Research News
Wallace helps develop computational methods to infer structure interdependence from protein family MSAs
Dr. T.L. Wallace, professor, computational sciences, and colleagues recently co-published work on a new computational method that may help researchers studying proteins and support development of new drug treatment strategies.
Ghosh helps develop a Brain-UAV Communication Model using a Stacked Ensemble CSP algorithm
Dr. Uttam Ghosh, associate professor of cybersecurity, and colleagues have developed a one-of-a-kind prototype for smooth and reliable control of a UAV by the human brain.
NIH R25 award funds Meharry, Fisk and VUMC partnership to engage diverse students in research
Meharry Medical College, Fisk University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have received an NIH R25 award to engage diverse undergraduate and graduate students in meaningful biomedical informatics and biomedical data science summer research experiences.
Dr. Ghosh to develop edge-cloud interplay platform for efficient data communication and processing for Intelligent Medical Systems
The National Science Foundation CISE-MSI program has awarded Dr. Uttam Ghosh, associate professor of cybersecurity, a $360,000 grant to develop an edge-cloud interplay platform that will provide efficient data communication and processing for Intelligent Medical Systems.
Dr. Nguyen receives NSF grant to turn social media activity into a disaster planning tool
Dr. Long Nguyen, assistant professor of computer science and data science, seeks to tie social media activity to aid emergency planning. The National Science Foundation CISE-MSI Research Expansion program has awarded him a $320,368 grant to pursue that goal.
Astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor visits Meharry Data Science Summer Academy students
Students attending the Meharry Data Science Summer Academy spent two weeks learning coding, robotics and NASA applications of programming and data science. On July 28, they enjoyed the unforgettable experience of meeting astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor, the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft.
Meharry data science summer academy opens students eyes to bright future
On July 17 – 29, 17 students mostly from underrepresented backgrounds, learned to apply coding and data science to robotics on the Meharry Medical College campus.
Novartis fellowship provides Sanders important experience in health care and data science
Wajehah Sanders, an M.S. Biomedical Data Science candidate, is a recipient of the Beacon of Hope Summer Fellowship at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. The Beacon of Hope Summer Fellowship is a 10-week, paid summer program for 17 Historically Black Medical School students to learn drug discovery, data analytics and clinical research practices. Dr. Qingguo…
SACS student Brittany City inspires students at Meharry Data Science Summer Academy
The Meharry Data Science Summer Academy, held by the School of Applied Computational Sciences, introduced 17 high school students, mostly from underrepresented backgrounds, to applying coding and data science to robotics. On July 26, Brittany City, an M.S. Data Science student, gave an engaging presentation about her passion for data science to those students.
Taylor machine learning project identifies diseases using X-ray images
Shara Taylor, an M.S. Data Science candidate, recently gained hands-on experience using X-ray images to distinguish COVID-19 from other illnesses affecting the lungs.
Dr. Gupta helps develop method to improve biometric authentication of mHealth devices
Dr. Vibhuti Gupta recently worked on a study to pursue a new biometric authentication classifier method for smart phone devices. The study is part of an important area of mHealth research, data security and privacy.
Six data science graduate school projects with real data
At Meharry SACS, students can gain hands-on, practical experience working with health care, financial and other data. Applying classroom concepts to these datasets is important to strengthening their data science expertise and also helps them build a portfolio of projects for future career opportunities.
Dunbar is first Meharry SACS graduate
Zerick Dunbar, a Ph.D. candidate in immunology at Meharry Medical College, is the first graduate of the School of Applied Computational Sciences. He completed the Biomedical Data Science Graduate Certificate in May 2022.
Lockett named to Instructional Learning Network Steering Committee for TETA
The Tennessee Educational Technology Association has named David Lockett, grants proposal development and awards management specialist, to its Instructional Learning Network Steering Committee. He is among ten members who help Tennessee educators increase their knowledge of technology and use it to impact teaching and learning.
Ghosh helps develop SoftDrone technology to improve UAV service for health care and emergency situations
UAV- guided service delivery, combined with 5G communication networks, provides new methods to supply real-time services for disaster management systems and e-healthcare monitoring. However, the networks that serve UAVs still face issues of low service and delays due to limited resources. Dr. Uttam Ghosh, associate professor of cybersecurity, and colleagues used machine learning techniques to develop a solution.
NASA grant funds new Meharry Data Science Summer Academy
A grant from the NASA Minority University Research and Education project is funding a new Meharry summer program designed to expose underrepresented high school students to NASA research and data science tools.
Nguyen helps develop model that can quickly streamline treatment and resources for COVID-19 patients
Dr. Long Nguyen and colleagues used wearable technology data and introduced a model withlong-short term memory and deep neural network to identify and predict COVID-19 stages. Their work helps identify patients that will need hospital treatment, prioritizing hospital resources, while still caring for other patients at home.
Meharry announces Biomedical Data Science Ph.D. Program
Meharry Medical College is expanding its academic computational science programs with a new Biomedical Data Science Ph.D. at the School of Applied Computational Sciences.
Oracle’s Troy Tazbaz joins SACS Advancement Council
Fortune S. Mhlanga, dean, School of Applied Computational Sciences, welcomes Troy Tazbaz, senior vice president, Industry Business Unit at Oracle, as a member of the School’s Advancement Council.
Dr. Tim Coburn and colleagues provide early data analysis of EV charging prices
A significant constraint on the growth of the EV market is the absence of reliable and accessible data on charging prices. Addressing these data issues can help shape charging behaviors. Dr. Tim Coburn and colleagues made one of the first attempts to explore real data for EV charging.
Ghosh and Jones join SACS team
The School of Applied Computational Sciences welcomes two new members of its faculty and staff – Uttam Ghosh, Ph.D., associate professor of cybersecurity, and Alessandra Jones, associate dean of business and finance.
Jumpstart Nova launches as first venture fund to invest exclusively in Black founded and led health care companies in the U.S.
Jumpstart Health Investors, alongside leading limited partners, announce the launch of Jumpstart Nova, the first venture fund in America to invest exclusively in Black-founded and led companies at the forefront of health care innovation.
Lockett helps present White House with recommendations for equitable future of science and technology
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently asked the American public to help make science and technology inclusive and benefit all Americans. David Lockett, grants proposal development and awards management specialist, is among a group of early career voices that accepted the challenge.
Sarker develops Prot-A-GAN method for automatic protein function annotation
Dr. Bishnu Sarker explored a new technique to automate protein annotations by learning numerical representation of proteins from a biomedical knowledge graph leveraging the power of generative adversarial network (GAN).
SACS welcomes Clarke, Levin and Sarker to faculty
The School of Applied Computational Sciences recently welcomed Drs. Damien Clark, Eugene Levin and Bishnu Sarker as members of its faculty.
Grant to support SACS and RCMI research on health disparities
The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) has awarded the School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS) a RCMI supplement grant of $363,750.
Lockett VIP guest for historic, all-civilian SpaceX launch
On September 15, 2021, the first all-civilian crew launched into orbit aboard the SpaceX rocket ship. David Lockett, grants proposal development and awards management specialist at Meharry’s School of Applied Computational Sciences, was present for the historic event. Lockett, a VIP guest, was invited by Sian Proctor, Ph.D., who herself made history with the launch…
National Science Foundation Grant to fund supercomputer network
Meharry Medical College’s School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS) has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant award in the amount of $671,411 to create a high-performance computing network with two supercomputers.
SACS names department chairs and new faculty
Dean Fortune Mhlanga announces department chairs, faculty, enrollment management staff, and research faculty and staff for the School of Applied Computational Sciences.
SACS Research and Development team hits major milestone with data refresh
SACS Research and Development recently hit a major milestone in its support of the Clinical and Translational Research Center’s data refreshes for the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet).
SACS supercomputer to power research and education across Meharry
With the supercomputer addition to the data resources of the School of Applied Computational Sciences, Meharry Medical College is positioned to take a giant step forward in improving clinical care, innovative research and health care education.
Meharry welcomes first cohort in history for School of Applied Computational Sciences
The faculty and staff of the School of Applied Computational Sciences is thrilled to welcome Meharry’s first cohort in the School’s history. They began their first course—Computer Programming Foundations for Data Science—on Aug. 5. “We have spent months looking forward to this moment and we are so excited to have these students enrolled,” says Fortune…
Gupta receives American Cancer Society grant to improve virus detection in cancer genomes through deep learning
Thanks to a grant from the American Cancer Society, Vibhuti Gupta, assistant professor, computer science and data science, will build tools that empower cancer researchers to investigate the etiologic association of viruses with cancer, the understanding of which is still in preliminary stages.
Study finds caregivers of HCT patients likely to adopt digital health technologies
From mobile apps to the sharp increase in telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic, digital health technologies have become an important aspect of health care. As the use of these tools increases and the technology itself evolves, it is important to understand if and how they are adopted. Vibhuti Gupta, Assistant professor of computer science and…
Understanding health care technology use by family caregivers of hematopoietic cell transplant patients
Technological advancements in health care are intended to aid caregivers and their care recipients. But, do caregivers take advantage of this support in managing their own and their care recipient’s health?
SACS representing Meharry on HCA consortium
SACS is representing Meharry on the COVID-19 Consortium of HCA Healthcare and Academia for Research Generation (CHARGE).
Meharry Medical College Announces New School of Applied Computational Sciences
Meharry Medical College today announced the launch of its School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS) which will offer Master of Science degrees in Data Science and Biomedical Data Science, beginning in August 2021.
SACS and the COVID-19 response
The Research and Development faculty at Meharry’s School of Applied Computational Sciences are contributing to the COVID-19 response by applying data science expertise and first-class resources to several discovery efforts aimed at fighting the coronavirus.