Research News

URI’s annual celebration of World Quantum Day will be held on Friday, April 10th! Here are the details: https://events.uri.edu/event/world-quantum-day-uri-7928 Senators Reed and Gu will be at the event! 2026 World Quantum Day

The AI Lab represented the IACR on URI Day at the State House! It was a super fun day with lots of participation. Governor McKee and Lt. Governor Matos celebrated the day with us! URI to turn Rhode Island State House Keaney Blue Thursday in celebration of University’s successes, statewide impact during annual URI Day… Read more: IACR participates in URI Day at the State House!

URI professors Gaurav Khanna and Drew Zhang contributed to a statewide AI task force report outlining how Rhode Island can advance innovation, support workforce development, and responsibly implement artificial intelligence across key sectors.

We’re thrilled to report that the former long-time member of the AI Lab, Madhukara Kekulandara, has successfully passed his PhD dissertation defense! Congratulations, Dr. Madhu Kekulandara!

https://www.uri.edu/news/2026/02/computer-simulations-show-strong-ocean-currents-reduce-size-of-surface-waves/

IACR researchers and URI’s CIO presented to the Rhode Island Senate Committee on AI and Emerging Technology, highlighting AI applications, workforce development plans, and URI’s high-performance computing infrastructure.

URI hosted Lightning Talks on March 6, where faculty and researchers shared how they are using artificial intelligence and advanced computational methods to enhance research across disciplines.

Rhode Island has released a statewide AI action plan outlining how to advance innovation, support workforce development, and establish responsible guidelines for artificial intelligence.

Read the details of our Spring ’26 semester workshops. Our workshops are open to faculty, staff, and students for free. Find and subscribe to our events on the URI events calendar at events.uri.edu/group/ai

The IACR is supporting a student-led Hackathon initiative. Additional information about the event is available here: https://hackaturi.com/.

Dr. Manshu Yang, associate professor of quantitative health psychology, uses advanced statistical methods and high-performance computing to improve how researchers analyze longitudinal data, missing data, and real-world health behaviors.

Dr. Roxanne Beinart uses high-performance computing to study deep-sea microbial symbiosis—research that reveals how life adapts after volcanic eruptions and drives innovation in bioinformatics at URI.

Several URI research projects will be showcased this month at Supercomputing 2025, hosted at the MGHPCC booth—a global stage for innovation in high-performance computing.

This is a report summarizing the activities and impact of the University of Rhode Island’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, specifically regarding our work during the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 academic semesters.

Exploring the Cosmos Through Computation: How URI’s Research Computing Fosters Discovery

Decoding the Tree of Life: How Research Computing Enables Large-Scale Genomics at URI

Join us December 10 | 4:00 – 7:30 p.m. in The Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering, Rooms 040 & 045 

Over FY ’25, ~70 submitted proposals included the CCR as an affiliated Center/Institute and historically, we have averaged a ~50% acceptance rate

Our own computational researchers Deborah Ferguson, Derek Davis and Rob Coyne are credited in LIGO’s 10th anniversary of the first detection media blitz!

New Intel and Nvidia nodes expand the Unity Cluster, boosting performance and energy efficiency for URI researchers.

State-funded weather tools like CHAMP and StormTools rely on ITS Research Computing to deliver critical modeling and flood risk data for Rhode Island.

The Center for Computational Research (CCR) is now the Institute for AI & Computational Research (IACR).

Dr. Abdeltawab Hendawi of URI’s AI Lab has won the Best Demo Paper Award at the 26th IEEE MDM Conference.

Dr. Liqun Zhang, a computational scientist in URI’s Department of Chemical Engineering, recently published a paper in Nature Chemistry.

URI has been part of the National Science Foundation’s Open Storage Network (OSN) for 3 years.

Prof. Corey Lang and postdoctoral researcher Jarron VanCeylon, supported by the CCR, recently published a paper in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management exploring how homebuyers’ preferences for environmental amenities align with their political leanings.

The Center for Computational Research is planning a series of monthly talks on AI/ML techniques and applications across various scientific domains

Celebrate World Quantum Day at URI on April 11th!

Machine-learning algorithm analyzes gravitational waves from merging neutron stars in the blink of an eye

URI’s Andromeda HPC cluster will merge into the Unity HPC-AI system at MGHPCC, enhancing computational power and research capabilities—learn more about the transition and its impact.

Graduate and senior students are invited to URI’s Speed Networking Event—connect with industry professionals, expand your network, and explore career opportunities.

URI’s Ash Giri was honored at the White House for his contributions to research and innovation—celebrating excellence in technology and academia.

We are pleased to announce that a major upgrade to our primary HPC/AI platform UNITY is finally complete!

URI celebrates Indrani Mandal and Gaurav Khanna, honorees of RI Monthly’s 2024 Tech10 Awards, for their outstanding contributions to AI and research computing.

Received a wonderful note from Dr. Ginis: Pranav Sai received the award for the best abstract at PEARC24 held in Providence last summer. He presented RICHAMP and its implementation on URI nodes at MGHPCC for real-time storm forecasting. 

A state-of-the-art neutral atom quantum computer, facilitating open-access research, hardware innovation, and hands-on training for students.

UNITY HPC/AI resources expanded by 50% with 1,000 new CPU cores and 24 advanced GPUs, enhancing research capabilities at URI.

Matt Paolella, a CCR-supported student, received the Moissan Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the American Chemical Society.

URI receives $795,000 boost for high performance computing and cybersecurity

Join us on October 11th for an interdisciplinary speed networking event to explore research collaborations in AI, quantum, and computational innovation. Register by October 4th to secure your spot!

The Better Scientific Software (BSSw) Fellowship Program recognizes and promotes leaders and advocates of high-quality software.

A “Quick Start Guide” for Unity HPC/AI system at MGHPCC.

There is funding available for student travel to the major Supercomputing ’24 conference (Atlanta) this November and IPDPS conference (Milan, Italy) in June ’25.

Planning Grants funded through this DCL are expected to cultivate research teams that actively address the expansion or enhancement of an existing test bed to evaluate the impact on and interaction with users of novel AI methods. 

Black holes are mysterious, yet also deceptively simple − a new space mission may help physicists answer hairy questions about these astronomical objects.

The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot has opened calls for projects with a 12 month duration for computational resources.

UNITY HPC shutdown next week (May 20 — 24) to coincide with the annual MGHPCC shutdown.

Recordings of all the workshops we ran including R, SAS, SPSS, Python, Bioinformatics, Unity and others.

GSO Professor Roxanne Beinart awarded international research grant to investigate symbiotic relationships among microorganisms

Join us for the third AI-Big Data Forum at URI.

URI physics professor Gaurav Khanna, Ph.D., an expert in black holes and gravitational waves, co-authored a waveform modeling white paper for the LISA project.

ITS Research Computing & Center for Computational Research have relocated to Library 227 (formerly DataSpark space). This makes our team much more accessible.

List of funding opportunities for AI related research. Agencies include NSF, NIH and DoD.

Please mark your calendars for a major AI event on Feb 22nd led by the Harrington School and partially funded by our Center. A reception and keynote by Dr. Ruha Benjamin from Princeton!

New tutorial on using Unity — our new HPC/AI platform that is a collaborative, multi-institutional high-performance computing cluster located at the MGHPCC.

URI is the anchor institution for CAREERS in Rhode Island and this academic year ’23 — ’24 is leading 12 distinct research projects within this program in a wide variety of disciplines.

Dr. Fang Wang just sent us a copy of his new paper that utilized URI HPC facilities.

Live tracking of hurricane Lee using UNITY — our HPC system at MGHPCC.

A fellowships program open to all undergraduate students with an emphasis on computing.

URI invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position with a focus on quantum computing.

A UNITY team get together at the MGHPCC in Holyoke, MA.

  Discerning Watershed Response to Hydroclimatic Extremes with a Deep Convolutional Residual Regressive Neural Network by Albert Larson Abdeltawab Hendawi Thomas Boving Soni M. Pradhanang Ali S. Akanda   Hydrology 2023, 10(6), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology10060116 (registering DOI) https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5338/10/6/116  

The ACM SIGHPC Emerging Woman Leader in Technical Computing (EWL/TC) is an annual award open to any woman who has engaged in technical computing research, education, and/or practice for 5-15 years since receiving her highest degree. See additional eligibility information, and read ‘how to nominate’ at this link. Nominations are due by June 30th.

An HPC Bootcamp for students is being hosted at National Energy Research Scientific Computer Center (NERSC) during August 7-11. The deadline for applications is May 22nd. Selected participants are eligible to receive housing, travel, per diem, and a $500 stipend.