Artificial intelligence (AI) is already making substantial changes in every industry, shifting how we work, learn and organize our daily lives. But how can AI tools shape the field of building science? That was the central question at the Industry Summit on Artificial Intelligence for the Built Environment, organized by , Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and co-director of the (性视界CoE).

Structured as a working session, the May 4 summit featured expert panelists from industry, academia and government agencies, with 12 companies represented and a total of 35 participants. After opening remarks from Professor Dong, the first panel of the day explored AI applications in smart and human-centered buildings. Presentations included:

• From Equipment to Ecosystem: An AI Strategy for Thermal Energy Systems and the Built Environment, presented by Josiah Johnston, senior director of data science at Daikin Open Innovation Lab Silicon Valley
• AI in Buildings: A Perspective From the Field, presented by William Healy, senior director at TRC Companies
• Using AI for Building Optimization, presented by Evan Torkos, vice president for strategy at Nantum AI
• The Restoration of a Building or Home鈥檚 Comfort, a New Set of Opportunities With AI, presented by Michael Birnkrant, chief architect, service and aftermarket at Carrier Corporation

A moderated discussion led by 性视界CoE鈥檚 executive director, , gave attendees a chance to dig deeper into these AI advances before breaking for a student poster session and lunch.

The afternoon panel widened the lens to AI鈥檚 role in building-connected infrastructure, covering the following topics:

• Load Flexibility and Electrified Commercial Buildings, presented by Mark Bremer and Julia Griffith from National Grid
• Hallucination of AI in Critical Infrastructure, presented by Herbert Dwyer, founder and CEO of EMPEQ
• A Semantic Foundation Unlocks Rapid Deployment of AI in the Built Environment, presented by Andrew Rodgers, co-founder of ACE IoT Solutions
• AI-Powered Communities: From Data to Resilience, presented by Nancy Min, co-founder and CEO of ecoLong
• Using GenAI to Accelerate Decarbonizing NYC Commercial Real Estate, presented by Thomas Yeh, consulting technical advisor, NYSERDA

The summit concluded with small group discussions: four breakout groups each co-facilitated by 性视界 University faculty and populated with a cross-section of academic and industry voices. This format ensured that the day鈥檚 themes were stress-tested in conversation and built the foundation for future collaborations. Dong plans to apply for funding for an interdisciplinary research center, such as a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, that will advance university-industry partnerships in the healthy buildings field.

The summit made clear that AI鈥檚 role in the built environment is no longer speculative鈥攊t is operational and growing rapidly. From smarter HVAC to grid-scale flexibility to community resilience, the challenge now is deploying these tools thoughtfully, sustainably and at scale.

This event was supported by the University鈥檚 聽through their Team Building for Large, Collaborative Grants program.

To be notified of future events and opportunities, sign up for 性视界CoE’s 听辞谤听.

Ethan Coffel has built his research around one of the most consequential questions of our time: as the climate changes, what happens to the systems human society depends on?

For that work鈥攁nd for the teaching and service that have made him one of the 鈥檚 most distinctive junior faculty members鈥擟offel has been named this year鈥檚 recipient of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Teaching and Research, the school鈥檚 highest honor for untenured faculty.

Coffel accepted the award and spoke at the Maxwell School’s Graduate Convocation today in Hendricks Chapel.

The Moynihan Award has been presented annually since 1985, when it was established by then-U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, himself a former member of Maxwell’s junior faculty from 1959 to 1961.

Coffel, assistant professor of geography and the environment, joined Maxwell in fall 2020 following a Neukom Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dartmouth College and holds a Ph.D. in earth and environmental sciences from Columbia University.

His research centers on a simple but urgent idea: human society depends on a stable climate, and as that stability erodes, the consequences reach into food systems, water supplies, energy grids and more. He uses global Earth system models alongside geospatial and socioeconomic data to understand how climate extremes will reshape the world, and what that means for the people living in it.

His current NSF-funded project, detailed in a recent 性视界 University News feature, examines not just how climate affects crops, but how crops affect the climate around them. Corn and soybean fields across the Midwest may be moderating local temperatures, buffering the very heat waves that threaten them, and Coffel is working to quantify how much, and whether that effect will hold as the world warms.

Since joining Maxwell, Coffel has published 14 peer-reviewed journal articles, including five as lead author, in some of the field鈥檚 most prestigious outlets, including Nature Climate Change and Nature Food. His research has been covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Guardian and the BBC. He has received two National Science Foundation grants, awarded in 2021 and 2023, totaling $942,713.

Peng Gao, professor and chair of the department, nominated Coffel for the award.

鈥淚n his five years at 性视界 University, Dr. Coffel has distinguished himself as an exceptional and reflective educator,鈥� Gao wrote. 鈥淗e approaches course design and instruction with careful deliberation, continuously refining his methods and introducing innovative approaches to enhance the curriculum and foster student engagement.鈥�

That reputation carries into the classroom. Coffel teaches two large-enrollment core courses, GEO 155: The Natural Environment and GEO 215: Global Environmental Change, and has developed three new courses expanding the department鈥檚 physical geography curriculum, including GEO 371: Climate Extremes and GEO 700: Seminar in Climate Science, a graduate-level course that draws students from earth science, geography and environmental engineering backgrounds alike.

Dean David M. Van Slyke praised Coffel鈥檚 contributions across all three pillars the award recognizes.

鈥淓than exemplifies what the Moynihan Award was created to honor鈥攁 scholar whose research pushes the field forward, whose students leave his classroom genuinely changed and whose commitment to this department goes well beyond what鈥檚 asked of someone at his stage,鈥� Van Slyke said. 鈥淭his is exactly the kind of recognition Ethan has earned, and we are proud to celebrate it with him.鈥�

Story by Catherine Scott

For Eva Quackenbush ’26, an interest in maternal and fetal health that began with personal curiosity has grown into a rigorous public health research project with direct implications for how clinicians monitor and make decisions about the most vulnerable newborns.

Quackenbush, a public health major with a concentration in healthcare management in the , worked under the mentorship of , associate professor of public health, on a study examining whether patterns detected in fetal heart tracing鈥攖he monitoring of a baby鈥檚 heart rate during labor鈥攃an predict short-term outcomes for infants born between 23 and 26 weeks of gestation. These babies occupy a narrow clinical window clinicians call “periviable,” a zone where survival has improved in recent decades but where the tools guiding clinical decisions remain poorly understood.

An Understudied Population

Fetal heart tracing is a well-established tool used to signal when medical intervention may be needed in full-term pregnancies. But its predictive value in periviable births has been largely unexplored. That is the gap Quackenbush and Kmush set out to close.

Their study drew on a retrospective cohort of 90 periviable deliveries at a regional referral hospital in upstate New York between January 2017 and August 2022. In their project, two independent maternal-fetal medicine specialists reviewed four key fetal heart tracing indicators鈥攂aseline heart rate, variability, accelerations and decelerations鈥攁nd compared them against an overall composite score. They analyzed those patterns against neonatal outcomes, including lung disease, eye defects, brain hemorrhage and mortality.

The findings were consistent across every model tested: none of the fetal heart tracing patterns were statistically associated with adverse birth outcomes, meaning that the patterns could not reliably predict which babies would fare worse.

“Our research concluded that the heart tracing patterns in this population of periviable infants have no predictive value,” Quackenbush says. That may sound like a null result, but it is a meaningful one, because establishing what does not predict outcomes in this population is itself a critical step toward better clinical understanding, she says.

Building New Skills

Undertaking this clinical research project required Quackenbush to build an entirely new technical skill set. She had no prior experience with coding, but with guidance from Kmush she learned R, the statistical coding language, and applied it to complex regression analyses and data modeling.

“Dr. Kmush has been an incredible mentor for the statistical analysis work that I have been conducting,” Quackenbush says. “She has been guiding my familiarization with R, as well as the process of preparing research for presentation at all levels.”

Quackenbush鈥檚 聽work in the lab was made possible in part by the 性视界 Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (SOURCE), which helped fund her project and teamed her with Kmush as a faculty mentor. Quackenbush also broadened her clinical health background through involvement with the University鈥檚 and an internship with the . And beyond coding, she built competencies in scientific writing and research communication, skills she says she will carry into her next career phase.

This spring, she and Kmush presented their findings at the conference in Baltimore, an unusual distinction for an undergraduate researcher. Quackenbush says they hope their study will serve as a foundation for expanded research in the periviable population, including studies with larger sample sizes to further validate the results.

From Data to Policy

This fall, Quackenbush will begin legal studies at the in New York. Her goal is to work in health policy, focusing on improving health outcomes through policy determinations, compliance issues and interdisciplinary collaboration.

While her future path moves her out of the lab, an experience she says has been as much about personal growth as scientific discovery, Quackenbush sees her time there as central to the work ahead. “While my career won’t be directly related to clinical public health activity, I anticipate including many concepts from the public health field into my work in health policy,” she says.

Whether it鈥檚 analyzing data or shaping health policy, Quackenbush says her goal remains to work toward better outcomes for patients. She leaves the lab having contributed one more piece of a puzzle that clinicians, families and policymakers are still working to 聽solve.

Understanding of copper formation means examining material forged at depths of nine to 19 miles beneath the Earth鈥檚 surface. Remarkably, Emerson Long 鈥�26 has spent the past year recreating those conditions in a campus lab.

Long is a double major in geology and physics in the (A&S). She and her faculty mentor, , professor of petrology and experimental geochemistry in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, have spent the past year examining how copper behaves when magma (molten rock) and fluid coexist at the crushing pressures and temperatures of the lower continental crust.

The work has implications that reach far beyond the laboratory. That鈥檚 because copper is used in modern and clean energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries and LED lighting.

鈥淲hile my research doesn鈥檛 directly relate to finding and extracting copper deposits, it does give us a better understanding of the entire system for copper deposit formation,” Long says. “It鈥檚 really exciting to me to contribute to that understanding in some way.鈥�

Going Deep to Understand the Surface

Copper deposits near the Earth’s surface that are extracted from mines are formed when copper-rich hydrothermal fluids move upward through the crust and deposit minerals along the way. Those fluids originate much deeper in the Earth鈥檚 magmatic systems, where molten rock and aqueous fluid coexist under intense heat and pressure. Long and Thomas are studying how copper splits itself between magma and fluid at those extreme source conditions.

Previous research on copper partitioning has focused on shallower, upper-crust-level conditions. This project goes beyond prior work to assess what happens at conditions equivalent to those found in the lower continental crustal source regions where magmas are generated. It鈥檚 a largely unexplored frontier in the study of copper deposit formation.

High-Pressure Science

To simulate those deep-Earth conditions in the lab, Long runs experiments in piston-cylinder devices, instruments capable of generating extraordinary pressures and temperatures found miles underground. When an experiment concludes, the magma cools into a glass and the fluid gets trapped in tiny pockets within a piece of quartz, called fluid inclusions. Long then uses a suite of sophisticated analytical instruments to measure the copper concentration in both the glass and the fluid inclusions.

That 鈥渄eep dive鈥� into the data helps extract meaning from material forged under those precise conditions. 鈥淚 really enjoy the hands-on aspects of this research the most,鈥� Long says. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a few other short-term projects that have been more computational-based and I鈥檝e realized that I really love lab work. I also just find the high-pressure experiments to be really fun and it鈥檚 really crazy to me still that we can emulate such extreme conditions in the lab.鈥�

That focus recently took her to the facility in Denver, where she used specialized instrumentation (laser ablation ICP-MS, a type of mass spectrometry), one of the only ways to measure the chemistry of fluid inclusions. There are only a handful of facilities in the U.S. capable of doing that type of analysis, a notoriously difficult process.聽 鈥淚t was a really great experience,鈥� Long says. 鈥淚 learned so much about the technique and it was really amazing to be there and help with the analyses since it is such a niche method.鈥� Being at the U.S. Geological Survey facility also allowed her to observe professionals conducting scientific research for a government organization, she says.

Long also took her studies globally experience that mirrors a prompting students to shape the future as engaged global citizens by combining studies in diverse areas of interest. She enjoyed both her science major and French/Francophone Studies minor during an immersive experience there, where she lived with a French host family, learned more about French history and culture, participated in a community internship conducting physics research at the University of Strasbourg, and took several courses in French.

Mentorship and Mastery

Later, Thomas’ science lab on campus provided Long with a wealth of experiential learning opportunities and allowed her to gain an impressive range of technical skills. She has conducted electron microprobe analysis, laser ablation mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Those experimental and analytical methods聽 represent an arsenal of cutting-edge geochemical lab techniques capable of identifying the chemical fingerprints of minerals and rocks at an extraordinarily fine scale.

The (SOURCE) supported Long’s work through Bridge and Fellowship awards. She also worked with the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising. She says her awards, including a summer living stipend, made it possible to dedicate added time over a summer in 性视界 to sustain the momentum on her lab research.

In August, Long begins Ph.D. studies in geology at Purdue University, where she鈥檒l continue conducting similar experimental research. For her, the appeal of the geological field goes beyond technique or career preparation. It is about being able to contribute in a hands-on way to one of the defining challenges of the coming decades: building the clean energy economy the world needs, starting with a deeper understanding of the Earth beneath our feet.

Lucas Heffler 鈥�26 is heading to one of the most storied research institutions in the world. The chemical engineering senior has accepted a position at (LANL) in Los Alamos, New Mexico鈥攁 facility synonymous with scientific breakthroughs and home to some of the brightest minds in the country. One of 17 National Laboratories supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, LANL has long stood at the frontier of discovery in science, engineering and national security.

Born out of the Manhattan Project during World War II, LANL made history as the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Today, the lab鈥檚 primary focus is to modernize the United States鈥� nuclear stockpile and maintain its safety, security and reliability. LANL鈥檚 scientists and engineers conduct advanced research in areas including national security, energy, geophysics and supercomputing.

Heffler will begin his position as a research and development engineer at LANL this summer. He became interested in the National Labs system through connections with (ECS) alumni and gained valuable industry experience through internships and the Nuclear Chemistry Summer Schools (NCSS), a Department of Energy workforce development program administered by the American Chemical Society. Heffler completed a six-week NCSS program at San Jose State University in California, where participants attend lectures, visit research facilities聽 and conduct hands-on laboratory exercises to build their expertise in nuclear chemistry.

Heffler took advantage of ECS resources like attending resume reviews and employer information sessions offered through Career Services.

鈥淕etting that experience of just being comfortable talking to employers definitely helps while on job interviews,鈥� says Heffler.

Looking back on his coursework, Heffler says that Chemical Engineering Laboratory I and II helped him discern his career interests and prepare to enter the workforce. Setting up experiments, analyzing data and writing technical reports are all skills he will rely on in his work as an research and development engineer.

Heffler found supportive faculty in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, including Program Director Katie Cadwell and his advisor, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering Radhakrishna Sureshkumar. He also appreciated the opportunity to take classes with professor Theodore Walker, who draws on his experience as a senior scientist for ExxonMobil.

鈥淗aving professors that have worked in industry and can look at things from an industry standpoint is enlightening,鈥� Heffler says.

鈥淟ucas possesses a rare combination of technical depth, creative insight and problem-solving skills,鈥� says Sureshkumar. 鈥淎fter working closely with him as his advisor and instructor, I am delighted by his highly deserving appointment at LANL. He is a natural leader who will undoubtedly make major contributions to the profession.鈥�

Before Charity Hosler 鈥�27 and Somya Chakraborty 鈥�28 decided to study biomedical engineering, they were once wide-eyed children discovering science through hands-on experiments and the possibilities in STEM.

Now, enrolled in the (ECS) and serving as the president and vice president, respectively, of the (BMES), Hosler and Chakraborty are doing their part to educate future generations of STEM enthusiasts.

Each year, one of the main events organized by the BMES is STEM Day, which allows current engineering students to teach lessons about the core principles of aerospace, biomedical, chemical and civil engineering to Central New York children in kindergarten through sixth grade.

鈥淛ust the excitement of learning about science. It鈥檚 really cool being able to give back for the next generation,鈥� Hosler says. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 really cool to think we could be the reason some kid decides to come to 性视界 to study biomedical engineering.鈥�

Hosler, Chakraborty and other BMES members organize activities at four stations, each focused on a particular field of engineering.

During this year鈥檚 STEM Day on Feb. 28, students made slime at the chemical engineering station, learning about polymers and the chemical phase changes the substances undergo as the slime is formed. At the civil engineering station, students built structures that were mechanically sound and could withstand the elements like wind and water.

At the biomedical engineering station, students encountered a hand grabber, which simulated the bones and muscles in a hand, using straws and string to depict how hand muscles move. They also participated in a candy DNA activity, where, using Twizzlers and gummy bears, children learned how the base pairs of DNA match up with each other and what DNA looks like and why.

Demonstrating aerospace engineering, students launched cups into the air, observing Newton’s Third Law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

鈥淚 was brought up being exposed to science at a young age, and that鈥檚 part of what made me want to become a biomedical engineer. You can really tell how much these kids love science,鈥� Chakraborty says. 鈥淲atching the gears in their brains turn in real time while they鈥檙e trying to figure something out is fascinating to me. This brings me a lot of joy because that鈥檚 how I felt as a kid when I went to these sessions.鈥�

What Is Biomedical Engineering?

BMES aims to answer that question, helping students connect with each other, discover potential research opportunities, explore possible career paths and develop their networking skills.

Both Hosler and Chakraborty say their organization feels a responsibility to share why biomedical engineering is a timely, important and interdisciplinary specialty.

Biomedical engineers can be responsible for developing, processing and mass-producing drugs and potential life-saving medications, and often they鈥檙e tasked with ensuring quality control when a drug is produced. Or they could be charged with improving how medical devices like pacemakers, heart implants and stents that are going to be used by medical professionals worldwide are sanitized. They鈥檙e also involved with biomaterials, such as studying how to install a device into a patient without causing negative responses.

鈥淏iomedical engineering is an important field, and I think it鈥檚 important for students to get connected with other biomedical engineers and form connections with the people in your major,鈥� Hosler says. 鈥淭hrough the Biomedical Engineering Society, we become more well-rounded, better biomedical engineers who have a desire to serve our communities.鈥�

鈥淚 love that this field allows me to be involved in medicine and have an impact on someone’s life behind the scenes,鈥� Chakraborty says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e dedicating your life to solving a problem that a lot of people are dealing with by trying to find a solution.鈥�

Connecting Students to Research and Career Opportunities

BMES holds study nights each semester and organizes volunteer activities in the community each month. The organization also serves as a bridge between academia and the related industries in the medical field, conducting site visits at different local biomedical engineering facilities.

Partnering with the Chemical Engineering Society, members visited Lotte Biologics, a biopharmaceutical production facility in East 性视界, touring the space and connecting with industry professionals.

BMES also hosts professors for informal gatherings where students can learn about potential research opportunities across campus.

鈥淎 lot of our students are interested in doing research, but they don’t really know how to get started. We help bridge that gap, introducing freshmen and sophomores who are looking to start their research journey to faculty who are involved with relevant research,鈥� Chakraborty says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e making a difference by connecting students with each other while helping to advance our major.鈥�

, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), has been selected for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Visiting Faculty Research Program (VFRP), a competitive initiative that embeds university faculty in AFRL facilities to advance cutting-edge research alongside the nation鈥檚 top defense scientists and engineers.

This summer, Sanyal will conduct research focused on estimating and predicting the trajectories of resident space objects (RSOs) using intermittent 鈥渟hort arc鈥� measurements鈥攁 critical challenge in space domain awareness as the number of objects in Earth鈥檚 orbit continues to grow.

The AFRL VFRP fosters long-term collaborations between academic researchers and the Air Force Research Laboratory, strengthening ties between university expertise and national defense priorities.

The research will expand on previous research Sanyal did through the VFRP program in summer 2024. During that work, Sanyal worked with his AFRL mentor, Andrew Dianetti, to develop an orbit and uncertainty prediction scheme that is stable and robust to time-varying uncertainties on the dynamics of RSOs.

These uncertainties are primarily due to interactions between the upper atmosphere, the solar wind and the geomagnetic field. Those factors pose challenges to long-term accurate prediction of RSO trajectories from measurements carried out by ground and space-based sensors. These sensors can only view a short segment of an RSO鈥檚 trajectory.

鈥淭his summer, I will develop this research further by developing a novel machine learning approach to model the uncertain dynamics and find patterns in the uncertainties,鈥� says Sanyal. 鈥淭he goal is to use this summer research as preliminary research for a future research proposal to AFOSR [the Air Force Office of Scientific Research] on formation maneuvers involving multiple spacecraft doing active maneuvering for capturing potentially hazardous and inactive RSOs, which will involve energy and momentum interchange between the active spacecraft and inactive RSO. It can also be used by the Space Surveillance Network to predict RSO orbits and potentially identify actively maneuvering targets.鈥�

鈥淧rofessor Sanyal鈥檚 selection for the AFRL Visiting Faculty Research Program is a strong endorsement of his leadership in space systems and uncertainty-aware dynamics,鈥� says , interim associate dean for research in ECS. 鈥淗is work addresses a critical national need in space domain awareness, and it exemplifies how fundamental research at the University can translate into impactful solutions for national defense and space safety.鈥�

鈥淧rofessor Sanyal鈥檚 work contributes directly to the advancement of the mechanical and aerospace engineering department鈥檚 strategic research area of aerospace exploration, robotics and autonomous systems. Congratulations to Professor Sanyal for receiving this prestigious award,鈥� says , interim chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

What happens when students are allowed to use artificial intelligence to solve cybersecurity challenges? That question took center stage as (EECS) Professor hosted a capture-the-flag (CTF) cybersecurity competition at the , bringing together 20 undergraduate, master鈥檚, and Ph.D. students.

Unlike traditional CTF competitions, participants in this event were allowed to use modern AI assistants, such as ChatGPT and Claude, while solving challenges. The competition was designed not only to test technical skills, but also to explore how AI is transforming the way students learn and approach complex cybersecurity problems.

鈥淐ybersecurity education is evolving rapidly with the rise of AI tools,鈥� Hoque says. 鈥淭his competition gave us a unique opportunity to observe how students use AI in real time鈥攚hether it helps them think more deeply about problems or simply speeds up solutions. Understanding that distinction is critical for the future of computer science discipline.鈥�

Participants competed individually across 10 challenges spanning beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The top three performers鈥擶eixiang Wang (first place), Annepu Sai Charan (second place) and Armani Isonguyo (third place)鈥攚ere ranked based on the number of challenges solved and the speed at which they completed them. Students described the experience as both exciting and challenging, noting that AI could guide their thinking but still required careful verification.

鈥淭his reflects how we approach computer science and cybersecurity education at 性视界 University,鈥� says Alex Jones, the Klaus Schroder Professor and chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. 鈥淎I tools are only as effective as their operators. They do not replace expertise. Dr. Hoque鈥檚 work is a great illustration of this approach. We emphasize deep fundamental knowledge while also encouraging the use of AI. This ensures our graduates can effectively use, evaluate, guide, and validate AI-driven solutions.鈥�

To better understand the educational impact of AI-assisted problem solving, Hoque collaborated with Farzana Rahman, an expert in computing and AI education. Together, they are investigating how students use AI tools, whether those tools support meaningful learning and how they influence confidence and problem-solving strategies.

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a fundamental shift in how students engage with complex technical tasks,鈥� says Rahman. 鈥淎I can be a powerful learning aid, but we need to understand how to use it without compromising deep technical learning.”

Hoque plans to expand the CTF initiative by offering additional training sessions and forming student teams for regional and national competitions, further strengthening cybersecurity engagement within the EECS community.

The event is part of Hoque鈥檚 broader efforts, including , to advance education at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

As two silver robotic dogs chased each other around the turf field inside the Ensley Athletic Center, 20 school-aged children reacted with excitement as they watched a robotics demonstration put on by .

Closer to the middle of the field, a Central New York high school student picked up a video game controller to steer a metallic robot with pointy spikes toward a target of balloons set up by .

These hands-on demos were just two of dozens of exhibits as part of the second Micron Day on Tuesday. The day鈥檚 events brought together more than 700 students鈥攁long with families, educators, industry leaders and community partners鈥攖o spotlight聽 potential career opportunities available in STEM.

鈥淭hese programs give these students an invaluable opportunity to see what’s next for them,鈥� says Kim Burnett 鈥�91, Micron鈥檚 lead for social impact and community development. 鈥淭hey leave feeling like they can pursue a career in STEM and that they belong in the STEM field. When you give kids opportunities to have fun and learn while being meaningfully engaged, it adds up to a great day.鈥�

The most popular exhibit at the Micron Day Tech Expo was the virtual reality (VR) education table. Students lined up to wear VR headsets that took them inside Cornell University鈥檚 cleanroom and introduced them to the semiconductor industry.

鈥淭his is a unique educational opportunity. These students are face-to-face with me in the cleanroom,鈥� says Tom Pennell, Cornell Nanoscale Facility鈥檚 workforce development program manager. 鈥淎ll day I kept hearing students say, 鈥榯hat鈥檚 so cool!鈥� We鈥檝e created scalable educational content that gets students excited about the possibilities by blending curiosity with the fun aspects of STEM.鈥�

Getting Excited 性视界 STEM Possibilities

There were exhibitors conducting demonstrations and answering questions from 35 different organizations鈥攊ncluding 13 representing 性视界 University鈥攁s well as Micron camps and activities, community partner organizations, military and emergency response partners, higher education institutions and local tech employers.

For students like Om Vaidya, a freshman at the in the 性视界 City School District, the day sparked something. Vaidya envisions a career in STEM and hopes to one day work in robotics.

鈥淭his has been a great learning experience. I鈥檓 always excited about STEM possibilities, and after today, I know more about what it will take to get a job in STEM,鈥� Vaidya says. 鈥淭he robotic dogs were really cool, and it tied back to what we鈥檙e learning in school about how the sensors and actuators work to power the robots.鈥�

The STEAM High School was among the dozens of schools that attended Micron Day. For educators like Jody Manning, executive director of STEAM High School, the hands-on, interactive activities served to enhance and complement the lessons being taught in the classroom, creating a more authentic learning environment.

鈥淪tudents need to realize just how many opportunities are available for them in STEM fields. Having 性视界 University and Micron serve as those key collaborators to make everything work for a day like this is crucial,鈥� Manning says. 鈥淭his sends a very clear message that we鈥檙e all in this together when it comes to creating STEM opportunities for the greater 性视界 area.鈥�

Anyone Can Do This

After the robot dog demonstration, the middle and high school students were quick to approach Jiayu Ding G鈥�26 and his classmates, eager to learn more about how the robots were able to easily move and chase after each other.

Over the summer, Ding helps run a six-week program where high school students gain coding skills and build robots from scratch.

Sharing the lessons from those classes with the students at Micron Day was a rewarding experience for Ding, who will graduate with a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering in May.

鈥淓veryone loved the demonstrations with the robot dogs, that was definitely making many of the students curious about the technology,鈥� says Ding, a member of the . 鈥淚t makes me happy seeing how excited the students are about STEM. They want to know everything there is to know about this technology. The great part is anyone can do this.鈥�

After the expo, Micron Day featured additional programming focused on the families and caregivers of young people in the region. There was an esports competition in the University鈥檚 new Esports Classroom, followed by a town hall that educated parents and students about the clubs, campus and programs available at both the University and elsewhere in the region.

Micron Technology’s expansion in North 性视界 is expected to generate thousands of high-tech jobs in the coming years, but many Central New York (CNY) workers don’t yet have a clear path into those roles.

A new 性视界 University initiative called Q-SUCCEED-CNY鈥擰uantum and Semiconductor Upskilling for Career Change through Experiential Education Deployment in Central New York鈥攁ims to change that. The workforce development program, led by faculty in the , helps adult learners with no prior technical background explore and prepare for careers in semiconductor, photonics and emerging quantum technologies.

“We are trying to tap into a larger community that has no prior technical background and awareness of this field, not those community members who already have tech background or who have already decided to pursue tech careers,” says Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor , who leads the program.

Who It’s For

Q-SUCCEED-CNY specifically targets people who may not have considered the tech sector: blue-collar workers, mid-career professionals in non-technical fields, veterans and individuals without STEM backgrounds. Through industry-aligned workshops, career exploration activities and hands-on experiential learning, participants build foundational technical skills and industry connections. Upon completing the program, participants receive a $2,400 stipend.

The initiative is led by Hasanovic alongside electrical engineering and computer science professors and , with project coordinator Anusha Ghimire managing operations and community partnerships.

How It Works

The program offers structured exposure to semiconductor, optics and quantum technology careers through a combination of educational programming and direct engagement with industry partners. It is supported by a broad network of affiliated organizations committed to regional workforce development, including Micron, Onondaga Community College, 性视界 City School District Adult Education, Westcott Community Center, Manufacturers Association of Central New York, NY CREATES, Cornell University, Toptica Photonics and Jubilee Homes.

How to Apply

Applications are open at . For more information, contact the Q-SUCCEED-CNY team at mhasanov@syr.edu or anghimir@syr.edu.

Shivam Kumar, a first-year Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Assistant Professor research group, recently聽identified聽a聽security vulnerability in the Linux kernel,听a key聽component聽of countless computing systems and the largest open-source project in existence.

For many people, the Linux kernel operates invisibly in the background. But its reach is enormous: servers, supercomputers, Android devices, embedded systems and cloud infrastructure all run some variant of it. 鈥淔rom the servers to the cloud, Linux is the silent engine powering virtually the whole internet,鈥� says Hoque.

Working to Reduce Security Vulnerabilities

Kumar is a member of the (SecuritY聽of Networked聽systEms), led by Hoque. The SYNE Lab works to reduce security vulnerabilities in computer software, developing tools that can automatically detect and repair potential vulnerabilities.

Kumar鈥檚 research focuses on a specific component of the Linux kernel: Non-Volatile Memory Express over TCP (NVMe/TCP), a communication protocol that enables data transfer between computing servers and remote storage systems over standard Ethernet networks. Widely adopted in modern data centers, the technology helps boost application performance, particularly in artificial intelligence training workloads and shared storage environments.

鈥淚n a desktop or laptop, the disk where data is stored is physically inside the machine,鈥� Kumar says. 鈥淚n contrast, computing servers often rely on storage located elsewhere鈥攆or example, in a remote storage server that houses a large pool of high-performance NVMe solid-state drives. NVMe/TCP is one of the protocols that allows computing servers to access these remote storage pools over a network while delivering performance that is close to having the drives locally attached.鈥�

The SYNE Lab team is working on building an聽automated tool that will systematically find vulnerabilities in operating systems. In their preliminary testing, Kumar found a vulnerability that聽bad actors could easily exploit.聽By sending malicious input from a client machine, an attacker could聽crash聽a remote storage server, posing聽a serious threat to data centers and the infrastructure they support.聽Kumar discovered a聽missing input validation: the kernel code was not properly checking聽incoming data before processing it.

After discovering the vulnerability, Kumar and Hoque contacted the Linux developer team and spent several weeks working back and forth to reproduce the issue and create a fix. The SYNE Lab developed both a proof-of-concept to demonstrate the vulnerability and the patch itself.

Kumar originally came to 性视界 University as a master鈥檚 student, but after taking one of Hoque鈥檚 courses, his interest in operating systems grew. In 2025, he was accepted into the computer science Ph.D. program and is now a teaching assistant for CSE 486: Design of Operating Systems鈥攖he same topic that sparked his interest in pursuing his Ph.D.

鈥淎 student from ECS contributing to the security of the Linux kernel is a landmark achievement for the department,鈥澛爏ays Hoque. Kumar鈥檚聽patch has now been merged into the main Linux kernel聽codebase,听where it will be pushed to all developers building on the platform going forward.