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Riley receives Black Heritage Award for ‘dedicated service to Northeastern’
“Civil and environmental engineering lecturer and operations manager Rozanna Riley was selected to receive the Black Heritage Award, which is given to those Northeastern staff and administrators in recognition of their dedicated service to Northeastern, to the students, and/or to the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute.”
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Hajjar receives $3.1 million grant for carbon-neutral construction research
“In a new $3.1 million grant from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), Northeastern department of civil and environmental engineering chair and CDM Smith Professor Jerome Hajjar will lead a multi-institution team of researchers developing a new carbon sequestration technique using cross-laminated timber composite floor systems in bolted steel construction for building structures. The new structural method aims to decrease the use of steel while increasing the use of carbon-storing timber and design for deconstruction methods.”
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Byron Wallace named Sy and Laurie Sternberg Interdisciplinary Associate Professor for work on machine learning
“Professor Byron Wallace ‘has been awarded Northeastern’s Sy and Laurie Sternberg Interdisciplinary Associate Professorship for his work’ on applying machine learning and natural language processing to healthcare.” In an interview, Wallace gave one example of these applications: “the evolution of NLP systems [means they] can now spit out very plausible text, which medical practitioners can use to synthesize medical evidence and make better decisions for patient treatment.”
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DeSteno podcast ‘How God Works’ is Ambie finalist
Professor of psychology David DeSteno’s podcast “How God Works” was a finalist for “Best Personal Growth/Spirituality Podcast” in the Ambies, the top awards show in the podcast industry. “How God Works” interrogates why, despite the fact that “religion and science often seem at odds, there’s one thing they can agree on: people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives.” The Ambies award show took place on March 7.
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Northeastern professors win 2023 Acorn Innovation Awards, helping bring research to market
“Electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Sarah Ostadabbas, professor Deniz Erdogmus and mechanical and industrial engineering associate professor Yi Zheng received MassVentures Acorn Innovation Awards to assist them in testing the viability of their technologies and potentially bringing their research to market.”
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Sharifkhani receives Riesman Professorship to study ‘macroeconomic risks’ on local labor markets
Assistant professor of finance Ali Sharifkhani has received the Riesman Professorship in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Sharifkhani will use the professorship to “study the effects of a firm’s local labor market on its exposure to macroeconomic risks and the expected return on its equity.”
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Liu receives Walsh Professorship to study ‘diversity faultlines’ in business leadership
Associate professor of accounting Kelvin Liu has received the Walsh Professorship from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. He will use the professorship to “study the effect of diversity faultlines among senior executives on internal governance and corporate destabilization,” the school of business wrote.
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Saksono and Hoffman win Google Health Equity Research Initiative award
Assistant professor of health sciences Herman Saksono and professor of applied psychology Jessica Hoffman have won a Google Health Equity Research Initiative award. Their proposal, “Augmenting fitness tracking data with community storytelling to advance the impact of wearables in promoting health equity,” hopes to interrogate “how to amplify social support in marginalized communities by augmenting fitness data with first-person storytelling,” they wrote. They plan to leverage fitness tracking devices to “facilitate social support within marginalized communities.” Crucially, this study is a product of a close community partnership with the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, which was established in 2017.
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Ocean Genome Legacy Center partners with 1% for the Planet
Northeastern’s Ocean Genome Legacy Center has become an Environmental Partner with 1% for the Planet, which brings together companies and individuals to support environmental nonprofits.
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SMART Center receives $4 million DARPA grant for thermal imaging program
The SMART Center at Northeastern University, whose mission statement “aims to conceive and pilot disruptive technological innovation in smart devices and systems,” has received a $4 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), under their Optomechanical Thermal Imaging program. The SMART Center proposed the development of “Nano-opto-mechanical Piezoelectric Resonant Infrared-sensitive Metamaterials for Quantum-Limited Photodetection,” which would work to develop an exceptionally small detector of infrared light.
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Lehman elected President of IEEE Power Electronics Society
Professor of electrical and computer engineering Bradley Lehman has been elected president of the IEEE Power Electronics Society. The Power Electronics Society studies “technology [that] encompasses the effective use of electronic components, the application of circuit theory and design techniques, and the development of analytical tools for efficient conversion, control, and condition of electric power,” they write on their website.
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Fu named ACM Fellow for contributions to computer security
“Professor Kevin Fu was named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery for contributions to computer security, and especially to the secure engineering of medical devices.”
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Spring 2023 Spark Fund awardees announced for Northeastern innovators
Professors Ryan Koppes, Yaning Li, Diomedes Logothetis, Carolyn Lee-Parsons, Edmund Yeh and Ke Zhang have all received Spark Funds from the Center for Research Innovation for Spring 2023. “The Spark Fund supports commercially valuable inventions (from any field) from university researchers in earlier stages of development. The goal of the award is to advance a technology or suite of technologies from academia towards commercialization.”
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Li receives NSF CAREER Grant for pathogen work
“Assistant professor Jiahe Li was awarded a $636,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award for a project titled ‘Understanding and Harnessing Host-derived Small RNAs Against Opportunistic Pathogens.’”
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Patent for a ‘Zero Power Plasmonic Microelectromechanical Device’
“Professor Matteo Rinaldi and research assistant professor Zhenyun Qian were awarded a patent for designing a ‘Zero Power Plasmonic Microelectromechanical Device.’ According to the abstract, the ‘device is capable of specifically sensing electromagnetic radiation and performing signal processing operations. … The devices can continuously monitor an environment and wake up an electronic circuit upon detection of a specific trigger signature of electromagnetic radiation.'”
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Jaeger-Helton selected as Panel Fellow for NSF CMMI Game Changer Academies
“Teaching Professor Beverly Kris Jaeger-Helton was selected as a panel fellow for the 2023 National Science Foundation (NSF) CMMI Game Changer Academies for Advancing Research Innovation Program. The NSF Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) created the Game Changer Academies for Advancing Research Innovation to improve group dynamics during panel discussions, increase awareness of bias and identity, and enhance understanding of high-risk, high-reward ideas. Once trained, ‘Panel Fellows’ will bring enhanced skills and awareness when they participate in panel discussions during NSF merit review.”
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Zheng receives Early Career Researcher Award from ASTFE
“Associate Professor Yi Zheng was awarded the inaugural American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers (ASTFE) Early Career Researcher Award for his significant contributions to the field of Thermal and Fluids Engineering.”
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Top 10 in Annals of Internal Medicine: Miller featured with two papers
Matthew Miller, professor of health sciences and epidemiology, was featured in the Annals of Internal Medicine’s “Best of 2022” list with two articles on firearms research, “Homicide Deaths Among Adult Cohabitants of Handgun Owners in California, 2004 to 2016” and the “Firearm Purchasing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results From the 2021 National Firearms Survey.” Find his papers with their full list of authors, and the full best-of list, at Annals of Internal Medicine.
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Detwiler recognized among Food Safety Set: ‘The people who have shaped’ food safety
Professor Darin Detwiler, who also serves as Assistant Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs for the College of Professional Studies, was recently recognized in Quality Assurance Magazine as a member of The Food Safety Set, one of twenty-one individuals who have had a pronounced impact on the development of food safety practices in the past 30 years, since the 1992 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. Detwiler was featured on the cover of the January-February 2023 issue, among other notables. Find the full Food Safety Set at Quality Assurance Magazine.
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Rouhanifard receives CMBE Rising Star Award for bioengineering work
“Assistant Professor Sara Rouhanifard was selected to receive a 2023 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Rising Star Award for her outstanding impact on the field of cellular and molecular bioengineering.”
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Oakes receives ASME 2023 Y.C. Fung Early Career Award for work on respiratory mechanics
“Assistant Professor Jessica Oakes was selected as the 2023 Y.C. Fung Early Career Award Medalist for outstanding work in respiratory mechanics that has significantly advanced the understanding of asthma, smoking and inhalable drug delivery, and for strong advocacy in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.”
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Restuccia receives Young Investigator Award for work increasing the performance of wireless systems
“Francesco Restuccia, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and member of Northeastern’s Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things and the Roux Institute received, in December of 2022, an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award to examine the algorithmic foundations and theoretical performance bounds of the dynamic, data-driven wireless systems of the future.”
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Levendis made associate fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
“Yiannis Levendis, Distinguished Professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, was selected as a member of the Class of 2023 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Associate Fellows for his technical contributions to fuel combustion physics, chemistry, and diagnostics, and for educating engineering students in the fields of gas turbine combustion and air pollution.”
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Wireless internet of things research leads to first prize at IEEE Advanced Air Mobility challenge
“A team of researchers with the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT) consisting of computer engineering students Matteo Bordin, PhD’26, and Pietro Brach Del Prever, PhD’27, and led by electrical and computer engineering research assistant professor Salvatore D’Oro, won first prize at the IEEE Advanced Air Mobility – Concepts Innovation Challenge, a challenge to engage undergraduate and graduate students across the world in developing novel concepts in unmanned air transportation.”
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The door doesn’t close on learning: Dean Hazel Sive receives honorary doctorate
Dean of the College of Science and professor of biology Hazel Sive was awarded an honorary doctorate of engineering from her alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand (lovingly known as “Wits”) earlier this month, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sive began her scientific career at Wits when a professor, Robin Crewe, gave her a unique assignment.
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Vincent Harris elected as NAI Fellow for ‘facilitating outstanding inventions’
“Vincent Harris, University Distinguished and William Lincoln Smith Professor, electrical and computer engineering, has been named a 2022 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Harris was chosen for selection for ‘having demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.'”