Research Spaces at Khoury College

The Data Lab

The Data Lab develops innovative solutions for data management and analytics, with an emphasis on databases and systems that scale in the size and complexity of data. We study the foundational principles of data-centric algorithms and systems, techniques for organizing and interpreting data, and the nature of human-data interaction. 

Theory and Formal Methods

The students in the Theory and Formal Methods lab conduct research in algorithms, complexity theory, and formal methods.  The topics covered include algorithmic game theory, automated theorem-proving, combinatorial optimization, concurrency, complexity theory, distributed computing, formal verification, model checking, pseudo-randomness, and machine learning.  

Game Design Lab

In the Game Design Lab, researchers explore how game design can spur advancements in diverse fields from health to education, investigate groundbreaking methods for improving 3D worlds, develop procedural computational models, and create new user interfaces by closely examining player behavior in social and single-player environments.

Programming Research Lab 

The Programming Research Lab takes a multi-faceted approach to the study of programming languages and programming methodology, incorporating elements of design, mathematics, experimental science, and engineering. We conduct research on all aspects of programming, including: the development of small and large programs; the design, implementation, and analysis of programming languages; and programming environment tools.

Khoury Vis Lab

At the Khoury Vis Lab, data visualizations are designed to leverage the impressive human visual bandwidth so that users can spot clusters, gaps, trends, and outliers in the data within a fraction of a second. Our facilities include space at the Roux Institute in Portland with a usability lab fully equipped with cameras and analytical recording software to test and evaluate user perceptions and interactions with data visualizations.

Civic A.I. Lab 

The Civic A.I. Lab explores the intersection of technology and society. We focus on addressing real-world challenges involving governments, worker collectives, NGOs, and the general public through human-centered design. Our research primarily targets critical areas such as gig work and combating disinformation.

Sociotechnical Equity and Agency Lab

The Sociotechnical Equity and Agency Lab takes a qualitative, participatory approach that focuses on lived experience and perception to examine and address friction, harm, and inequity within sociotechnical systems. Researchers provide deep context and detailed design and policy guidance that accounts for entire relationship between people and social technology, and instigate projects that aim to empower at-risk users and communities to better understand, adapt to, and resist computational systems.

Mathematical Data Science (MCADS) Lab

The MCADS Lab focuses on computer vision, machine learning, and AI. The goal of the research is to develop AI that learns from and makes inferences about data analogous to humans. Researchers develop AI that learns from and understands complex human activities and scenes using videos and multi-modal data, learns its tasks from fewer examples and less annotated data, and makes real-time inferences as new data arrive. The group also use these AI systems to assist and train people for performing complex procedural and physical tasks by combining AI with AR/VR technologies. 

Systems Research Group

The Systems Research Group explores the theory and practice of computer systems. The group investigates various research topics surrounding computer systems, including cloud computing, network and distributed systems, high-performance computing, storage systems, machine learning systems, formal verification, and security.

Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute

The Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute, which includes two specialty spaces, is dedicated to the safeguarding of critical technology through research and education. Collaborating with experts in industry, government, and academia worldwide, the Institute’s faculty and students research, develop, and enhance technologies on which the world relies.

The Internet of Things (IoT) Lab 

The IoT Lab is used to examine the security of everyday technology such as smart speakers, refrigerators, TVs, and washer/dryers.

The Wireless Lab

This lab focuses on the analysis and design of everything wireless. Research activities span the analysis of the security, privacy, and robustness of wireless communications systems to the development of new wireless and mobile communications protocol stacks and devices. Recent work includes the analysis of Bluetooth, 3GPP GSM/3G/LTE/5G and Wi-Fi, the analysis of mobile security systems such as Apple iOS and Google Android, as well as avionics systems such as ILS and ACARS, and positioning systems such as GNSS and INS. Researchers also investigated the security autonomous vehicles such as drones and embedded systems.

Personal Health Informatics Lab

Technology has the potential to improve health indicators for individuals around the globe. The Personal Health Informatics Lab focuses on technologies that promote preventive medicine and patient empowerment. Our personal health informatics (PHI) research takes a unique approach to human-computer interaction, building systems that are evaluated through large-scale, real-world clinical trials. In the face of skyrocketing healthcare costs, we are increasing the usability of health technology and improving access to health services.

Natural Language Processing Research Group

The Natural Language Processing Research Group consists of faculty and students working on a wide range of research problems involving machine learning methods for NLP and their application. Topics of interest include biomedical NLP, applications in the digital humanities, computational social science, interpretability/explainable NLP models, data extraction, text summarization, bias and fairness, among others.

Machine learning

Machine learning empowers intelligent computer systems to autonomously solve tasks. Researchers build on a wide variety of techniques that convert data into knowledge—enabling computer systems to automatically learn from data without being explicitly programmed. Our research runs the gamut from theory and algorithm creation to implementation and end-use applications. As vast amounts of data are collected through modern technologies, machine learning research can strengthen these intelligent systems and make them ever more autonomous, powerful, and impactful. 

Computational biology research

Khoury College of Computer Sciences is aimed at exploring fundamental and translational questions in biology, biotechnology, and biomedicine. We develop and apply new frameworks and methods at the intersection of multiple disciplines, including machine learning, statistics, algorithms, genetics, physics, biology, and chemistry, with the goal of improving our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of life and human health. We also develop tools and software for researchers and practitioners in the biomedical field.  

Other related groups at 177 Huntington Avenue include:

EXP provides multiple opportunities for Khoury College faculty and students to collaborate with other closely related disciplines, and many faculty are also part of the Institute for Experiential Robotics. The EXP building has specialty spaces for building and modifying physical objects, including robots, knitting machines, and other devices, plus labs to support computational research. There’s a substantial high bay space with a 12-ton ceiling mounted crane, and a large glass garage door to accommodate deliveries. Some of the robots include UR5s, a UR10, a Fetch, a Kinova Gen3, and a warthog mobile platform. In addition to the specific interdisciplinary lab spaces, the building houses a large makerspace open to the entire university community.  

Robotics is a rapidly growing area of interdisciplinary research at Khoury College. We work closely with our colleagues in the electrical and computer engineering and mechanical and industrial engineering departments. We place major emphasis on applying our work to real-world problems and fielding physical systems.  

Dedicated to interdisciplinary research,  robotics,  machine learning, and virtual human research, the labs in EXP include: 

Relational Agents Group

Relational Agents Group utilizes several robots including UR5s, a UR10, and a Fetch, humanoid robots including a SoftBank Pepper and a Furhat gen2. The lab uses large display screens and VR headsets to study interactions with life-sized virtual humans. 

CESAR Lab (Cognitive Embodied Social Agents Research)

The CESAR Lab (Cognitive Embodied Social Agents Research) works on the computational modeling of human behavior, both as a basic research method in the study of human behavior as well as the use of these computational models in a range of education and analysis applications.

Northeastern ACT (Accessible Creative Technologies) Lab

The Northeastern ACT (Accessible Creative Technologies) Lab creates digital fabrication technologies, such as design tools, 3D modeling tools, and generative design systems, that can be used to produce assistive technologies and medical devices. These tools are designed to be accessible to a wide variety of people with disabilities.

People and Robot Collaborative Systems (PARCS) Lab

People and Robot Collaborative Systems (PARCS) Lab works on human to robot interactions and heterogeneous robotic systems working to support each other.

Generalizable Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (GRAIL)

Generalizable Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (GRAIL) works to identify and learn intermediate state representations that enable effective robot learning and planning.

Lab for Learning and Planning in Robotics

With the prevalence of AI and robotics, autonomous systems are very common in all aspects of life. Real-world autonomous systems must deal with noisy and limited sensors, termed partial observability, as well as potentially other agents that are also present (e.g., other robots or autonomous cars), termed multi-agent systems. We work on planning and reinforcement learning methods for dealing with these realistic partial observable and/or multi-agent settings.

Helping Hands Lab

The Helping Hands Lab develops perception, planning, and control algorithms for robot manipulation in unstructured environments. We are particularly interested in robots that work with humans in built-for-human environments.

Autonomy & Intelligence Laboratory

Autonomy & Intelligence Laboratory is a research group within the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Khoury College of Computer Sciences, and the Institute for Experiential Robotics. Their research lies at the intersection of robotics, deep learning, and control theory, with the goal of developing certifiable learning machines.