Dr. Sambit Bhattacharya

Dr. Sambit Bhattacharya

   Professor of Computer Science

   Director of the Intelligent Systems Lab

   Office: Science & Technology 214

   Phone: (910) 672-1156

   Email: sbhattac@uncfsu.edu

   Intelligent Systems Lab Homepage


BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Sambit Bhattacharya is a Computer Scientist with more than 15 years of experience in teaching and research. He has a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a tenured Full Professor in Computer Science at Fayetteville State University, North Carolina, USA.


In 2023 he was honored by the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Bhattacharya is experienced in developing and executing innovative and use-inspired research in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML) with a broad range of techniques and applications, and with multidisciplinary teams. He has more than 60 peer reviewed publications and has delivered 50+ oral presentations, including keynote lectures at conferences. Dr. Bhattacharya works on research in the applications of AIML to geospatial intelligence, computer vision with synthetic data for target recognition, efficiency and latency reducing inferencing for edge computing, robotics and manufacturing.


Dr. Bhattacharya leads projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense (DoD), including support for research aligned with interests of the US Intelligence Community (IC), NASA, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and the University of North Carolina Research Opportunities Initiative. He directs the Intelligent Systems Lab (ISL) at Fayetteville State University which hosts research and houses resources like robotics equipment, and high-performance computing for AIML research. The ISL supports faculty advisors and students, and collaborations with external partners. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).


Beginning in 2014 and while on teaching leave from the university, Dr. Bhattacharya served as faculty research fellow in the following research labs of the DoD and the IC: Naval Research Lab (DC), Army Research Lab (Adelphi, MD), and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). He was Faculty in Residence at Google’s Global HQ in Mountain View, CA in 2017 and he collaborates with industry through grant funded partnerships and consulting opportunities.

HONORS AND AWARDS

Excellence in Teaching Award from The University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors, 2023.

The award winners represent all 16 of North Carolina’s public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Recipients are nominated by special committees at each institution and selected by the Board of Governors Committee on Educational Planning, Policies, and Programs.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

• Use-inspired Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning / Deep Learning in

◦ Advanced Manufacturing
◦ Robotics
◦ Computer Vision
◦ Geospatial Analysis
◦ Language Understanding
◦ Physics-based Learning

• Bioimage Informatics
• Computer Science Education

TEACHING INTERESTS:

• Introductory to advanced level programming. Languages used or currently in use: Python, Java, C/C++, MATLAB, assembly languages (MIPS, ARM)
• Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Vision & Image Processing
• Operating Systems
• Computer Organization and Architecture
• Databases, Data Mining for Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

REFEREED RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS:

Book chapters:

1.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Daniel Okunbor, Chekad Sarami, Perry Gillespie and Radoslav Nickolov. Culturally Responsive Strategies for Reforming STEM Higher Education: Turning the TIDES on Inequity. “Strengthening Computer and Mathematical Sciences Engagement and Learning”, pp. 249-258. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-78743-406-6.
2.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Bogdan Czejdo, Shubo Han, and Mohammad Siddique. "Behavior based approach for robot navigation and chemical anomaly tracking." In Intelligent Robotics and Applications, pp. 317-327. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011.
3.  Czejdo, Bogdan, Sambit Bhattacharya, and Mikolaj Baszun. "Use of Multi-Level State Diagrams for Robot Cooperation in an Indoor Environment." In Digital Information Processing and Communications, pp. 411-425. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011.
4.  What the robot sees, what the human feels: Robotic face detection and the human emotional response. Studies in brain, face, and emotion.
Montoya, Daniel; Baker-Oglesbee, Alissa; Bhattacharya, Sambit Emotional expression: The brain and the face (Vol 3).Studies in brain, face, and emotion.(pp. 43-71)Porto, Portugal: Edições Universidade Fernando Pessoa Freitas-Magalhães , A. (Ed), (2011). xxv, 265 pp.

Journal articles:

1.  Bhattacharya, S., Czejdo, B. (2023). Trustworthiness of Artificial Intelligence: Teaching Factors that Influence AI-supported Decision Making. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 38.6 (2023): 85-94.
2.  Greis, N. P., Nogueira, M. L., Bhattacharya, S., Spooner, C., & Schmitz, T. (2022). Stability modeling for chatter avoidance in self-aware machining: an application of physics-guided machine learning. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, 1-27.
3.  Czejdo, C., & Bhattacharya, S. (2022). Increasing Accessibility of Language Models with Multi-stage Information Extraction. Journal of Advances in Information Technology Vol, 13(2).
4.  Bhattacharya, S., Czejdo, B., & Milanov, V. (2021). Infusion of machine learning concepts and skills: a workshop review. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 36(6), 55-65.
5.  Pliss, Artem, Andrew J. Fritz, Branislav Stojkovic, Hu Ding, Lopamudra Mukherjee, Sambit Bhattacharya, Jinhui Xu, and Ronald Berezney. "Non‐Random Patterns in the Distribution of NOR‐Bearing Chromosome Territories in Human Fibroblasts: A Network Model of Interactions." Journal of cellular physiology 230, no. 2 (2015): 427-439.
6.  Fritz, Andrew J., Branislav Stojkovic, Hu Ding, Jinhui Xu, Sambit Bhattacharya, Daniel Gaile, and Ronald Berezney. "Wide-scale alterations in interchromosomal organization in breast cancer cells: defining a network of interacting chromosomes." Human molecular genetics 23, no. 19 (2014): 5133-5146.
7.  Fritz, Andrew J., Branislav Stojkovic, Hu Ding, Jinhui Xu, Sambit Bhattacharya, and Ronald Berezney. "Cell type specific alterations in interchromosomal networks across the cell cycle." PLoS Comput Biol 10, no. 10 (2014): e1003857.
8.  Pliss, Artem, Kishore S. Malyavantham, Sambit Bhattacharya, and Ronald Berezney. "Chromatin dynamics in living cells: identification of oscillatory motion." Journal of cellular physiology 228, no. 3 (2013): 609-616.
9.  Flowers, Lawrence O., Erin N. White, James E. Raynor, and Sambit Bhattacharya. "African American students’ participation in online distance education in STEM disciplines." SAGE Open 2, no. 2 (2012): 2158244012443544.
10.  Czejdo, Bogdan, Sambit Bhattacharya, and Erik Ferragut. "Query Processing for Probabilistic State Diagrams Describing Multiple Robot Navigation in an Indoor Environment." International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) 1, no. 2 (2011): 516-535.
11.  Malyavantham, Kishore S., Sambit Bhattacharya, and Ronald Berezney. "The architecture of functional neighborhoods within the mammalian cell nucleus." Advances in enzyme regulation 50, no. 1 (2010): 126-134.
12.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, and Bogdan Denny Czejdo. "A state diagram creation and code generation tool for robot programming." Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges 25, no. 3 (2010): 120-127.
13.  Zeitz, Michael J., Lopamudra Mukherjee, Sambit Bhattacharya, Jinhui Xu, and Ronald Berezney. "A probabilistic model for the arrangement of a subset of human chromosome territories in WI38 human fibroblasts." Journal of cellular physiology 221, no. 1 (2009): 120-129.
14.  Marella, Narasimharao V., Sambit Bhattacharya, Lopamudra Mukherjee, Jinhui Xu, and Ronald Berezney. "Cell type specific chromosome territory organization in the interphase nucleus of normal and cancer cells." Journal of cellular physiology 221, no. 1 (2009): 130-138.
15.  Czejdo, Bogdan Denny, and Sambit Bhattacharya. "Programming robots with state diagrams." Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges 24, no. 5 (2009): 19-26.
16.  Pliss, Artem, Kishore Malyavantham, Sambit Bhattacharya, Michael Zeitz, and Ronald Berezney. "Chromatin dynamics is correlated with replication timing." Chromosoma 118, no. 4 (2009): 459-470.
17.  Malyavantham, Kishore S., Sambit Bhattacharya, Marcos Barbeitos, Lopamudra Mukherjee, Jinhui Xu, Frank O. Fackelmayer, and Ronald Berezney. "Identifying functional neighborhoods within the cell nucleus: Proximity analysis of early S‐phase replicating chromatin domains to sites of transcription, RNA polymerase II, HP1γ, matrin 3 and SAF‐A." Journal of cellular biochemistry 105, no. 2 (2008): 391-403.
18.  Malyavantham, Kishore S., Sambit Bhattacharya, William D. Alonso, Raj Acharya, and Ronald Berezney. "Spatio-temporal dynamics of replication and transcription sites in the mammalian cell nucleus." Chromosoma 117, no. 6 (2008): 553-567.
19.  Berezney, Ronald, Kishore S. Malyavantham, Artem Pliss, Sambit Bhattacharya, and Raj Acharya. "Spatio-temporal dynamics of genomic organization and function in the mammalian cell nucleus." Advances in enzyme regulation 45, no. 1 (2005): 17-26.

Conference Proceedings

20.  Bhattacharya, S., Spooner, C., & Wemlinger, E. (2023, April). Vision Guided Drone Flight for Entering Confined Spaces for Inspection. In 2023 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
21.  Vincent, G., Kimble, R., Bhattacharya, S. & Blanton, B. (2022, March). Hybrid Machine Learning Models for Storm Surge Prediction. In the 1st Annual AAAI Workshop on AI to Accelerate Science and Engineering (AI2ASE) of the Thirty-Sixth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-22).
22.  Boompelli, S., & Bhattacharya, S. (2021, March). Design of a Telemetric Gait Analysis Insole and 1-D Convolutional Neural Network to Track Postoperative Fracture Rehabilitation. In 2021 IEEE 3rd Global Conference on Life Sciences and Technologies (LifeTech) (pp. 487-491). IEEE.
23.  Czejdo, C., & Bhattacharya, S. (2021, August). Support for Interview Preparation with Deep Learning Based Language Model. In 2021 International Conference on Emerging Techniques in Computational Intelligence (ICETCI) (pp. 16-20). IEEE.
24.  Czejdo, C., & Bhattacharya, S. (2021, March). Augmenting Case Based Learning with Dynamic Language Models. In SoutheastCon 2021 (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
25.  N. Greis, M. Nogueira, S. Bhattacharya and T. Schmitz, “Physics Guided Machine Learning for Self-Aware Machining”, Spring Symposium Series of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2020, Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing Symposium. "https://aiinmanufacturing.wixsite.com/symposium
26.  B. Czejdo, S. Bhattacharya and C. Spooner, "Improvement of Protein Model Scoring Using Grouping and Interpreter for Machine Learning," 2019 IEEE 9th Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2019, pp. 0349-0353.
27.  Sambit Bhattacharya, Rajeev Agrawal, and Neal Wagner. 2018. “Application of deep learning and geo-knowledge bases to scene understanding”. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Management of Digital EcoSystems (MEDES '18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 74-79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3281375.3281405
28.  S. Bhattacharya, R. Agrawal, B. Czejdo and E. Erdemir. "Open Source Platforms and Frameworks for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning", IEEE SoutheastCon 2018, St. Petersburg, FL, USA, 2018, pp. 1-6.
29.  S. Bhattacharya and R. Agrawal. "Development of robot swarm algorithms on an extensible framework," IEEE SoutheastCon 2017, Concord, NC, USA, 2017, pp. 1-6. doi: 10.1109/SECON.2017.7925296
30.  S. Bhattacharya and B. Czejdo. "Synergy of Artificial Intelligence Projects in Faculty- Student Research." In Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI’17), pp. 151-156. 2017.
31.  Maynord, Michael, Sambit Bhattacharya, and David W. Aha. "Image Surveillance Assistant." 2016 IEEE Winter Applications of Computer Vision Workshops (WACVW). IEEE, 2016.
32.  Maynord, M., Aha, D.W., & Bhattacharya, S. “Image Surveillance Assistant Architecture: Status and Planned Extensions”. Deep Learning for Artificial Intelligence (DLAI) Workshop of the 25th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI). 2016. Available at: http://home.earthlink.net/~dwaha/research/meetings/ijcai16-dlai-ws/.
33.  Bhattacharya, S.; Czejdo, B.; Martellaro, J.; Bowe, A.; Pancholi, K.; Hall, S. “Creation of a Student Research Environment in Artificial Intelligence with Industrial Involvement.” In Proceedings of the 2016 Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS-29), pp. 146-149. Available at: http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/FLAIRS/FLAIRS16/paper/view/12925.
34.  Anu, Jeffrey, Rajeev Agrawal, Nawrin Sultana, Sambit Bhattacharya, and Denny Czejdo. "Probabilistic model to predict movement pattern in geospatial data." In SoutheastCon 2015, pp. 1-7. IEEE, 2015.
35.  Anu, Jeffrey, Rajeev Agrawal, Cameron Seay, and Sambit Bhattacharya. "Smart Grid Security Risks." In Information Technology-New Generations (ITNG), 2015 12th International Conference on, pp. 485-489. IEEE, 2015.
36.  Anu, Jeffrey, Rajeev Agrawal, and Sambit Bhattacharya. "Ranking tourist attractions using time series GPS data of cabs." In SOUTHEASTCON 2014, IEEE, pp. 1-6. IEEE, 2014.
37.  Bhattacharya, S., Czejdo, B., Malholtra, R. (2014). Infusing geospatial computing in computer science education. 52nd Annual ACM Southeast Conference 2014. Retrieved from: acmse14.kennesaw.edu/index.php.
38.  Bhattacharya, S., Czejdo, B., Malholtra, R., Agrawal, R. (2014). Research modules in geospatial computing. 52nd Annual ACM Southeast Conference 2014. Retrieved from: acmse14.kennesaw.edu/index.php.
39.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, and Anil M. Cheriyadat. "Integrated Analysis of Ground Level and Aerial Image Data." In Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour (AISB), 2014 Convention of, online http://doc.gold.ac.uk/aisb50/AISB50-S05/AISB50-S5-Bhattacharya-paper.pdf
40.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Bogdan Czejdo, Rakesh Malhotra, Nicolas Perez, and Rajeev Agrawal. "Agent Based Modeling of Moving Point Objects in Geospatial Data." In Computing for Geospatial Research and Application (COM. Geo), 2013 Fourth International Conference on, pp. 132-133. IEEE, 2013.
41.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Bogdan Czejdo, Rakesh Malhotra, Nicolas Perez, and Rajeev Agrawal. "Characterization of Moving Point Objects in Geospatial Data." In Computing for Geospatial Research and Application (COM. Geo), 2013 Fourth International Conference on, pp. 151-151. IEEE, 2013.
42.  Baker, Yolanda S., Rajeev Agrawal, and Sambit Bhattacharya. "Analyzing security threats as reported by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)." In Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, pp. 10-12. IEEE, 2013.
43.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Bogdan Czejdo, and Rakesh Malhotra. "Geospatial intelligence as a context for computing education." In Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, pp. 741-741. ACM, 2013.
44.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Bogdan Czejdo, and Nicolas Perez. "Gesture classification with machine learning using kinect sensor data." In Emerging Applications of Information Technology (EAIT), 2012 Third International Conference on, pp. 348-351. IEEE, 2012.
45.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Denny Bogdan Czejdo, and Nicolas Perez. "Research Modules for Undergraduates in Machine Learning for Automatic Gesture Classification." In International FLAIRS Conference, pp. 318 – 321. 2012.
46.  Czejdo, B. D., S. Bhattacharya, and J. Czejdo. "Use of Probabilistic State Diagrams for Robot Navigation in an Indoor Environment." In Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence (ATAI), pp. A-97 to A-102. 2010.
47.  Bhattacharya, Sambit., and Czejdo, B. D. "Using Robot Soccer Game To Teach Advanced Computer Science Concepts". In Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Computer Science Education: Innovation & Technology (CSEIT 2010), pp. I-205 to I-210.
48.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, B. D. Czejdo, and Sean Mobley. "An Integrated Computer Vision and Infrared Sensor Based Approach to Autonomous Robot Navigation in an Indoor Environment." In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computing, Communications and Control Technologies. 2009, pp. 42 – 47.
49.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Raj Acharya, Artem Pliss, Kishore S. Malyavantham, and Ronald Berezney. "A Hybrid Registration Approach for Matching Genomic Structures in Multimodal Microscopic Images of Living Cells." In Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Image Processing, Computer Vision, and Pattern Recognition (IPCV), pp. 217-221. 2008.
50.  Bhattacharya, Sambit, Raj Acharya, Artem Pliss, Kishore S. Malyavantham, and Ronald Berezney. "Comparison of Intensity Based Similarity Measures forMatching Genomic Structures in Microscopic Images of Living Cells." In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006. EMBS'06. 28th Annual International Conference of the IEEE, pp. 3057-3061. IEEE, 2006.
51.  Bhattacharya, S., R. Acharya, A. Pliss, K. S. Malyavantham, and R. Berezney. "Automated matching of genomic structures in microscopic images of living cells using an information theoretic approach." In in Medicine and Biology Society, 2005. IEEE-EMBS 2005. 27th Annual International Conference of the, pp. 6425-6428. IEEE, 2006.
52.  Bhattacharya, S., K. S. Malyavantham, R. Acharya, and R. Berezney. "Fractal analysis of replication site images of the human cell nucleus." In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2004. IEMBS'04. 26th Annual International Conference of the IEEE, vol. 1, pp. 1443-1446. IEEE, 2004.
53.  Lin, Mingen, Jinhui Xu, Sambit Bhattacharya, and Ronald Berezney. "Surface approximation based image simplification and applications." In Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 2004 IEEE International Conference on, vol. 3, pp. 2988-2993. IEEE, 2004.

AWARDED GRANTS, CONTRACTS AND FELLOWSHIPS:

Awarded grants

1.  Principal Investigator (PI), “Institute for Multi-agent Perception through Advanced Cyberphysical Technologies (IMPACT)”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), $1,486,700. Funded from April 1st, 2023 to March 31st, 2026. MUREP Data Science Equity, Access, and Priority in Research and Education (DEAP) opportunity.
2. PI, “Data and AI Literacy for National Security”, Office of Naval Research (ONR) for the Department of Navy (DON) STEM Education and Workforce Program, $598,707 with Bill Rivera as Co-PI. Funded from 2023 to 2026.
3. PI, “Targeted Infusion Project: Exposing Students to the Social Relevance and Trustworthiness of Artificial Intelligence”, National Science Foundation (NSF), $397,055 with Bogdan Czejdo, Xiaochen Hu, Zahra Shekarkhar and Khalid Lodhi as Co-PIs. Funded from July 1st, 2022 to June 30th, 2025. Award Number: 2205502.
4. PI, “Active and On-demand Multi Robot Perception (AOMRP)”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), $499,598. Funded from July 30th, 2021 to July 30th, 2023. MUREP Space Technology Artemis Research (M-STAR) Implementation Grant.
5. PI, “Autonomous Multi-drone System for Search Operations in Challenging Environments”, University of North Carolina (UNC) Collaboratory, $249,749. Funded from July 14th, 2022 to July 13th, 2024.
6. PI, “Autonomous Systems with On-Demand Inference from Perception Pipelines”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), $50,000. Funded from June 1st, 2022 to September 30th, 2022. The NASA MSI Space Accelerator program.
7. PI, “Accelerating Artificial Intelligence at the Edge”, NASA Innovation Corps (I-Corps), $9,906. Funded from December 1st, 2022 to May 31st, 2023.
8. Co-PI, “An Architectural Model for Web-Based Technologies to Enhance Text-Image Capabilities in Detecting Sex Trafficking Cases”, US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), $108,456. Funded from August 1st, 2022 to June 30th, 2024. With Dr. Shyamal Das (Elizabeth City State University) as PI.
9. Co-PI, “Integrating Data Science into the Homeland Security (HMLS) Course (IDSHSC)”, FY 2022 University of North Carolina (UNC) Undergraduate Research Program Grant, $20,908 with Dr. Shyamal Das (Elizabeth City State University) as PI.
10. Co-PI, “University Transportation Centers of Excellence Center Focus – Mobility and Congestion”, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NC DOT), $1,000,000, lead by Institute of Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) of North Carolina State University (NCSU). Funded from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2022. Project name: Deep Learning Software for Traffic State Prediction. NC DOT award reference code is TCE2020-02: NC Transportation Center of Excellence on Mobility and Congestion. Web https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/ncdot-coe-mobilitycongestion/home
11. PI, “Targeted Infusion Project: Developing the Geospatial Data Analytics Certificate Program at Fayetteville State University”, National Science Foundation (NSF), $398,555 with Bogdan Czejdo and Valentin Milanov as Co-PIs. Funded from May 15th, 2018 to April 30th, 2021. Award Number: 1818694.
12. Co-PI, “North Carolina Consortium for Self-Aware Machining and Metrology (CSAM)”, University of North Carolina (UNC) Research Opportunities Initiative (ROI), $1,665,502. PI: Tony Schmitz (UNC Charlotte), other Co-PIs from UNC Charlotte and North Carolina State University (NCSU). Funded from August 15, 2018 to August 14, 2021. Web https://sites.google.com/uncc.edu/csam/home
13. PI, “Acquisition of a High Performance GPU Cluster and Sensing Equipment for Research and Education at Fayetteville State University in Areas of Interest to DoD”, Department of Defense (DoD) Research and Education Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MI) Equipment/Instrumentation, $326,278. Funded from July, 2016 to January, 2018.
14. PI, Proposals submitted to the Collaborative Research Experiences for Undergraduates (CREU) program of the Computing Research Association (CRA). Four students were funded for each of the years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, for $3,000 per student. Additional amounts included $1,500 for travel. Research projects were in machine learning, computer vision and robotics.
15. PI, “FSU Robotics Team (NASA Swarmathon) – Team Competition”. Prime Awarding Agency: NASA, Pass-through Entity (PTE): North Carolina State University. As part of the North Carolina Space Grant Higher Education/Team Competition Program, $4,976. Funded from November, 2017 to April 2018.
16. Co-PI, “Strengthening Computer and Information Sciences Engagement and Learning (SCISEL)”, American Association of Colleges and University (AAC&U), $299,729. Funded from August, 2014 to August, 2017.
17. Co-PI, “Developing the Geospatial Intelligence Certificate at FSU”, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), $443,463 with Rakesh Malhotra (PI) and Bogdan Czejdo (Co-PI). Funded from August, 2012 to August, 2017. Award Id: HM01771210002.
18. PI, “MRI-R2: Acquisition of Robots and Robot Accessories for Interdisciplinary Faculty and Student Research at Fayetteville State University”, NSF, Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI-R²) Recovery and Reinvestment, $175,092 with Michael Almeida, Bogdan Czejdo and Daniel Montoya as Co-PIs. Funded from May 1st, 2010 to April 30th, 2013. Award Id: 0959958.
19. Co-PI, “Pre-College and Undergraduate Freshman Research Mentoring Opportunities in Mathematics and Science (UROMS)”, U. S. Department of Education grant, $583,263 with Daniel Okunbor (PI) and Muhammad Lodhi (Co-PI). Funded from September 1st, 2010 to August 31st, 2013. Award number: P120A100094.
20. Co-PI, “Improving Minority Participation in NASA Workforce and STEM Educational Pipeline”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Curriculum Improvement Partnership Award for the Integration of Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum (CIPAIR), 2010. Funded from October 1st, 2010 to May 1st, 2011 for partial amount of $50,000 as a planning grant with full proposal to be re-submitted in 2011. Written with Daniel Okunbor (PI), Yufang Bao, John Bianchini, Bogdan Czejdo and Muhammad Lodhi (Co-PIs). Proposal number: 10-CIPAIR2010-0004.
21. PI, "FSU Robotics Summer Program Proposal", submitted to the Youth Growth Stock Trust administered by United Way of Cumberland County, $13,000 with Kimberly Smith-Burton and Bogdan Czejdo as Co-PIs. Funded for August 2009.
22. PI, “Proposal to Use Robots in Teaching an Introductory Programming Class and a Computer Science Topics Class”, Institute for Personal Robotics in Education (IPRE), $10,000 with Michael Almeida (Co-PI). Funded from June 12th, 2008 to June 12th, 2009.

Contracts

1. “Augmented Intelligence & Cognitive Support Ecosystem (AICSE)”, Sub-contract from STEM Resources LLC under NASA STTR, subtopic title Digital Assistants for Science and Engineering, contract no. 80NSSC21C0060. Total contract value $118,138, sub-contract to FSU $9,610. Dates: May 2021 to November 2021.
2. “Human Geography: Development of Advanced Demographic Attribution (ADA) Dataset”, Sub-contract under the Mentor-Protégé Program of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), with Booz Allen Hamilton (Mentor), Masego (Protégé), $55,979. Dates: October 2018 to October 2021.
3. “Open Source Databases for Geospatial Data”, Sub-contract from BAE Systems under National System for Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG) Consolidated Library (NCL) Contract HM1572-14-C-N003 2016, $17,437. Dates: July to August 2017.
4. “Tracking Crowd Dynamics from Multiple Camera Systems”, Millennium Integration and Engineering Company, $50,000. Dates: December 2014 to January 2016.

Fellowships

1. Faculty Fellow sponsored by the Research Participation Program at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). Summer 2022. Project title: Synthetic Imagery for Training Computer Vision Algorithms.
2. Senior Summer Faculty Fellow sponsored by US Office of Naval Research (ONR). Location: Naval Research Lab, Washington DC.

◦ 2021 project title: Knowledge-guided Weakly-Supervised Semantic Segmentation for Remote Sensing Data
◦ 2018 project title: Joint Modeling of Vision and Natural Language Improved with Commonsense Knowledge.
◦ 2016 project title: Image Surveillance Architecture.

3. Faculty Researcher, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Summer Research Team Program. Summer 2020. Location: CRC - Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence, Chapel Hill, NC. Project title: Hybrid Methods in Artificial Intelligence for Storm Surge Prediction.
4. Faculty Researcher, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) HBCU/MSI Defense Lab Academic Research Partnership (DLARP). Summer 2019. Location: Adelphi Laboratory Center, Adelphi, MD. Project title: Empirical Evidence for a Theoretical Approach to Semantic Components.
5. U.S. Army Research Laboratory – Army Research Office (ARL-ARO) Faculty Fellowship. Summer 2017. Location: Adelphi Laboratory Center, Adelphi, MD. Project title: Joint Video and Natural Language Analysis for Efficient Communication Between Robot and Base Station.
6. Summer Faculty Fellow sponsored by US Office of Naval Research (ONR). Location: Naval Research Lab, Washington DC.

◦ 2015 project title: Perception Pipeline Architecture for Surveillance Assistance.
◦ 2014 project title: Applications of Sum-Product Networks to Recursive Structure Learning.

7. Visiting Faculty Program sponsored by US Department of Energy (DOE). Summer 2013. Location: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Knoxville, TN. Project title: Probabilistic Framework for Modeling Interactions of Dynamic Geospatial Objects with Static Landmarks.