without sitting face to face. In virtual space, we could make eye contact.

Maybe we could even shake hands virtually.”

Umur Ciftci, a PhD student in computer science, poses for a 3D scan in Professor Lijun Yin’s lab at the Innovative Technologies Complex. Ciftci’s doctoral thesis will focus on detecting “deepfake” videos. Opposite page: Artist-in-residence Andy Horowitz has helped Professor Lijun Yin with his database of 3D facial scans. binghamton.edu/watson

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| VISIONS OF 2020 |

AN EYE FOR EFFICIENCY

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Sangwon Yoon, an associate professor of systems science and industrial engineering, has a number of projects on his research radar. One of them is consulting on the PharmASSIST automated prescription drug system from Innovation Associates in Johnson City. Here, he discusses the system with graduate student Lubna Al Tarawneh, left, and PhD candidate Qianqian Zhang, MS ’16.

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hen you ask Sangwon Yoon what research he and his students are working on, he gives a list so long that he needs to double-check he hasn’t left anything out.

They’re collaborating with Innovation Associates in Johnson City, N.Y., to perfect a robotic assembly line called PharmASSIST that will fill 100,000 mailorder prescriptions per day. They’re also helping a microchip manufacturer with its automated testing facility in the Philippines, so that bad processors don’t end up in phones and other electronic devices.

Both Toyota Material Handling North America and forklift manufacturer Raymond Corp. seek their advice about making warehouses more efficient and cost-effective, such as by determining the most logical layouts and the best places for wireless forklift recharging stations.

Several of Yoon’s graduate students recently published a paper about streamlining traffic at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to manage weather delays and to avoid late departures and arrivals.

They also have used data mining and algorithms to analyze healthcare topics such as breast, thyroid and lung cancers, and organ donation.

What ties all these diverse topics together? As an associate professor in the Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering as well as a researcher for the University’s Watson Institute for Systems Excellence (WISE), Yoon focuses on the similar problems to be solved in each realm.

Since its inception in 1989, WISE has secured over $55 million in external, sponsored research funding with various industry partners (including $2.75 million in fiscal year 2019).

“I learn the different domains, but all the techniques we use are to make the systems more efficient,” Yoon says. “The method we’re applying to air-traffic management could be the same as what we’re applying to the warehouse or assembly line.”

A key part of systems science is sifting through vast amounts of data to identify which elements are most important, then figuring out how to improve them. Yoon’s methods fuse classic systems optimization techniques with the latest methods of data mining and artificial intelligence. Sometimes, though, the answer can be as simple as synchronizing all clocks in a manufacturing facility.

As a lead researcher for several warehouse and factory systems studies, Yoon knows that automation is the future: “If you saw the movie A.I., one character walked into a warehouse where there was no light. If there are no people there, we don’t need it. In the future, we will see more ‘lights-out’ warehouses.”

And if he has anything to do with it, those warehouses will run efficiently, too.

ROBOTS THAT CAN LEARN

JONATHAN COHEN

W

hen Shiqi Zhang wants to test his latest theories about artificial intelligence (AI), he and his students dispatch their army of robots to explore the Engineering Building.

Knee-high with laptop computers mounted on the top, the tiny automatons may not look that smart. Slowly but surely, however, they are learning to wheel their way around the building’s third floor and figuring out how to get back to Zhang’s lab. When they arrive, they sit patiently at the door like obedient dogs waiting to be let inside.

Zhang — an assistant professor of computer science — wants to develop AI algorithms that will help service robots in everyday environments to gain knowledge from the humans around them and develop their own reasoning abilities: “The whole lab is about robots that can communicate with people, provide services to people and learn from this experience. We don’t want the robot to make the same mistake again and again.”

Robotics programming, he says, has evolved in roughly three stages. First came predetermined tasks, such as a robotic arm in a car factory repeatedly welding the same section of different vehicle frames. Simple, logical and unchangeable.

Next came probabilistic robotics, which relies on statistical techniques for representing information and making decisions — but that also has its limitations.

In the last 10 years, researchers like Zhang have been taking advantage of the new possibilities for “deep “ T HERE’S STILL learning” and artificial A LOT OF neural networks.

WORK TO DO.” Because the AI is making connections —Shiqi Zhang on its own, though, how the decisions are made sometimes puzzles even the programmers.

“If the AI is making a wrong choice,” Zhang says, “we want to know what’s going on and how we can avoid such mistakes in the future. We definitely need to know what’s happening under

the hood so that we can justify things and we can have humans in the loop, but it’s challenging.”

If you ever dreamed about having your own Rosie the robot maid like on The Jetsons, this is where it starts — but Zhang believes that time is still a ways off.

“We see delivery robots in hospitals, in airports, these kinds of places. But it’s not happening in our homes or offices,” he says. “We can see that the mobility capabilities, the interaction capabilities, learning capabilities, all of these pieces are there already, but to put them together into one robot and let it be robust enough and with good learning capabilities, there’s still a lot of work to do.”

Shiqi Zhang, right, an assistant professor of computer science, works with PhD student Kishan Chandan at the Autonomous Intelligent Robotics Lab in the Engineering Building.

Zhang and his students are trying to teach robots to learn from humans.

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JONATHAN COHEN, CASEY STAFF (AERIAL PHOTO OF BUILDING)

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by Chris Kocher

Fab for the Future

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lot has changed on the Binghamton University campus since the Engineering Building was constructed in 1976, but it has continued to house labs, classrooms and offices throughout those 44 years.

A $22 million upgrade is scheduled to be completed in fall 2020. Changes include a new facade, energy-efficient windows, new heating and air conditioning systems, centralized restrooms, upgraded power and data, new furniture and better lighting. Offices and instructional areas for computer science, systems science and industrial engineering, Watson Career and Alumni Connections, Industrial Outreach and diversity programs have been improved.

One dramatic change is the former Student Shop. The rebranded Fabrication Lab (or “Fab Lab”) on the first floor is now an open, modern space with many tools available for student projects. Here’s a look at that renovated space.

➍ Engineering Building’s $22 million upgrade includes better shop space

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➊ Vince Brady (manager of engineering laboratories and learning environments), left, shows students Nick Balasco, center, and Alex Robisch how to use a Flow waterjet machine to cut metal parts. ➋ Binghamton Motorsports members Brian Min, left, and Brian Walsh push the team vehicle through the new garage door at the Fab Lab. Previously, students had to maneuver the cars through EB hallways. ➌ The Engineering Building has a whole new appearance from the outside. ➍ Vignesh Suresh uses a Haas CNC mill to create a new part for the Binghamton Motorsports vehicle. ➎ David Nortier and Riley Heywood of the Binghamton Baja Team utilize the Fab Lab’s work tables to strategize. ➏ Layne Gustafson uses one of the three 3D printers available for students. ➐ From left, Brady, Jack Maynard (lecturer), Jim Canzler (instructional support technician), and students Enshirah Altarawneh and Peter Gebrael have a quick conference.

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➐ binghamton.edu/watson

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“ Watson is all of us working together” Dean looks back on 11 years at the helm

Watson Review: How has Watson grown

here was something about the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science that appealed to Virginia Tech doctoral graduate Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari when he interviewed for a Binghamton University faculty position in 1988.

“Here I had a chance to be part of something that was growing,” he says. “If I had gone to more established departments at the time, the opportunities would not have been as great. The opportunity to be part of something that was going to grow was very important to me. In hindsight, it’s worked out.”

It certainly has. Srihari served as chair of the Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering before becoming Watson dean in June 2009, leading the school’s growth for more than a decade. The SUNY distinguished professor will step down as Binghamton’s executive vice provost for international initiatives and chief global affairs officer on May 31, and as the Watson dean at the end of July.

Srihari: There are always quantitative metrics, but there are qualitative outcomes, also. We can talk about the growth of faculty: We’ve almost doubled in faculty size. Sponsored research has grown substantially. The number of students being funded at the graduate level has doubled.

When we look at the breadth of academic offerings, they have increased tremendously. The size of our staff has grown.

We always want to grow more. We are always looking for more resources, but if you take a step back, there’s been significant growth in space.

From June 2009 to where we are today, it’s night and day. If you look at lab infrastructure, it’s highly unlikely that we will lose faculty because of infrastructure. That happened to us 15 to 20 years ago. Infrastructure now is very good.

Could it be better? Of course. Are there things we would like to get? Of course. We spend a lot on upgrading our teaching labs. Doctoral student (numbers) have increased. We’ve gone

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and changed in the past decade? What do you attribute those changes to?

JONATHAN COHEN

By Eric Coker

from about 250 PhD students four years ago to more than 425 now. The increase in sponsored research has made that happen.

But those are all quantitative factors. Why Watson is succeeding isn’t because of one person or two people. It is the Watson team. I have amazing department chairs and associate deans and assistant deans. I have the pleasure and honor of working with them. The staff members are just wonderful. They are passionate about their work. Everybody cares. They are proud to be part of the Watson School. Watson is all of us working together. You can rely on the people of Watson to do the right thing — any time, all of the time.

Q: When you took over as dean, what did

you believe needed to happen for Watson to reach the next level?

A: What guides us is building on what we are

good at and identifying new areas that we need to be good at. Every year, we benchmark against the best in class. I have schools that we look at and say: How are they doing? How do we get as good as (other schools) in certain niche areas?

How do we do our best with what we have? That is what has guided us since 2010–11. If you think back to 2009–10, it was economically difficult for the nation, New York state and the campus. But by the time President (Harvey) Stenger came in, we were aligned with his vision: 20 by 2020 and graduate student growth.

The other important thing Watson did was to focus on diversity. We were the first to have our own chief diversity officer in April 2014. Diversity has become a part of our culture. It’s a work in progress. We are better off than where we were five or six years ago, but we’re not done yet. We can’t declare victory.

Q: Two other areas that you and Watson

are known for are university-industry partnerships and internationalization. How did they become priorities and successes over the past decade?

A: If you go back to 1981, 1982 and 1983, Watson came into being because of local industry lobbying and working with the government to get an engineering school here. Working with industry has become something else that is part of our culture. It could be working with a large company, a small company, a hospital, a BAE Systems, a

company in California or a company in Korea.

Our faculty have become good at that. It’s second nature. That is not common in academia — the mode of interaction that our faculty has. It is the ecosystem that is there — the learning that takes place when working with people around you.

We are very comfortable working with industry.

From an internationalization perspective, we understand that the student is our principal customer and product. If we think about students who start here in the fall of 2020 and graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 2024, they are going to be in mid-career in 2050. Go back 25 to 30 years from today and “ DEAN SRIHARI LEAVES A look how the world has remarkable legacy for Watson changed. It has become more international. and for the entire University.

Today, our Watson Under his watch, the school School students need to has become bigger, stronger be able to compete, work with and thrive with and more visible, and his work people from across the on behalf of the University world. There should be has significantly increased our no intellectual barriers nor cultural barriers international profile.” when they work with —Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger people from different geographies. When we focus on internationalization, it brings a microcosm of the world into Watson. We don’t have a monopoly on great ideas; we need to learn from others. Internationalization is part and parcel of what Watson does.

Q: How would you describe the Watson student?

A: There is no one “Watson student,” but I tend

to use some characteristics. They are academically excellent. They come into an environment that is academically challenging but very supportive.

Our job is not to lower the bar; our job is to help students cross the bar. Our student body is passionate and hard-working. Oftentimes they come from families that do not speak English at home. They often come from families that are economically challenged. But they have a grit and determination coupled with intellectual ability and an environment that helps each and every person do the best they can do. Watson students are able to succeed because of who they are, what they absorb here and what they are able to transform into. binghamton.edu/watson

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| DEAN SRIHARI LOOKS BACK |

Q: Let’s take that a step further and talk about what Watson alumni contribute and offer the school.

A: The alumni are perhaps one of our best assets. We often look at alumni as a source of donations, helping with scholarships, naming opportunities and monetary resources. But they also do other things. They help mentor our students; they help students get jobs and opportunities; they come back to the school and work with students. Our alumni are a strength.

They serve as adjunct faculty, give guest lectures and open doors for our students. All of that is important for us.

Q: It’s easy to grow to the point that you lose a “family atmosphere.” It doesn’t feel like Watson has lost that.

“ DEAN SRIHARI IS A VISIONARY who has successfully made his vision of the Watson School as a world-class engineering school into a stunning reality.

Every relevant metric clearly demonstrates his leadership, planning and managerial talents.”

—Gary Kunis ’73, LHD ’02, Kunis Foundation

A: That goes back to every individual in Watson caring. It also goes to transparency. I tell people: Each one of us is a stakeholder in Watson. If you question me about (a Watson investment), I cannot say, “It’s none of your business.” You are a stakeholder, and if I genuinely believe you are a stakeholder, I am going to answer you. I’m going to provide the reasoning and the logic.

Transparency is important.

When I started (as dean), I said we wanted three things: We want to be effective and efficient. We want to do the right thing. But above all, we want to be nice. We’ve never had one seniorstaff meeting in the last 11 years with a raised voice. Never. That is thanks to the Watson team and communication and openness at all levels. My philosophy has always been servant-based management. Our job is to help others succeed.

“ HIS FOCUS IS ALWAYS ON making significant improvements for the students, his staff and Binghamton University, and never on achieving personal accolades.”

— John Contrata, MS ’95, Lockheed Martin – Owego and Watson School Advisory Board member

“ OUTSTANDING LEADER, visionary, creative, determined and — most of all — caring of his team and organization.”

— Bob Wuestner, Collins Aerospace – Binghamton and Watson School Advisory Board member

Q: Have you thought about your

A: No. I expect to sprint to the finish. “Sprint” and me should not be used in the same sentence! This is figuratively speaking. I expect to work as hard as I can until the last hour of my last day. That is my job. Watson is going to have an excellent new dean. Madhu (Govindaraju) will take over as vice provost for international education and global affairs. I’ll hopefully get some time off and then come back to my home department. My involvement with Watson will not stop. It will just be in a different way.

Q: What do you hope your legacy as dean will be? What do you hope to be remembered for as dean?

A: I don’t matter. Watson matters. Binghamton matters. I’m here for a

short period of time in a long continuum. I’ve done the best I can for that short period of time, but Watson is the ongoing story. Binghamton is the ongoing story. It’s not Hari.

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“ HE MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE with his positive, inclusive attitude, bringing people together to do positive, creative things in all areas of the Watson School. Dean Hari has taken the school to even greater levels of accomplishments and enormous recognition worldwide.”

— Geraldine MacDonald ’68, MS ’73, LittD ’17, Executive advisor, Originate

JONATHAN COHEN

final days as dean? Is there any sentimentality?

Senior Standouts

Capstone projects put students’ skills to the test

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efore earning diplomas, many Watson undergraduates need to complete senior capstone projects offering real-world challenges.

Teams are four to six students each, often grouped across departments or sometimes even other schools depending on what skills are needed.

Here are interesting projects from each Watson department this academic year (except for computer science, which does not have a capstone requirement).

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: Faculty advisor Associate Professor

Roy McGrann; students Katherine Frey, Maurice Grossman, Mikayla Morgan, Audrey Nieuwenhuizen, Brian Walsh (all ME)

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very adrenaline-pumping second is critical in fighting a fire, and water-stopping hose kinks can cause firefighters to lose time when trying to save lives.

One ME design team created a fire hose that prevents kinks. The project came from Watson alumnus Darran Handshaw ’07, who is the assistant

fire chief for the Sound Beach Fire Department on Long Island. Handshaw proposed the idea to Roy McGrann, who was his professor while at Binghamton.

Mikayla Morgan, a team member who was a lieutenant at the West Endicott Fire Department, knows that kinks are challenging: “Most of the time, if there’s an active fire, you can’t see. You can’t

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| S E N I O R S TA N D O U T S |

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING: Faculty advisor Jack Maynard; students Kate Boyle, Kayla Hackett, Stephen West (electrical engineering), Chloe Carlson (environmental science), Aaron Spaulding (computer engineering)

always turn around. You only know if you have a kink if you get to the fire, open up the hose and no water is coming out.”

Katherine Frey says that hands-on experience with the Vestal Fire Department and West Endicott Fire Department was critical to figuring out in what conditions or angles a fire hose will kink: “They brought us to their training post and showed us physically what happens when a fire hose wraps around stairs.”

The group utilized the information to create multiple 3D prototypes. “Any and all ideas were on the table, even the ones that were improbable, just to see where we could go,” Audrey Nieuwenhuizen says.

After experimenting, the team came to a simple yet effective design. Kinks are prevented through a water-pressurized spiral that surrounds the main compartment of the fire hose and creates a rigid barrier when the hose bends.

It can be used with existing fire trucks, which Brian Walsh says was a major design constraint: “The fire hose needs to be rigid enough so that it prevents kinking, but also flexible enough that afterward you can put it back on the truck.”

Classes on 3D modeling, heat transfer and fluid dynamics helped to bring their design to life.

“It allowed me to see things from a different perspective,” Maurice Grossman says. —Michael Kuhl

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Studies, will be near the main pond. Graney envisions a trail adjacent to the pond, with electrical outlets along its walkways.

One requirement of the hydroelectric system is the capability to charge a MacBook Pro for up to 12 hours. Ideally, future students can work for long periods outside without having to find an indoor electrical outlet.

Kate Boyle says: “Nuthatch Hollow is meant to be an educational facility, teaching about environmental sustainability, and this is a little example about what hydropower would be.”

Advisor Jack Maynard believes the project and others like it have serious implications: “You can’t achieve total reusability across the world’s population.

But if you’ve seen a little bit of it, it is always on your mind to say, regardless of whatever project you are working on, ‘How can we make it a little more renewable? A little more sustainable?’”

—Kyle Polidore

Left to right: Aaron Spaulding, Kate Boyle, Stephen West, Kayla Hackett and faculty advisor Jack Maynard. Not pictured: Chloe Carlson.

JONATHAN COHEN

Vestal Fire Department Captain Chuck Paffie with (left to right) students Katherine Frey, Brian Walsh, Audrey Nieuwenhuizen and Mikayla Morgan. Not pictured: Maurice Grossman.

S

ome senior projects are more permanent than others. All are showcased at the end of each academic year, but some ideas are recycled in future years.

This ECE project, however, will serve an educational function in a distinctive location.

Stephen West and his teammates designed and implemented a hydroelectric storage and monitoring system at Nuthatch Hollow, a once-private summer home turned bird sanctuary that has become a resource for the University. Soon, Nuthatch Hollow will have the 13th completed Living Building in the world, a performance standard indicating it produces more energy and clean water than it uses, and that it disposes of more waste than it generates.

Chloe Carlson says: “None of the other Living Building projects have a turbine like the one we’re designing. Our work is part of the bigger picture, and it’s definitely something to be proud of.”

The hydropower system, under the supervision of Professor Joseph Graney from Harpur College’s Department of Geological Sciences and Environmental

SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING:

Faculty advisor James Henenlotter; students Megan Coles, Lynn Edwards, Stephanie Ragusa, Rachel Russo, Yingyu Chen (all SSIE)

PROVIDED

W

hile choosing their senior project, a quintet of industrial engineering students sought an assignment that would positively affect a community.

Rather than work with professors on campus or in a corporate manufacturing environment, they collaborated with Susquehanna Interfaith (SI) in Montrose, Pa. In addition to running a thrift store, the nonprofit manages aid programs, including flood relief and a back-to-school shoe program.

“They have programs for victims of domestic violence,” Lynn Edwards says.

“These women can pick out clothing and start fresh. Susquehanna Interfaith gives back without making people pay.”

SI is preparing for its second change of location. Cindy Beeman, SI’s executive director, explains that the move into its current facility accommodated individuals with disabilities, while the finances behind the next move will mean more money to help others.

“Susquehanna Interfaith is a very important part of the local community,” advisor James Henenlotter says. “This project allowed the students to ‘give back’ while also developing some realworld project management skills.”

The team designed a system for SI’s new facility that cuts costs, increases efficiency and minimizes downtime, Stephanie Ragusa says: “When they moved into their current facility two years ago, they had to close for a month.

They weren’t accepting any donations

for a month, and I don’t think Cindy wants that again.”

Designing the system meant understanding SI’s needs, so the team spent time at the current facility.

“We volunteered to see how the volunteers are used to everything flowing in,” Edwards says. “When they move to the new facility, with our design, it won’t be a complete shock.”

Beeman speaks glowingly of the work from the SSIE team. She notes their

Above left, left to right: Yingyu Chen, Megan Coles, Lynn Edwards, Rachel Russo, Stephanie Ragusa. Above: Lynn Edwards at the Susquehanna County Interfaith Thrift Store.

unique perspectives as both engineers and young consumers: “I’m really excited that they had the chance to come in and work with us. I’m hoping to increase our partnership with Binghamton University as much as possible.” —Kyle Polidore binghamton.edu/watson

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GERMAN

| S E N I O R S TA N D O U T S |

WATSON REVIEW

MAHLER

compression sleeve to generate heating and cooling. They also included an electrical nerve stimulation unit.

To ensure full recovery, doctors recommend that patients with torn ACLs undergo electrical stimulation therapy three times a day, five days a week.

“Not everyone has the time or resources to go to physical therapy so frequently, so having a brace that both stabilizes your knee and maintains specific treatment would greatly expedite the initial healing process,” Nicole Tacopina says. “It’s not a replacement for PT, but it gives you opportunities to heal yourself on your own time.”

The brace allows patients to blend rehab therapy with other activities, Brandon Pike says: “On top of the time spent, PT can cost thousands of dollars if you’re going several times a week without insurance.” —Sean Morton

BURT MYERS

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Left to right: Donovan Ortiz, Nicole Tacopina, Amy Biggs, Brandon Pike.

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or athletes, a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee can be a careerdwindling nightmare with a long, demanding recovery that can take up to a year. Athletes are eager to get back in the game, and they often rush through the grueling rehabilitation process — but that can set them back further.

This BME team designed the ECHO (Electrical Cooling Heating Orthotic) brace, which aids and accelerates rehabilitation following surgery, reducing the risk of athletes re-tearing their ACLs. It has an internal neoprene compression sleeve where the innovation takes place, because it includes electrical stimulation as well as heating and cooling.

“Rehabilitation is the most crucial time for athletes if they want to get back into the sport,” Donovan Ortiz says. “We combined all the main elements of rehabilitation and put that into a knee brace.”

After a few prototypes, the team decided on Peltier modules as semiconductor-based pumps sewn into the

KOH

PROVIDED

JIN

HOOKWAY

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING: Faculty advisor Associate Professor Guy German; students Amy Biggs, Donovan Ortiz, Nicole Tacopina (biomedical engineering), Brandon Pike (mechanical engineering)

FREEPIK.COM

Biomedical’s big year Grants fund research on skin, heart cells, cancer and more

The Watson School’s Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) has earned nearly $4 million in grants from 2018–20 (as of March 2020). Associate Professor Sha Jin alone received three grants totaling $1.2 million for her diabetes research. Funding agencies include the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

GUY GERMAN

TRACY HOOKWAY

SHA JIN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

RESEARCH TOPIC: HUMAN SKIN

RESEARCH TOPIC: HEART CELLS

RESEARCH TOPIC: DIABETES

THE GOAL: Understanding how different factors can cause the mechanical properties of our skin to change.

THE GOAL: Turning stem cells into functioning cardiac cells.

THE GOAL: Generating pancreatic tissue from stem cells.

The human body has many barriers, and skin is arguably the most important, protecting us from the external environment.

When skin becomes broken or ruptured, that barrier is lost. It can be caused by surgical incisions, penetrating trauma, diseases that cause lesions and chapping from cold environments. German explores how bacteria can degrade integrity; the effects of chronological- and photo-aging; and how to create bio-inspired materials that control crack propagation and the movement of fluids on their surfaces.

The human heart does not have the ability to repair itself after heart attacks or similar cardiac events. By merging the fields of stem-cell biology, tissue engineering and cardiovascular physiology, Hookway is trying to make models of cardiovascular tissue in a Petri dish that are more similar to what is in our bodies. One challenge is that the heart is not one cell type; in fact, it is multiple types of cells working together to achieve function.

One experimental treatment for diabetes — currently in clinical trials through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — is islet transplantation, but there are fewer donors than needed. Human-induced pluripotent stem cells — cells that can self-renew by dividing — could offer a renewable source for islets, but they remain a challenge because of limited knowledge about how islets form. Jin’s lab has been working to direct stem cells to differentiate and mature into pancreatic islet organoids using a variety of approaches; when successful, these islets would be transplanted into humans.

AHYEON KOH

GRETCHEN MAHLER

KAIMING YE

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

PROFESSOR AND DEPARTMENT CHAIR

RESEARCH TOPIC: HUMAN SWEAT

RESEARCH TOPIC: ORGAN-ON-A-CHIP

RESEARCH TOPIC: CANCER VACCINE

THE GOAL: Utilizing sweat to generate electricity for flexible biosensors and to monitor stress levels.

THE GOAL: Creating 3D microfluidic cellculture chips that simulate the mechanics and physiological response of organs and tissues.

THE GOAL: Developing a vaccine that will slow or halt the growth of future tumors.

Koh’s research aims to give us real-time information about how our bodies are functioning, such as for glucose monitoring, wound care and post-surgery cardiac health. She is currently working with other Binghamton professors on two microfluidic systems that can collect and use the sweat that our body produces.

One of them will have sweat-eating bacteria that will power biosensors, and the other will monitor stress levels by measuring the amounts of the steroid hormone cortisol that are secreted.

Mahler’s current research — which has applications for cardiovascular disease and cancer — focuses on how disruptions in a tissue’s mechanical or chemical environment can lead to disease initiation and progression. She currently is working with three other professors — two from Watson, one from Harpur College of Arts and Sciences — on a National Science Foundation-funded study of calcific aortic valve disease, and she also is interested in how food additives alter gastrointestinal health.

Ye’s research is targeting the protein CD47, which is part of the membrane that covers human cells. It also sends a “don’t eat me” signal to a body’s immune system — normally a good thing, but a problem when cells become cancerous.

In a 2019 study using mice treated with their experimental vaccine, Ye and his co-investigators found a two-fold reduction in tumor growth rates and five-fold reduction in size in the tumors that did form.

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| STUDENT PROFILE |

NEW SCHOLARSHIP

By Kyle Polidore

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riti Prabhakar Wakodikar knew she wanted to pursue a career in computer science ever since she was in high school. Growing up in India, she excelled in computer science courses during her 11th and 12th standard years.

“From a young age,” she says, “I was interested in learning computer science, from how people are conducting projects to the technical terminology of changes they plan to implement with the use of computers.

“People using computers to make life easy — that is what attracted me toward computer science.”

Wakodikar’s efforts in computer science have not gone unnoticed. For the 2019–20 academic year, which was her first at the Watson School, she was the first recipient of the Chandra Family Scholarship. It was established by Subhachandra Chandra,

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MS ’95, and his wife, Nandita Dukkipati, for first-year international graduate students studying computer science, with priority given to female students.

Chandra cites his personal experience in the tech industry, specifically the lack of diversity, as the inspiration for his scholarship: “I have worked in Silicon Valley for about 20 years, and everyone agrees that diversity is important for success. Yet we are still struggling to make that a reality in science and technology, especially in computer science.

“My hope is that by supporting international and female students, we help increase diversity in our chosen field.”

Wakodikar says that scholarships like the one from Chandra and Dukkipati are critical for making higher education accessible to women who otherwise would have significant financial constraints.

These opportunities, she adds, inspire female students to pursue degrees in fields where they are underrepresented: “I’m lucky to have that scholarship right now.”

Although she is a first-year student in Binghamton’s computer science graduate program, Wakodikar has years of experience in the field. In 2014, she received her first master’s degree in computer science, with a focus in cybersecurity, from Nagpur University in India. Additionally, she has six years of teaching experience as an assistant professor at MIT World Peace University in Pune, India.

“I came here to improve my knowledge because technology is changing rapidly,” she says, “and I have to keep up.”

Wakodikar’s interest in cybersecurity stems from a personal incident: Her account on the now-defunct social media site Orkut was hacked, and that invasion of privacy made her want to dig deeper into the problem.

“I became interested in how and why people hack systems,” she says.

She credits her parents for supporting her pursuit in the computer science field. They were interested in pursuing higher education in science, but financial constraints prevented them. Both of them have encouraged Wakodikar and her sister to pursue any field that they are passionate about.

“We are free birds, and our parents tell us to go wherever we want,” Wakodikar says.

Her parents are proud that she was awarded the Chandra Family Scholarship: “They were very happy. They said that such scholarships motivate every child to pursue education.”

JONATHAN COHEN

AIDS COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDIES

| ALUMNA PROFILE |

Putting the customer first

SSIE grad finds success at Cisco

“ Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. So dream big.”

—Gopalakrishnan

in, so Binghamton seemed like a place that had that opportunity.

Q: Why engineering?

A: My parents had expected me to

become either a doctor or an engineer, so that’s where it started. But then over the years, I realized that I really liked engineering, especially in terms of the level of structure and clarity it provides.

Q: Is there a Binghamton

experience that has stuck with you?

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avanya Gopalakrishnan, MS ’98, is a senior director of customer experience at Cisco. She earned her industrial engineering degree from the Watson School, and reflects on how Binghamton University has helped shape her career.

Question: How did you decide on Binghamton University?

Answer: I grew up in West Africa and

then moved to India for high school and my undergrad. During my undergrad, I realized that I needed to focus on what I would do next. I knew students who had gone to Binghamton and talked to them about the program. They seemed to have a clear focus in terms of how they could find jobs in their fields of study. It wasn’t easy finding a role connected to the field you were studying

Q: What is the most common

misconception about customers?

A: People underestimate the fact that

with Don Gause, and I was told it was a tough class that nobody ever got an A in. But I had this drive of, “I have to be able to do this.” Getting an A in that class is one of the biggest things I remember about Binghamton. I think, ultimately, what I learned through that is nothing’s too difficult if you can put in the effort to go get it done. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t know it before. Everybody else didn’t know it before, either.

you are there because of the customer.

If you didn’t have those customers, then you would not exist. Whether you are a big company, a school or a mom-and-pop shop, you are there to provide an experience for customers. If it is not good, then they are going to find a different way to go get the experience that they want.

People think of customer experience as an organization, or a person or a particular, one-time slogan, but it is the most relevant focus for every single person in a company every single day.

Q: Have you carried this mindset of

Q: If you were teaching a class at

A: Absolutely. My approach to every

A: Anything is possible if you set your

A: I did a modeling and simulation class

By Allen Wengert

always thinking about what it takes to make work fun for others.

I also want my teams to realize that my focus is getting it done as a team, not as individuals succeeding. There is no one person who is smart enough to know it all. We have to trust each other in order to work together.

“nothing is too difficult” with you throughout your career?

problem is “nobody was born knowing this, but I have to learn it at some point, and this is my moment.” I don’t anticipate that I’m the best at it, but I know that I will learn enough to be able to provide value.

When I tell my teams, “This is not rocket science,” I never mean to take away from the complexity of the work.

What I’m telling them is, “I believe that you’re smart enough, and you’re sharp enough to be able to get it done.”

Q: What is the key to managing a successful team?

A: I believe that we all spend so much

time at work. Life is too short to be doing something that you don’t have fun doing. Work has to be fun, and so I’m

Binghamton, what would your main takeaway for students be?

mind to it. So dream big.

Q: What or who inspires you?

A: On a personal level, it’s my grand-

mother. She was a strong woman who paved the way for the next generation of women in my family, and then for me to get the education and exposure to get me to where I’m at today. It’s only because she was as strong as she was, in that society and that setting.

On a professional level, I personally believe that I learn from not only the leaders I work with, but the team members that I work with as well. I look at each person and think, “What can I learn from that person?” That is what motivates me every single day.

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| N E W FA C U LT Y |

Meet Jeremy Blackburn ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, COMPUTER SCIENCE From there, I started exploring toxicity in competitive video games, League of Legends in particular. Video games are an entirely virtual phenomenon, and their competitive nature gives rise to a lot of less-than-desirable behaviors.

Recently, as society has become increasingly online, we are seeing a lot of similar behaviors on social media in general.

Q: What games do you still play?

A: I’m a tenure-track assistant

professor and a father of three young girls, which essentially has limited my time to mobile games, some Switch stuff here and there, and watching (but not playing) a lot of esports.

“ The students are insanely smart.”

—Blackburn

Question: How did you first get interested in computer science?

Answer:

I played a lot of video games.

The first program I ever wrote was a game, and I learned to program in C++ by attempting to make a MUD (multi-user dungeon, an online text game). I may or may not have done more nefarious things, but I decline to comment further.

Q: What projects are you currently

Brick campaign to help build Watson’s future The Engineering Building is getting a whole new look, and you can be part of it!

We are offering our alumni and friends the opportunity to purchase a personalized granite brick or tile that will be placed at the Engineering Building’s main entrance. Your donation will provide vital funds to support students, faculty and research.

A 10-by-10-inch white brick (to be placed outside) requires a $1,500 donation, while a 12-by-12inch black tile (to be placed inside) is $2,000. If you are interested or have questions, call Alan Greene ’88 at 607-777-6237 or email agreene@binghamton.edu.

working on?

A: My group is currently working at the frontier of what we call weaponized information. More specifically, we are trying to measure, analyze and model various ways in which people use the internet to be jerks. This includes things like fake news, memes, racism and hate speech, online extremism and so on.

Q: What is your favorite part of Binghamton University so far?

A: The students are insanely smart.

Q: What led you to studying

aggression and cyberbullying on social media?

A: I played a lot of video games!

My PhD research at University of South Florida was about bad behavior in video games. For example, I made use of the Steam Community online social network of gamers to model cheating as a disease. The large-scale, empirical data that the digital world provides were able to help confirm some socio-psychological theories that had only been tested through controlled lab experiments.

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Jian Li

Tianqi Gao Smith

Ying Wang

Wenfeng Zhao

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING PhD: Texas A&M University

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING PhD: University of California at Davis

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING PhD: Auburn University

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING PhD: National University of Singapore

| NEWS BRIEFS |

SUNY names Ghose a distinguished professor

K

anad Ghose, a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science for more than 30 years, was named a distinguished professor by the State University of New York — the highest faculty rank that SUNY awards.

Ghose has been hailed as an academician and a thought leader in key technology areas, including energy-aware computing and architectures, systems security and sensors for monitoring human biometric parameters. He holds 25 patents and has established startup companies for energy-efficient computing.

He co-founded Binghamton’s Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems, a National Science Foundation Industry/ University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC).

Ghose

Govindaraju

Ye

Khasawneh

Murray

Zhang

CS professor named vice provost

Three professors honored as fellows

Murray named chair of Mechanical Engineering

Madhusudhan “Madhu” Govindaraju, professor, associate chair and graduate director for the Department of Computer Science, has been appointed vice provost for international education and global affairs. Govindaraju will replace Watson School Dean Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari, who has held the position as executive vice provost since June 2015.

Kaiming Ye, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was named a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, and was voted the chair of the BMES’s Council of Chairs.

A familiar face has become chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the 2019–20 academic year.

In his new role, Govindaraju will oversee recruitment efforts, as well as provide guidance and oversight to the International Student and Scholar Services Office (ISSS), education-abroad and student-exchange initiatives.

Mohammad Khasawneh, professor and chair of the Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, has been named a fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.

Zhongfei “Mark” Zhang, a computer science professor, has been named an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers fellow.

Professor Bruce Murray, who has been at Binghamton since 1997, took over from Distinguished Professor Ron Miles.

Before joining Binghamton University, Murray served as research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., where he worked in the area of computational materials science. He also held a faculty position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Lehigh University. binghamton.edu/watson

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Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID Binghamton, NY Permit No. 61 Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science PO Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000

JO NATH AN

National Engineers Week (Feb. 16–22) featured an Alumni and Friends Reception and the most successful Community Day to date. More than 600 parents and children learned about STEM through activities such as the Oobleck Pool, hosted by Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Alpha Omega Epsilon. Here, SHPE members Sara Figueroa, center, and Ashley Hall, right, show young visitors how cornstarch and water combine to create a substance that’s neither liquid nor solid.

CO HE N

E-Week’s Community Day welcomes families to Watson

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