College of Engineering and Computing

911�� launches new MS in quantum science and engineering

ckearney — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:23:34 +0000

911�� launches new MS in quantum science and engineering ckearney Mon, 06/15/2026 - 14:23

911�� has launched a new master of science in quantum science and engineering, the first program of its kind in Virginia and one of only a handful in the United States. Designed to meet growing workforce demand in one of the world's fastest-evolving technology sectors, the program prepares students to apply quantum technologies across disciplines including mathematics, physics, computing, engineering, cybersecurity, chemistry, and biology.

Designed to meet growing workforce demand in one of the world's fastest-evolving technology sectors, the MS program prepares students to apply quantum technologies across disciplines. Photo provided

Quantum technology is transforming industries ranging from computing and cybersecurity to healthcare and energy. As investment in quantum research and development continues to grow worldwide, so does the need for professionals who can bridge traditional STEM fields with emerging quantum technologies.

The degree was developed in direct response to industry demand for a workforce that can bridge traditional disciplines and emerging quantum technologies.

“When we talked to industry, they told us they want experts in STEM fields who also have knowledge of quantum science and engineering,” said Jessica Rosenberg, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and director of education for the Quantum Science and Engineering Center.

Reflecting the inherently interdisciplinary nature of the field, students enter the program with backgrounds in STEM disciplines, such as mathematics, physics, computer science, or engineering, and build quantum expertise alongside domain-specific knowledge. The curriculum integrates foundational training in quantum information science and engineering while allowing students to deepen their applied-area expertise through electives in external disciplines.

The master's program focuses on three key areas: quantum computing and algorithms, quantum communications and security, and quantum sensing and measurement technologies.

Rather than training students solely as quantum specialists, the program emphasizes preparing them to apply quantum tools within their primary fields.

Photo provided

“Our goal is not to train pure quantum scientists,” said Michael Jarret, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Department of Computer Science. “We're training professionals who can operate between domains—people who can connect quantum concepts to real-world applications.”

A defining feature of the program is its emphasis on experiential learning. Students complete a master's research project, often in collaboration with industry partners or research laboratories, gaining real-world experience in quantum applications and emerging technologies.

This flexible structure allows the program to evolve alongside the field itself. “As the quantum industry grows over the next decade, this degree is designed to adapt with it,” Jarret added.

Through this approach, graduates will be well-positioned to evaluate and implement quantum solutions in both academic and applied settings while also communicating complex concepts to diverse audiences. The program is designed to be accessible to a wide range of learners, from current undergraduates to working professionals.

911�� also offers a Bachelor’s-to-Accelerated Master’s (BAM) pathway, enabling qualified undergraduates at 911�� to begin working toward the degree during their junior or senior years. At the same time, the program welcomes students entering directly into the master’s, creating opportunities for both early-career and returning learners to engage with quantum technologies.

As quantum technologies continue to reshape fields from computing and cybersecurity to healthcare and energy, programs like 911��’s MS in quantum science and engineering are critical to building the next generation of talent.

This program is jointly offered by the College of Science and the College of Engineering and Computing.

Learn about the program

Topics

Campus News

College of Science

College of Engineering and Computing

quantum

911�� engineering team uses robotics to rethink accessibility

Katarina Benson — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:58:00 +0000

911�� engineering team uses robotics to rethink accessibility Katarina Benson Tue, 06/09/2026 - 09:58

Many accessibility surveys depend on manual measurements, handwritten notes, and extensive walkthroughs with compliance checklists. A team of 911�� engineering students wondered if a robot could do it faster. Nine months later, they created one.

The project, called Salus, combines robotics, LiDAR technology, object detection, GPS mapping, cloud-based analytics, and a custom-built website to help survey public spaces for potential ADA accessibility barriers. Developed as part of a College of Engineering and Computing senior capstone project by mechanical engineering majors Lexi Chivers, Connie Lam, Mariah Tammera, Noemi Umanzor, and Tyler Yared, the system is designed to automate portions of the accessibility surveying process while allowing engineers and designers to better understand how people with disabilities experience physical spaces.

The Salus team with the robotic accessibility surveying system they developed as part of their senior capstone project at 911��. Photo provided

Salus was one of several 911�� capstone projects supported through a GO Virginia-funded initiative led by the Nexus234 Innovation District, which pairs students with industry-informed challenges and mentors.

“We saw a system that was operating poorly, and we wanted to optimize it,” said Chivers, the team lead.

The idea originated when one of Chivers’ teammates attended a conference and discussed the difficulties of collecting large volumes of survey data in the field with industry professionals.

“They basically said, ‘We wish we had something we could send out to collect data and not have to constantly manage,’” said Chivers. “That conversation sparked everything.”

The project consumed most of the team’s weekends as they worked through testing, software integration, fabrication, and constant iteration.

“A lot of people told us we weren’t going to be able to do this in nine months,” said Chivers. “At one point, someone told us it would take two years and eight NASA engineers.”

Instead, the students delivered a working proof of concept before graduation.

As the robot moves through a space, it uses LiDAR sensors, GPS mapping, and onboard cameras to identify and document potential accessibility issues. The data is processed through cloud-based systems and displayed through an interactive website. Rather than sorting through raw data, users can explore flagged locations through an interactive visual map built by the team.

For Chivers, the project also had a personal connection. She said her mother’s job teaching students with disabilities influenced the team’s conversations around accessibility and inclusion. “Just because something legally meets ADA standards doesn’t always mean it’s truly accessible for those with disabilities,” she said.

Kenan Aden, COO of Didlake and the team’s industry mentor, was introduced to the student team through Nexus234. He said the project impressed him both from its technical complexity and for the problem it set out to tackle.

“The entire team approached this project with an incredible level of determination and systems thinking,” said Aden. “What makes it especially meaningful is that they never lost sight of the people this technology is intended to help.”

"This team’s focus and dedication have been extremely impressive," said Leigh McCue, professor and chair of 911��’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. "Any time I popped my head into the senior design space, or walked visitors through for a tour, the team was hard at work and eager to showcase their technology."

One of the most rewarding parts of the experience for Chivers was discovering the kind of engineer she wants to become.

“I thought I wanted to stay in the background,” said Chivers. “But this project made me realize I really love being a leader, solving problems, and doing things that actually matter to people.”

Currently, the students are working with 911��’s Office of Technology Transfer to explore patent protection for the project’s intellectual property. Although the team is still deciding what comes next, Chivers said the technology has potential beyond the capstone project itself, including with construction firms, municipalities, designers, and accessibility planners.

In her advice to other entrepreneurs, Chivers said, “Your dreams are never too big. You just haven’t found all the tools you need to make them happen yet.”

Learn about Research at 911��

Topics

College of Engineering and Computing

Timing the perfect hardware hack

tdonnel — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:35:43 +0000

Timing the perfect hardware hack tdonnel Tue, 06/09/2026 - 09:35

Roombas have become a familiar part of everyday life, quietly navigating living rooms and kitchens. But behind that convenience is a complex system of sensors, algorithms, and data processing—and, as a group of 911�� cyber security engineering (CYSE) students—Finn Schaefer, Ryan Lam, Sidarth Kumar, Jimmy Tram, and Neil Sharma—discovered, a surprising vulnerability. Their capstone project research was accepted for presentation at one of the most prestigious venues for hardware-based security research, the IEEE International Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security and Trust (HOST).

“It just scans the room, goes around, and starts mapping," said Finn Schaefer, comparing the vacuum cleaner to the robot at the center of his team's project.

These autonomous systems rely on technologies like LiDAR and SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) to build a virtual map of their environment and navigate safely. However, that same reliance on sensor data also opens the door to cyberattacks that can alter a robot’s perception, sometimes with dramatic consequences.

From left to right: Finn Schaefer, Neil Sharma, Ryan Lam, Sidarth Kumar, and Jimmy Tram. Photo provided.

The capstone project, advised by Assistant Professor Tanvir Arafin, challenged students to explore exactly that risk. From the outset, Arafin encouraged an open-ended, research-driven approach.

“Professor Arafin basically told us to try to break ROS, a robot operating system,” Schaefer said.

The assignment functioned as a “red-team” exercise, pushing students to think like attackers to understand vulnerabilities in autonomous systems.

The team’s early ideas focused on overwhelming the robot with false data, effectively flooding it with noise. But this proved too obvious. That initial concept “was really simple and easy to detect,” said Ryan Lam. A more subtle approach would be needed to create a meaningful, realistic attack.

Their breakthrough came in the form of a timing-based method that mimicked the robot’s normal operating patterns. Instead of bombarding the system, they carefully injected altered sensor data at precisely the right intervals.

“We eventually got to our more elegant solution, where we’re able to match the timing pattern that the robot actually expects,” Schaefer said. Because the manipulated data looked plausible and arrived in the expected cadence, the robot accepted it as real.

A judge examines the team's robot at the CYSE senior design event. Photo by Teresa Donnellan/CEC

The effect was striking: the robot’s internal map gradually diverged from reality. Even small manipulations could cause significant errors.

“With 2- to 5-percent drift, it would crash into walls,” Schaefer said.

In some cases, the system could be tricked into perceiving obstacles that didn’t exist. “It would see a wall that’s not actually there,” he added.

The team also demonstrated the ability to shrink or expand the robot’s perceived environment, causing navigation failures.

To prove the effectiveness of their approach, the students combined simulated analysis with real-world testing. They compared baseline maps to manipulated ones over time and observed the robot attempting to navigate using corrupted data.

“These comparisons served as the proof that we used to say that this works,” said team member Sidarth Kumar.

Additional testing showed that the attack remained effective even under network congestion.

This capstone project reflects Arafin’s broader work to secure the next generation of mobility systems, from connected vehicles to robotics. Moreover, the students came away with a deeper understanding of the emerging field of hardware security.

Tanvir Arafin (center) with the 2026 senior capstone teams he advised. Photo provided.

“This is an exceptional accomplishment and a testament to the curriculum rigor of the Cyber Security Engineering Department, reinforcing a tradition of excellence in undergraduate research at CYSE,” said Arafin. “Over the last few years, CYSE undergraduate students from our group have earned recognition at multiple national and international venues in transportation and autonomous systems security, notably the best demo award in the 18th Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks and the first, second, and third places at the National Transportation Cybersecurity Competition. All of these accomplishments highlights both the students’ dedication and the strength of undergraduate research within our CYSE Department.”

In an era where autonomous systems are becoming increasingly common, from household robots to self-driving cars, the team’s work underscores a critical lesson: If a machine’s understanding of the world can be manipulated, so can its behavior. What seems like a harmless household device may, under the hood, share the same vulnerabilities as far more complex systems. And as these students demonstrated, understanding those vulnerabilities is the first step toward securing the future of autonomous technology.

Discover more Research at 911��

Learn more about the College of Engineering and Computing

In This Story

Tanvir Arafin

Topics

Cybersecurity Research

Senior Capstone Project

Undergraduate Research

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

competitions

Students

Why did the AI agent cross the road?

tdonnel — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 18:31:17 +0000

Why did the AI agent cross the road? tdonnel Mon, 06/08/2026 - 14:31

Workshopping, an iterative process where creators share ideas, test what works, and refine what doesn’t through collective feedback, is at the heart of any writers’ group. This collaborative dynamic inspired 911�� PhD students Shiwei Hong to explore whether artificial intelligence (AI) could benefit from a similar approach.

Hong developed a novel multi-agent system that simulates a collaborative comedy writing environment in which AI agents generate, critique, and refine humorous content together. Her research, recently accepted to the prestigious 64th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, investigates how structured interaction among AI agents can improve creative output.

Shiwei Hong. Photo provided.

Humor remains challenging for artificial intelligence. “Generating a joke or something that is very funny is actually a very tricky question, because it requires a lot of how humans interpret the generated piece,” said Hong, who is working on a degree in computer science.

She created a “sandbox” environment to mirror real-world creative collaboration, populated by 35 AI agents assigned distinct roles and personalities powered by GPT-4.

“Five agents acted as performers. The rest acted as critics or audience members,” said Hong.

Designing 35 unique agent personas required imagination as well as technical expertise. Drawing on her interest in writing fiction, Hong created characters with varied social and cultural backgrounds, adding depth to the simulated interactions.

In one experimental environment, the performer agents generated two scripts in sequence without feedback; in another, they engaged the audience members in critique and discussion between the rounds of generation. The difference was significant.

Human evaluators compared outputs across multiple criteria, such as humor, coherence, and social tone. In more than 70 percent of cases, evaluators preferred scripts produced in the second round of the discussion-based environment.

The improvement appears to stem from collective learning. As agents interact, they build on shared insights, identifying patterns in audience preferences and refining their outputs accordingly. Technically, this process is supported by a shared conversational memory stored in a vector database, allowing agents to retrieve relevant past exchanges and incorporate them into new content. The result is an iterative, emergent form of creativity that begins to resemble human collaboration.

Looking ahead, Hong and her advisor, Assistant Professor Zhicong Lu, aim to expand the system by incorporating human participants and richer modes of interaction. Future directions include integrating voice, gestures, and immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality to better capture the nuances of live performance.

“In real comedy, we have faces, gestures, and real voices,” she said. “We hope to bring more of that into the system.”

By demonstrating that workshopping can significantly enhance machine-generated humor, Hong’s work suggests the future of artificial intelligence may lie not only in more advanced individual models, but also in communities of agents learning, creating, and perhaps even laughing together.

Overview of Multi-Agent Comedy Club. Credit: arXiv (2026). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2602.14770

Learn about Artificial Intelligence at 911��

Explore Research at 911��

Topics

Human Computer Interaction

computer science

College of Engineering and Computing

Artificial Intelligence

doctoral students

Research

911�� engineering students turn personal experience into accessibility innovation

ckearney — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 20:58:30 +0000

911�� engineering students turn personal experience into accessibility innovation ckearney Tue, 06/02/2026 - 16:58

For Owais Yousuf, inspiration began at home. His father, who contracted polio as a child, relied on crutches to move through daily life. Growing up, Yousuf watched him navigate airports and crowded spaces with difficulty. Three of his fellow 911�� mechanical engineering students had similar experiences with relatives who struggled with mobility. The four of them began wondering: How do you make airport travel more independent and less stressful for people with mobility challenges?

From left, Calvin Nguyen, Javier Carpio Jota, Turner Applegate, and Owais Yousuf, creators of the B-Drive, with their prototype. Photo provided

The answer to that question became B-Drive, a senior capstone project developed by Yousuf, Turner Applegate, Javier Carpio Jota, and Calvin Nguyen that combines autonomous navigation, computer vision, and adaptive mobility technology to help wheelchair users move through transportation hubs on their own terms.

B-Drive was one of several 911�� capstone projects supported through a GO Virginia-funded initiative, led by the Nexus234 Innovation District, which pairs students with industry mentors and opportunities to address pressing needs.

"The people we love aren't just statistics," said Yousuf, the team's lead. "They're people we care about. We've seen the frustrations they face firsthand. That experience gave us the context to build something that could provide them some relief."

As the team dug deeper, they found that navigating a large airport can present obstacles at nearly every step. Long walks, unfamiliar layouts, limited assistance, and confusing signs can make traveling on their own difficult for many passengers.

To better understand those barriers, the team participated in the National Science Foundation's I-Corps program, which helps entrepreneurs move a business idea or discovery toward licensing or commercialization. Program participants assess the commercial viability of their idea by conducting customer interviews and working closely with a mentor. Yousuf and his team spoke with travelers, transportation professionals, accessibility advocates, and industry experts.

"We consistently heard that people wanted the freedom to move through an airport with greater dignity and confidence," said Yousuf.

Those conversations led to B-Drive. The team decided early on that B-Drive needed to fit into existing airport operations, so they designed it to work with wheelchairs already found in many airports.

Bringing B-Drive to life required more than technical expertise. After delays in obtaining testing equipment, the team drove to New Jersey to buy a wheelchair themselves rather than wait.

Members of the B-Drive team demonstrate their prototype. Photo provided

Their persistence impressed Robert "Bob" Schneider, executive director of OmniRide and the team's industry mentor, who was introduced to the students through Nexus234.

"They didn't let anything stop them. They went out and got it done," said Schneider.

Schneider guided the students as they narrowed the project's scope and found a realistic way to put their ideas into action. He suggested the team pick one clear, manageable use case. They decided to focus on a journey that’s familiar to many travelers at Washington Dulles International Airport: getting from the Silver Line Metro station to their destination inside the airport.

As the project progressed, the students began thinking beyond the classroom. The team is currently exploring intellectual property protection and potential avenues for commercialization through 911��'s Office of Technology Transfer.

Leigh McCue, professor and chair of 911��’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, believes that moving from classroom projects to real-world applications is among the most valuable lessons for students.

"One of the hardest parts of engineering is defining the right problem to solve," said McCue. "This team resisted the temptation to build technology for its own sake and grounded their approach in the experiences of the people they aimed to empower.”

The project also prompted Yousuf to rethink what it means to be an engineer. "Engineering is ultimately about people," said Yousuf. "Technology is only valuable if it improves someone's life. That's what motivated us from the beginning, and it's what continues to motivate us now."

Graduation marked the end of the capstone project, but the team hopes B-Drive's story is only beginning. The goal remains the same for Yousuf as when the project first started on a whiteboard.

"We're not going to stop until we bring a smile to people's faces," said Yousuf. "That's what this has always been about."

In This Story

Leigh McCue-Weil

More Mechanical Engineering from 911��

Topics

College of Engineering and Computing

Science and Technology Campus

911�� PhD student recognized for blockchain privacy research

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:51:19 +0000

911�� PhD student recognized for blockchain privacy research Nathan Kahl Tue, 06/02/2026 - 06:51

911�� computer science doctoral student Aayush Yadav co-authored a paper that received a Distinguished Paper Award from the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, one of the industry’s premier conferences in the security field. The conference typically accepts around 13 percent of submissions.

Aayush Yadav. Photo provided

The paper addresses a growing challenge in blockchain technology—how to protect sensitive transaction information before it becomes public, focusing on improving privacy protections within blockchain systems while maintaining the transparency and decentralized structure that define the technology.

His research grew out of an internship last summer with Category Labs, a company developing blockchain tools and infrastructure. The work addresses a vulnerability tied to how blockchain transactions are processed before they are officially added to the chain. Traditionally, blockchain transactions are publicly visible before they are finalized. That visibility allows entities responsible for processing transactions to potentially manipulate their order for financial gain.

“These entities can act maliciously in some way,” Yadav said. “Because this information is public, these actors know the direction of the order of the transactions before the rest of the public. And they can take advantage of that.” Consider that if an actor sees that someone is about to make a major purchase or sale, they can quickly place their own trade first, causing the market price to change. The original user then receives a worse price than expected, while the actor profits from the price movement, effectively creating a hidden cost for the user.

The team’s research focuses on encrypting transactions while they are waiting to be processed, helping prevent that kind of exploitation. The goal is to encrypt or hide transactions as they are sent, revealing them later.

The paper introduces new approaches to what researchers call “mempool privacy,” referring to the protection of transaction data before it becomes part of the public blockchain ledger. The work also explores “threshold encryption,” which requires multiple parties to work together to decrypt transaction data, helping eliminate single points of trust or failure.

Yadav, who is completing his PhD in computer science this year, said his interest in theoretical computer science and algorithms started early in his academic career. “I enjoyed the process of solving problems that were algorithmic in nature,” he said. “Thinking about these abstract things, but then also being able to solve them concretely using an algorithm, is very satisfying.”

He chose 911�� in part because of the university’s large computer science faculty and breadth of expertise. After arriving at 911�� in 2021, Yadav took his first cryptography course with Foteini Baldimtsi, an experience that shaped the direction of his research. “It had the right mix of theory and practice. The problems are very theoretical in some sense, and the way you solve them is theoretical, but at the same time they are grounded in real applications.”

“I am very proud of Aayush,” said Baldimtsi. “Throughout his PhD, he has worked on some of the most important challenges in modern cryptography, including signature protocols and privacy-preserving authentication for digital identities, while also focusing on post-quantum security. The award is a well-deserved recognition of his talent, dedication, and impact on the field.”

Later this year he will start a tenured-track faculty position at his alma mater, Rutgers University–Camden.

In This Story

Foteini Baldimtsi

More from the College of Engineering and Computing

Topics

College of Engineering and Computing

Students

Chaos theory finds its voice

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 19 May 2026 15:42:55 +0000

Chaos theory finds its voice Nathan Kahl Tue, 05/19/2026 - 11:42

Talk may be cheap, but it is still rich with data, and 911��'s Anomadarshi Barua is using artificial intelligence (AI) and a new approach to chaos theory to rebuild missing pieces of speech with incredible accuracy.

"When we talk, our voices have a frequency component from zero kilohertz (kHz) to around 8 kHz," said Barua, an assistant professor in the Department of Cyber Security Engineering. "Capturing all those frequencies normally requires devices to collect and process large amounts of data, which consumes power, storage, and computing resources."

He will present a paper he coauthored on this topic at the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) annual meeting later this summer. ACL is one of the world's leading conferences in natural language processing and speech technologies, and the paper was accepted in the top 15 percent of accepted submissions at a conference with a 19 percent acceptance rate overall.

Smaller devices and sensors operating with limited battery life or bandwidth have difficulty capturing an entire signal, and so record a smaller slice, attempting to reconstruct the missing frequencies later. Barua says this is known as bandwidth extension or bandwidth reconstruction.

Imagine listening to a song through a wall and trying to mentally fill in the muffled higher notes. Barua's research teaches AI systems to do something similar, but with far greater mathematical precision. The team's major breakthrough came from incorporating a concept not often associated with speech: chaos theory.

"Our speech is actually a chaotic signal," Barua said. "'Chaos' does not mean completely random."

Instead, he describes speech as "deterministically random," meaning sounds and phonemes are strongly connected to one another in predictable ways. "You can actually determine what could be the next phoneme if you have the sufficient information from the previous phoneme," he said.

To capture those hidden relationships, the researchers developed what Barua calls a "chaotic discriminator" inside a machine-learning framework known as a generative adversarial network, or GAN. In simple terms, one part of the AI system generates reconstructed speech while another checks whether the recreated speech preserves the natural chaotic patterns found in human voices.

The approach significantly improved reconstruction quality compared to previous methods. "We are getting more improved results compared to the previous baseline," Barua said, "because of the incorporation of the chaotic properties."

By integrating chaos-informed modeling, the team dramatically reduced the size of the AI system needed for reconstruction. "We actually reduce the size of the discriminator by 14 times," Barua said. Smaller models require less memory and computing power, making them more practical for real-world devices.

For Barua, whose earlier work focused primarily on cybersecurity before expanding into speech and natural language processing, the ACL conference's acceptance marks an important milestone. "This is my first paper in natural language processing," he said.

While the current paper focuses on speech, Barua sees much broader possibilities ahead. The same reconstruction techniques could eventually be applied to electrical signals, sonar, lidar, and other sensing technologies. "This concept is not only limited to speech," he said. "We are trying to open up a larger branch in different signal modality."

And that message comes through loud and clear.

In This Story

Anomadarshi Barua

Explore Cybersecurity at 911��

Powering Artificial Intelligence

Topics

Cybersecurity

Department of Cyber Security Engineering

natural language processing

large language models

Artificial Intelligence

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

Building a strong foundation one course at a time

sbrown79 — Fri, 15 May 2026 17:26:49 +0000

Building a strong foundation one course at a time sbrown79 Fri, 05/15/2026 - 13:26

As one of the key focal points of 911��’s Grand Challenge Initiative, building a climate-resilient society requires not just innovation in sustainable infrastructure, but innovation in how the university prepares future leaders in sustainability.

Assistant professor Xijin “Emma” Zhang recently launched CEIE 499/619 Innovations in Civil Engineering Materials, a first-of-its-kind special topics course in 911��’s College of Engineering and Computing that aims to give students—undergraduate and graduate alike from any degree program — a strong foundation in the emerging technologies that are reshaping the future of civil engineering.

Emma Zhang presents to her students. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

The course was developed after Zhang submitted a proposal to the Institute for a Sustainable Earth’s Creating Impactful Research Connections Through Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) program. Following panel review, the proposal was selected for development, an outcome that underscores 911��’s emphasis on translating research into real-world solutions.

“My hope is that the course helps students understand how climate issues impact material properties and how we can improve material properties [when designing] future infrastructure,” said Zhang.

In the course, students study the fundamental physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of major construction materials, including aggregates, steel, concrete, asphalt, and wood. This course also introduces students to analytical techniques for assessing material performance and explores how advancements in civil engineering materials are influencing modern design, construction, and sustainability practices.

“I noticed that there was an opportunity to further expand students’ exposure to civil engineering materials within the CEIE program, and I really wanted to help students become more familiar with this topic,” Zhang said. “While developing this course, I spoke with government agencies and community partners that specialize in sustainability design in the Northern Virginia area and beyond to better understand the skills and knowledge communities and industries are seeking from future professionals in terms of sustainable infrastructure techniques and materials.”

One of Zhang's students presents his work. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

Those conversations also highlight another defining strength of 911��: its close connections to government, industry, and regional partners. Zhang engaged with organizations including Northern Virginia Regional Commission, Federal Highway Administration’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Virginia Department of Transportation. 

 Discovery interviews with these partners helped shape the course around real-world priorities such as safety, cost efficiency, and sustainability maintenance. In turn, students’ semester projects focus on analyzing the life-cycle of construction materials, encouraging them to think critically about how engineering decisions affect both infrastructure performance and environmental outcomes.

In preparing the course, Zhang also worked with 911��’s University Sustainability to learn more about sustainable materials and practices already being implemented across campuses.

“I ask students to think about how materials are produced. For example, we need to consider their manufacturing process and the amount of carbon emissions associated with it,” Zhang said. “Also, I encourage students to think about what happens at the end of the materials’ life cycle, how can we recycle or re-utilize it for another project?”

Zhang said she hopes students will carry this mindset into their future careers in the civil engineering industry.

Senior civil engineering major Andres Lozano already sees how the course connects classroom learning to real-world impact Lozano hopes to enter the civil engineering field, specializing in structural and water resources engineering.

“I see this class as an opportunity to learn about innovations in materials and to contribute to the industry with new applications that are not yet widely used in current practice,” Lozano said. “There is still a gap between research and field implementation, but in Professor Zhang’s class, we’re working toward filling that gap by analyzing the performance and sustainability of current material applications and exploring potential improvements for future practice.”

Lozano, a Bachelor’s to Accelerated Master’s student, also works as a research assistant in 911��’s Flood Hazards Research Lab revising projects for real-world clients from jurisdictions such as Fairfax County, Arlington County, the City of Petersburg, the City of Emporia, and the Town of Jarratt in Virginia.

Zhang and her students in the Engineering Building. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

“The bridge infrastructure in Virginia and throughout the country is facing challenges related to aging, durability and rehabilitation,” Lozano said. “I see myself contributing to the development of rehabilitation strategies, that strengthen infrastructure resilience and protect the communities that depend on it. This course’s focus on materials and construction methodologies is such a good fit for me, and I now feel more prepared to take on these challenges in a professional setting.”

Through courses like Innovations in Civil Engineering Materials, 911�� is equipping students with the technical expertise, collaborative mindset, and community-connected experience needed to lead in a rapidly changing world. In doing so, the university continues to advance its mission of producing knowledge that matters—and solutions that strengthen communities locally and globally.

In This Story

Emma (Xijin) Zhang

Explore Sustaintability at 911��

Topics

Sustainability

College of Engineering and Computing

Community Engagement

Bachelor’s to Accelerated Master’s

innovative classes

Students

Disrupting disaster response: Systems engineering students get top spot in Patriot Pitch

Nathan Kahl — Thu, 07 May 2026 16:44:16 +0000

Disrupting disaster response: Systems engineering students get top spot in Patriot Pitch Nathan Kahl Thu, 05/07/2026 - 12:44

What began as a routine college course quickly turned into an innovation with real‑world impact for a team of systems engineering students, winning first place in the 911�� Patriot Pitch Social Impact Track along with a People’s Choice Award. The team also captured first place in the U.S. Military Academy System Engineering Design Competition.

“One minute we were playing video games in our dorm room. The next we were in the system engineering capstone class designing ways to deliver humanitarian aid to citizens in distress,” said Tim Shipman, a senior system engineering major. “Systems engineering is mind‑blowing.”

The student team set out to address a growing global challenge. According to team lead Hocine Filali, the demand for humanitarian aid is increasing. “Over the last 10 years, an average of 380 natural disasters per year required humanitarian aid delivery,” he said.

One major bottleneck in disaster response is transporting aid from cargo ships—often anchored up to five miles offshore—to temporary distribution warehouses on land. Traditionally, aid is transferred using helicopters, ferry boats, or trucks traveling across floating causeways.

To evaluate these options, the team developed a stochastic simulation model comparing three delivery methods for transporting 10,000 aid pallets over a 90‑day period. “Ferry boats are the least expensive option, but they’re also very slow,” said team member Alan Garcia. “Floating causeways are costly and take too long to install. Helicopters can deliver aid quickly, but they cost about twice as much as ferries.”

Beyond technical modeling, the students conducted interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from nongovernmental organizations, aid workers, and military personnel involved in humanitarian missions.

“The ecosystem is incredibly complex,” said team member Nesma Khalafalla. “Economics, regulations, and politics often create perverse incentives. One thing became clear very quickly: if aid could move from ship to shore as fast as helicopters but at a lower cost, it would fundamentally improve the system.”

Exploring alternatives, the team examined the use of remotely piloted, heavy‑lift electric drones, an emerging technology capable of matching helicopter speeds at significantly lower operating costs. However, the drones presented a critical limitation. “The problem is battery recharge time,” explained team member Amr Hamza. “It slows the entire operation.”

A depiction of the Automated Floating Power Line System. Image provided.

The breakthrough came when the team discovered a catenary power system—an overhead power system similar to those used by city trams. In this approach, drones draw continuous power from an overhead electric line through what’s known as a pantograph, eliminating the need for battery recharging.

Designing that power infrastructure posed the next challenge. “We needed a power line that could stretch five miles from ship-to-shore,” said Shipman. “Our solution was a series of floating utility poles equipped with propellers that allow them to motor into position and hold steady against ocean currents. Detailed simulation models showed the concept is feasible.” The result was the Automated Floating Power Line System (AFPLS), a novel approach to ship‑to‑shore humanitarian aid delivery.

“The comprehensive nature of this design really showcases the power of system engineering,” said Guiping Hu, chair of the Systems Engineering and Operations Research Department. “We are extremely proud of our students and their ability to tackle complex, real‑world problems.”

“I highly recommend this course to any undergraduates who really want to learn how to develop innovative solutions to the world’s toughest problems,” said Filali.

Topics

Systems Engineering and Operations Research

Patriot Pitch Competition

competitions

Students

College of Engineering and Computing

911�� students fly into first place with no GPS, no grade, and (almost) no problems

tdonnel — Mon, 04 May 2026 18:53:10 +0000

911�� students fly into first place with no GPS, no grade, and (almost) no problems tdonnel Mon, 05/04/2026 - 14:53

Driven by passion, persistence, and what they call “the love of the game,” a group of 911�� students affiliated with the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC) claimed first place at the 2026 Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition at EagleBank Arena on April 24, 2026.

Meah Chambers and Gagan Manjunatha at the competition. Photo by Andani Munkaila/Office of University Branding

The competition challenged student teams to design and deploy autonomous aerial and ground vehicle systems capable of executing a series of increasingly complex missions. Unlike prior outdoor iterations, the 2026 competition eliminated access to GPS, forcing teams to rely on advanced onboard sensing and visual navigation techniques to orient themselves in space. EagleBank Arena has been hosting national robotics competitions since 2023 with support from an Office of Naval Research grant to transform the venue into a robotics experimentation and sporting venue.

911��’s autonomous robotics team rose to the challenge. Over the course of the competition, their system successfully completed all three mission objectives, earning the top overall score and securing first place. The win capped months of late nights and creative problem-solving by a team that was not competing for a grade, credit, or formal requirement, but purely out of enthusiasm for robotics.

“This isn’t even an official club yet,” said computer science major Gagan Manjunatha. “We’re here for the love of the game.”

For many teams at the competition, participation counts as a senior design project. 911��’s team, however, had no such structure. “A lot of teams do use this as their senior design project, but the nice thing about us not doing it is that we have people that can come back year after year,” said team lead Meah Chambers, a junior majoring in electrical engineering.

Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

“I like the hands-on experience,” she said. This was Chambers’ third robotics team competition, each of which she found rewarding. “It’s like I’ve done three mini senior designs. I like the design team experience, working on a team for an end goal.”

The technical demands of the competition were steep. Challenge one required a drone to autonomously take off from a moving ground vehicle and land back on it. The second challenge layered on autonomous search and detection, requiring the drone to identify a visual tag, communicate its location, and guide the ground vehicle to the target. A third challenge added obstacle detection and avoidance for both aerial and ground systems.

To meet those demands, the team divided into drone and ground sub‑teams, with students specializing in software, hardware, mechanical design, and systems integration. Majors across electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science were represented. Visual‑inertial simultaneous localization and mapping (VSLAM) replaced GPS, allowing the drone to understand its position using cameras and onboard sensors.

“We were given the challenges in September and two semesters to plan and work on our system,” said electrical engineering major Emma Misevschi. Without senior design funding or course integration, students volunteered their time over the academic year to design, build, test, and refine their system. “Everything just happened to come together this week,” she said.

Some members of 911��'s 2026 Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition team. Photo by Andani Munkaila/Creative Services/911��.

Funding constraints added another layer of difficulty. While funding for system components were provided by competition sponsor Raytheon, the money arrived late in the academic year, forcing the team to borrow equipment, lean on shared research lab resources, and compress months of testing into intense overnight sessions.

Despite many team members having stayed up testing into the wee hours of the night before the competition, spirits were high at the end of the first day of the two-day competition. Chambers joked, “Two hours is like a nice nap instead of sleeping for the night.”

Computer engineering major and ground team lead Logan Teyema added the (understandably tired) motto of hustle culture, “Water is life, food is fuel, and sleep is a crutch.”

In the end, their teamwork paid off. When the judges arrived, 911��’s system performed cleanly and consistently, earning top marks across the challenges and finishing first overall.

The full team includes Luis Anchundia, James Daniel, Konraad Ludwig, Hassan Youssef, Emma Misevschi, Thomas Fletcher, Christopher Romero-Klevisha, Toan Do, Meah Chambers, Gagan Manjunatha, Connor Roberts, William Maynard, Logan Teyema, Ellie Kwon, Rico Rodriguez, Nick Kasa, and Yousif Alani. Faculty advisors include Cameron Nowzari, Xuesu Xiao, and Ningshi Yao.

Are you interested in joining the team? Learn more on the team’s website and watch a video about their experiences.

Learn about MARC

In This Story

Cameron Nowzari

Ningshi Yao

Xuesu Xiao

Topics

robotics and autonomous systems

competitions

Electrical Engineering

Computer Engineering

computer science

Students

College of Engineering and Computing

robotics

Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center

College of Engineering and Computing

911�� launches new MS in quantum science and engineering

Related News

Topics

911�� engineering team uses robotics to rethink accessibility

Related Stories

Topics

Timing the perfect hardware hack

Related Stories

In This Story

Topics

Why did the AI agent cross the road?

Related Stories

Topics

911�� engineering students turn personal experience into accessibility innovation

In This Story

Related News

Topics

911�� PhD student recognized for blockchain privacy research

In This Story

Related News

Topics

Chaos theory finds its voice

In This Story

Related Stories

Topics

Building a strong foundation one course at a time

In This Story

Related Stories

Topics

Disrupting disaster response: Systems engineering students get top spot in Patriot Pitch

Topics

911�� students fly into first place with no GPS, no grade, and (almost) no problems

Related Stories

In This Story

Topics

College of Engineering and Computing

911���� launches new MS in quantum science and engineering

Related News

Topics

911���� engineering team uses robotics to rethink accessibility

Related Stories

Topics

Timing the perfect hardware hack

Related Stories

In This Story

Topics

Why did the AI agent cross the road?

Related Stories

Topics

911���� engineering students turn personal experience into accessibility innovation

In This Story

Related News

Topics

911���� PhD student recognized for blockchain privacy research

In This Story

Related News

Topics

Chaos theory finds its voice

In This Story

Related Stories

Topics

Building a strong foundation one course at a time

In This Story

Related Stories

Topics

Disrupting disaster response: Systems engineering students get top spot in Patriot Pitch

Topics

911���� students fly into first place with no GPS, no grade, and (almost) no problems

Related Stories

In This Story

Topics

911�� launches new MS in quantum science and engineering

911�� engineering team uses robotics to rethink accessibility

911�� engineering students turn personal experience into accessibility innovation

911�� PhD student recognized for blockchain privacy research

911�� students fly into first place with no GPS, no grade, and (almost) no problems