Madhu successfully defends his PhD dissertation!

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!

Indrani Mandal and Gaurav Khanna from the IACR along with CIO Gabriele Fariello were invited to present at the State House for a meeting of the Senate Committee on AI and Emerging Tech. The topics where:

  • AI demos, Q&A [Indrani Mandal, 30 minutes]
  • URI plans on AI workforce development programs [Indrani Mandal, 5 minutes]
  • HPC Infrastructure [Gaurav Khanna, 10 minutes]
  • AI@URI [Video]

A full recording of the session is available here: https://capitoltvri.cablecast.tv/show/11713

LIGHTNING TALKS & NETWORKING

AI & ADVANCED COMPUTATIONALLY ENHANCED RESEARCH APPROACHES

 

MARCH 6. 2026. 11:15 am – 12:45 pm

ANCHOR ROOM, URI WELCOME CENTER

Contact: jpeckham@uri.edu

Hosts: 

  • The URI Office of Research Development 
  • The Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Computational Research (IACR)

Intended Audience: Faculty and graduate researchers.

Hear from URI Researchers who have harnessed AI and Advanced Computation to enhance research in multiple disciplines. Included will be lightning talks from:

  • Alina Barnett – Assistant Professor – alina.barnett@uri.edu – Classifying ICU Seizures with the Betta Fish of Interpretability
  • Peter Liu – Assist. Prof, Mathematics -pengyu.liu@uri.edu – Artificial intelligence advances infectious disease research
  • Nic Fisk – Assist. Prof., CELS – j.nicholas.fisk@uri.edu – Who Knows? AI and the Voice of Science
  • Deborah Ferguson – Assistant Professor, Physics – deborah.ferguson@uri.edu – Using neural networks to efficiently explore the binary black hole parameter space
  • Yalda Shahriari – Assoc. Prof., ECBE, Biomedical Engineering and Director of the NeuralPC Lab – yalda_shahriari@uri.edu – Multi-view Convolutional Neural Network for Neuroimaging Data Fusion 
  • Cecile Cres – Computational Scientist, IACR – cecile_cres@uri.edu – Application of AI to metagenomics data analysis
  • Yana Hrytsenko – Postdoc, CELS – yana_hrytsenko@uri.edu – Genome analysis with AI: from evolution to precision medicine
  • Manshu Yang, Assoc. Prof, Psychology – myang@uri.eduy – Advanced Computational Techniques for Analyzing Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Data

 

 

Talks will begin at 11:15 a.m., followed by networking and snacks.

The goal is to provide inspiration and support for those who are just beginning to think about using AI and/or advanced computational approaches in their research in any discipline. The talks will be 3 minutes each, with about 1-2 minutes of questions. 

Space is limited and there are only a few seats left. Please register by Thursday February 26 to reserve a seat and help us order snacks

Rhode Island Governor’s AI Task Force has completed its work and has released a detailed report that highlights the recommended actions the state should take to leverage the advances in AI and protect against the potential downsides.

The RI Current has a summary: https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/2026/01/28/rhode-island-releases-its-roadmap-for-ai-some-boundaries-have-yet-to-be-drawn/

Here is the whole 75-page document: https://etss.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur466/files/2026-01/Final-Rhode-Island-AI-Action-Plan-Report-2026-01-26.pdf

Supercomputing 2025 (SC25) is underway this month and is expected to draw more than 20,000 attendees from around the globe. As a key member of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC), the University of Rhode Island will be represented at the MGHPCC booth with several cutting-edge research projects.

URI’s featured projects reflect the University’s growing impact in computational science, AI, and marine research:

URI’s participation in SC25 underscores its commitment to research excellence, strategic partnerships, and advancing discovery through computational technologies.

Learn more about MGHPCC and regional collaboration at: mghpcc.org/sc/regional-partners