Research News
Meharry and Alabama A&M to partner on NIMHD-funded artificial intelligence research
Meharry School of Applied Computational Sciences and Alabama A&M will work together to identify artificial intelligence biases and educate others in ethical and responsible AI. The partnership is possible through funding from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).
Gupta receives grant to advance trustworthy and ethical AI in health care
Thanks to funding from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIHHD), Vibhuti Gupta, Ph.D., will lead a team to both identify AI biases and educate others in ethical and responsible AI.
Nguyen receives NSF HBCU Excellence in Research grant to use big data for pancreatic cells quantitation
Long Nguyen, Ph.D., assistant professor, computer science and data science, will pursue a novel approach to pancreatic cell quantitation thanks to a HBCU Excellence in Research grant from the National Science Foundation.
Sarker is awarded NSF HBCU EXCELLENCE in Research grant
Bishnu Sarker, Ph.D., assistant professor, computer science and data science, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Excellence in Research (HBCU-EiR) grant. The $533,752 award will fund the project, “Developing a Knowledge Graph Driven Integrative Framework for Explainable Protein Function Prediction via Generative Deep Learning.”
Meharry and Fisk introduce high school students to innovative technologies used by NASA
Meharry School of Applied Computational Sciences and Fisk University introduced 21 high school students to some of the innovative technologies used by NASA during the Collaborative Interactive Data Science Academy. The program, held July 17 – 21, used interactive, engaging activities to build statistical and critical thinking skills.
Gina Robinson receives Novartis Fellowship
Meharry SACS student Gina Robinson is spending the summer of 2023 helping Novartis assess strategies to recruit clinical trial candidates from diverse backgrounds.
Shillingford leads three sessions at Splunk .conf23
Nadine Shillingford, Ph.D., chair, computer science and data science department, recently led three sessions at Splunk .conf23.
Sarker leads tutorial during premier computational biology conference – ISMB/ECCB 2023.
Bishnu Sarker, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science and data science, recently led a tutorial at ISMB/ECCB 2023, one of the premier conferences in the field of computational biology.
Shillingford named chair of Data Science and Computer Science Department
Dean Fortune S. Mhlanga announces Nadine Shillingford, Ph.D., as chair of the Computer Science and Data Science Department. “Dr. Shillingford combines extensive academic experience with several administration and security engineering roles in retail, health care, and other industries,” says Dean Mhlanga. “That background, and her passion for graduate education, makes her an excellent fit for…
Meharry SACS joins CHAI – Coalition for Health AI
At a time when AI seems poised for exponential growth, deep conversations about responsible use of AI in health care, especially in terms of health equity, are vital. By joining CHAI, the Coalition for Health AI, Meharry School of Applied Computational Sciences is now an active participant in those discussions with leading industry members like Duke AI Health, Stanford and MITRE.
Dr. Ghosh featured on WKRN
Dr. Uttam Ghosh, associate professor of cybersecurity, is featured in a WKRN news article about cyberattacks in health care.
Meharry SACS announces NIH R25 Scholars for Summer 2023
Aleesa Mann, Ndidiamaka Obi, Bradford Patton and Noah Whittenbarger are the Summer 2023 NIH R25 Scholars for Meharry School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS). Scholars will spend 10 weeks, starting May 30, participating in summer training and research with a faculty mentor.
City, Sanders and Taylor are the first master’s program graduates from Meharry SACS
Brittany City, Wajehah Sanders and Shara Taylor are the first master’s programgraduates from Meharry School of Applied Computational Sciences.
City, Sanders and Taylor present first capstone projects for Meharry SACS
On May 11, 2023, M.S. Data Science students Brittany City and Shara Taylor and M.S. Biomedical Data Science student Wajehah Sanders presented their capstone projects. The event was the first Capstone Presentation for the School of Applied Computational Sciences.
Ghosh receives funding to support heart disease prediction app
Uttam Ghosh, Ph.D., has received a 2023 – 2024 Faculty Research Initiative grant from the TMCF and the Novartis US Foundation to develop an app that will help predict heart disease. The Fore❤️Care app has potential to greatly impact the African American community, where heart disease is a significant concern.
NASA grant funds Meharry precollege program for underrepresented students
NASA has awarded Meharry School of Applied Computational Sciences and Fisk University funding to engage underrepresented high school students in a collaborative, interactive data science program.
Grant to fund new lab and classroom for cybersecurity in health care
New treatments, early disease detection and improved patient care are all benefits of the digital, interconnected health care system. But that data ecosystem is also susceptible to cybersecurity threats. Meharry SACS seeks to prepare Biomedical Data Science Ph.D. students to tackle these challenges. A $60,000 grant from the CAE-Cybersecurity Education Diversity Initiative will create a…
Taylor speaks on race and risk at National Big Data Health Science Conference
When Loni Taylor presented at the National Big Data Health Science Conference at the University of South Carolina, she expected to contribute important insight into race and Alzheimer’s Disease. Instead, the Biomedical Data Science Ph.D. student experienced much more. She met students and faculty from several institutions who share her research interests. But she also had the new experience of providing the lead presentation for an entire session.
Meharry SACS welcomes new faculty and staff
Dean Fortune S. Mhlanga, Ph.D. announces new faculty and staff for the School of Applied Computational Sciences.
Ghosh helps develop an intelligent resource management technique for 5G and beyond communication networks
5G and beyond technology has great potential to positively impact smart health care networks, the Internet of Things for disaster management, and other areas of health care. However, the dynamic resource management of these complex networks must be improved to achieve those benefits. Dr. Uttam Ghosh, associate professor of cybersecurity, and colleagues have proposed a solution.
Dr. Shillingford releases Data Analytics Using Splunk 9.x
Dr. Nadine Shillingford has published the book “Data Analytics Using Splunk 9.x: A practical guide to implementing Splunk’s features for performing data analysis at scale.”
Tech Giant Oracle Establishes $500,000 Scholarship Fund for Meharry SACS
While black workers account for just 5% of engineers and architects and 7% in computer occupations today, Oracle is looking to help close this disparity gap. Recently, the tech leader granted Meharry Medical College – School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS) $500,000 in scholarship funds as a part of its Diversity and Inclusion “Inspire Your Future (IYF)” initiative.
Meharry SACS receives $400,000 to develop leaders to eliminate health disparities
Direct Relief has awarded Meharry School of Applied Computational Sciences $400,000 to develop diverse leaders with the expertise to eliminate heath disparities. Their support will fund a comprehensive effort including scholarship support, internships and hiring a biomedical data science faculty member with expertise in health disparities research. The grant will provide partial funding for 10…
Meharry SACS student Brittany City speaks at NTC Analytics Summit
M.S. Data Science student Brittany City gave the presentation, 100 Days of Data Analytics, at the Nashville Technology Council 2022 Analytics Summit. Her engaging presentation provides a roadmap for anyone interested in transitioning to the field of data analytics. City herself has taken full advantage of the hands-on projects in her coursework to build a…
Meharry and Ascension inspire Hayne Middle to Go Out And Love Science
On Wed. Oct. 26, 300 students from Haynes Middle School were on Meharry’s campus for an exciting day of exposure to science and medicine.
HRSA grant funds supercomputer cluster for Meharry
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded Meharry School of Applied Computational Science $1 million to fund a supercomputer cluster to support student- and faculty-specialized genomics research.
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).