Title

Topic

  • ‘Aligning Economic Measurement With Well-Being: Sustainability’

    “Gross domestic product (GDP) has been the prevailing global metric for measuring economic growth for the past 70 years. This is the same time period that is credited with the observation of manmade climate change. … To the extent that market prices and participants do not include holistic impacts of resource use and instead determine value based on immediate gratification, GDP growth is correlated with negative externalities, which impose limits on the future quality of life. … In this chapter, we explore how GDP gained traction on a global scale and how the indicator is tied to climate change.”

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  • ‘The Interplay Among Savings Accounts and Network-Based Financial Arrangements: Evidence From a Field Experiment’

    “This paper studies how formal financial access affects network-based financial arrangements. We use a field experiment that granted access to a savings account to a random subset of households in 19 Nepalese villages. Exploiting a unique panel dataset that follows all bilateral informal financial transactions before and after the intervention, we show that households that were offered access to an account increased their loans and total transfers to others, independent of the treatment status of the receiver.” Find the paper and full list of authors at The Economic Journal.

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  • ‘Small Business Lending and the Bank-Branch Network’

    “I examine the role of bank’s distance to the borrower and the proximity of other lenders for the transmission of financial shocks across the bank network. I use a novel dataset of small business lending based on information from the Community Reinvestment Act, which measures lending at census tract groups within each county and yields rich variation. … I document that small banks with increased liquidity from proximity to local oil booms, originate more loans to firms far from these booms, and lenders with above-average geographic exposure to residential booms reduce lending in census tract groups with stable house prices.”

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  • ‘Designing Engagement: A Student-Based Perspective of the Economics of Crime’

    “This paper, developed by participants in an Economics of Crime course at Northeastern University in conjunction with their professor, highlights student perspectives of the relationship between the economic system, its operations and institutions, and the marginalization and victimization of Black people. The paper addresses specific attributes of the course curriculum that facilitated student understanding of these topics, and in doing so suggests an alternative pedagogy for discussing crime from an economics disciplinary perspective.” Find the paper and full list of authors at Contemporary Justice Review.

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  • Hajjar receives leadership award for contributions to civil engineering education

    “The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has awarded … Jerome F. Hajjar, CDM Smith Professor and chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University, the 2023 Thomas A. Lenox Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Leadership Award for extraordinary leadership in civil engineering education. The award was presented at the Civil Engineering Division Banquet at the 2023 Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education in Baltimore, Maryland.”

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  • Developing new generation of intelligent tutoring systems for advanced manufacturing

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    “Mechanical and industrial engineering assistant professor Mohsen Moghaddam is leading a $850K NSF grant for ‘Accelerating Skill Acquisition in Complex Psychomotor Tasks via an Intelligent Extended Reality Tutoring System.’ Project collaborators include Northeastern University co-principal investigators Kemi Jona, assistant vice chancellor for digital innovation and enterprise learning, Casper Harteveld, associate professor of game design and associate dean of the College of Arts, Media and Design and Mehmet Kosa, postdoctoral research associate working with Casper. This project builds upon the ongoing research of the PI at the intersection of AI and augmented, virtual, and mixed reality, sponsored by NSF, DARPA, and…

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  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research provides $540K grant for video anomaly detection

    “Electrical and computer engineering and Khoury College of Computer Science professor Yun Raymond Fu received a $540,000 Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant to address video anomaly detection through deep learning and perturbation techniques.”

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  • Northeastern researchers claim two editorial roles for Written Communication

    Mya Poe, associate professor in the department of English and Tieanna Graphenreed, PhD. student in English, have become co-editors of Written Communication, along with Dylan B. Dryer, University of Maine. They write that they “hope to further enrich Written Communication in four ways: First, we aim to increase the journal’s visibility as a potential home for work by scholars based in Asia, Africa, and South America. … Second, Written Communication will continue to advance methodological representation. … Third, we are planning to roll out a series of novel text-types. … Fourth, … we hope to reanimate the journal’s important role…

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  • Wanunu receives $2M grant for ‘single-molecule’ protein identification

    “Meni Wanunu, associate professor of physics and bioengineering affiliated faculty member, received a $2,000,000 R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) for ‘Asymmetric Single-Chain MspA Nanopores for Electroosmotic Stretching and Sequencing Proteins.’ … [Wanunu and collaborators] will develop a next-generation single-molecule protein sequencer based on engineered high-resolution nanopores. Protein identification and/or single-molecule protein sequencing from minute amounts could revolutionize our understanding of health by providing a picture of the molecular state of the cell at the level of its most functional molecules.”

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  • Advancing distributed optimization for non-convex problems

    “Mechanical and industrial engineering assistant professor Shahin Shahrampour has received a $500,000 NSF grant, in collaboration with Texas A&M University, to address ‘Consensus and Distributed Optimization in Non-Convex Environments With Applications to Networked Machine Learning.'”

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  • Improving efficiency of data-centric computing

    “Electrical and computer engineering professor Edmund Yeh was awarded a patent for ‘Network and Method for Servicing a Computation Request.'”

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  • Minkara serves as moderator for intersection of disability panel

    “Bioengineering assistant professor Mona Minkara served as a moderator for the ‘Intersection of Disability Panel’ at the Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM: A National Leadership Summit held on June 5, 2023.” Click on “Learn More” to watch the video.

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  • Understanding cell transitions in tumor development

    “University distinguished professor Herbert Levine, physics and bioengineering, in collaboration with Brown University and MD Anderson Cancer Center, is leading a $1,200,000 NSF grant for determining the ‘Regulation of Cellular Stemness During the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT).'”

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  • ‘Predictors and Consequences of Pro-Environmental Behavior at Work’

    “Increasingly, people are looking for meaning through their jobs, for employers that have a positive impact on the world, and for workplaces that promote mission-driven behavior. One such mission that is a growing priority is addressing climate change, especially for younger cohorts entering the workforce. Addressing the climate crisis will necessitate substantial changes at all levels of society, including organizational change. This paper examines individual, social, and contextual variables that are associated with pro-environmental behavior (PEB).” Find the paper and full list of authors at ResearchGate.

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  • The math says that parents shouldn’t worry over shootings as students head back to school, says Northeastern researcher

    Professor of criminology, law and public policy James Alan Fox, and a principal researcher for the Northeastern University Mass Killing Database, writes that, while anxiety around rising numbers of school shootings are understandable, “The real epidemic is fear.” Fox argues that the data shows “Our nation’s schools are safe. In fact, only one-half of 1% of school-age victims of gun homicide are killed at school. Children are safer in school, where they have supervision and structure, than on playgrounds, ball fields and street corners. Indeed, some are safer at school than in their own home.”

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  • ‘Microbial Chemolithoautotrophs are Abundant in Salt Marsh Sediment Following Long-Term Experimental Nitrate Enrichment’

    “Long-term anthropogenic nitrate (NO3−) enrichment is a serious threat to many coastal systems. Nitrate reduction coupled with the oxidation of reduced forms of sulfur is conducted by chemolithoautotrophic microbial populations in a process that decreases nitrogen (N) pollution. However, little is known about the diversity and distribution of microbes capable of carbon fixation within salt marsh sediment and how they respond to long-term NO3− loading. We used genome-resolved metagenomics to characterize the distribution, phylogenetic relationships, and adaptations important to microbial communities within NO3− enriched sediment.” Find the paper and full list of authors at FEMS Microbiology Letters.

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  • ‘Workforce Ecosystems and AI’

    “Companies increasingly rely on an extended workforce (e.g., contractors, gig workers … and technologies such as algorithmic management and artificial intelligence) to achieve strategic goals and objectives. When we ask leaders to describe how they define their workforce today, they mention a diverse array of participants, beyond just full- and part-time employees, all contributing in various ways. … Our ongoing research on workforce ecosystems demonstrates that managing work across organizational boundaries with groups of interdependent actors in a variety of employment relationships creates new opportunities and risks for both workers and businesses.” Find the paper and full list of authors…

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  • Questions of equitability surround low-emission zones

    A As London attempts to expand its Ultra-Low Emissions Zone, the policy faces backlash, as the pay-to-drive policies “punish the poorest drivers and offer no alternatives in places with limited public transit,” writes professor Joan Fitzgerald. While these zones may be helpful in the fight against climate change, without public services like “adequate public transportation, safe bike lanes, and fair subsidies for purchasing compliant vehicles,” she continues, low-emission zones “are unjust and lose necessary political support.”

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  • ‘Adolescent Friendship, Cross-Sexuality Ties and Attitudes Toward Sexual Minorities: A Social Network Approach to Intergroup Contact’

    “Social ties between members of in- and outgroups are theorized to reduce individual levels of prejudice. However, instances of intergroup contact are not isolated events; cross-group interactions are embedded in broader networks defined by various social processes that guide the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. This project reconsiders the potential benefits of intergroup contact by applying a network perspective to examine whether friendships between youth of different sexualities can shape individuals’ homophobic attitudes.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Social Science Research.

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  • Developing a Computer Model for Carbon Dioxide Conversion

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    “Chemical engineering associate professor Richard West … assistant professor Magda Barecka and … assistant professor Qing Zhao were awarded a $500,000 grant for ‘Accelerating Electrocatalyst Innovation: High-Throughput Automated Microkinetic, Multiscale and Techno-economic Modeling’ as part of the Creating Revolutionary Energy and Technology Endeavors (CREATE) Exploratory Topic managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The objective of CREATE Exploratory Topic is to identify and support disruptive energy-related technologies and have the potential for large-scale impact. Northeastern University will develop a computer model that could identify new avenues for producing essential chemical ingredients using carbon dioxide, a waste product of fossil…

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  • ACM Distinguished Papers Award for paper on adversarial attacks in deep learning models

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    “Computer engineering graduate students Ruyi Ding, PhD’24, Cheng Gongye, PhD’23, Siyue Wang, PhD’22, mathematics professor A. Adam Ding and electrical and computer engineering professor Yunsi Fei were awarded a Distinguished Papers Award at the 18th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security for their paper on ‘EMShepherd: Detecting Adversarial Samples via Side-channel Leakage.'”

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  • Lin receives NSF grant for ‘Dynamic Scene Understanding’ in computer vision

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    “Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Xue ‘Shelley’ Lin, in collaboration with Khoury College of Computer Science assistant professor Huaizu Jiang, was awarded a $600K NSF grant for ‘Toward Efficient and Robust Dynamic Scene Understanding Based on Visual Correspondences.'”

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  • ‘Does Ukraine Have Kompromat on Joe Biden?’ asks Abrahms

    Associate professor of political science in the College of Social Science and Humanities and the D’Amore-McKim School of Business Max Abrahms raises the question of whether Ukraine may have compromising information (“kompromat”) on Joe Biden or his family. The suspicions Abrahms raise stem from the “many millions of dollars” that were paid to Hunter Biden “by the shady Ukrainian energy firm Burisma,” Joe Biden’s subsequent firing of Victor Shokin, Ukrainian general prosecutor “who had begun an investigation into the Burisma-Hunter gravy train.”

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  • ‘A Tool for Mutation Analysis in Racket’

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    “Racket is a functional programming language that is used to teach CS1 at many high schools and colleges. … In order to evaluate [mutation analysis’s] efficacy in our college’s introductory programming courses, we created a prototype mutation analysis tool for Racket. We describe the design and features of the tool and perform a feasibility study using two assignments from an intro CS course where student test suite thoroughness was evaluated by hand by human graders.” Find the paper and full list of authors in the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop.

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  • ‘SliceLens: Guided Exploration of Machine Learning Datasets’

    “SliceLens is a tool for exploring labeled, tabular, machine learning datasets. To explore a dataset, the user selects combinations of features in the dataset that they are interested in. The tool splits those features into bins and then visualizes the label distributions for the subsets of data created by the intersections of the bins. SliceLens guides the user in determining which feature combinations to explore. Guidance is based on a user-selected rating metric, which assigns a score to the subsets created by a given combination of features.”

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  • ‘”Everyone is Covered”: Exploring the Role of Online Interactions in Facilitating Connection and Social Support in Black Churches’

    “Faith institutions provide social support and community care for many in the United States (U.S.). Notably, churches with predominantly Black populations have served as a site for social change and care provision. … However, the pandemic has emphasised how localising these care networks in physical spaces can limit access to social support. … Through interviews and focus groups with nine church members, we explore how hybrid faith communities that bridge offline and online contexts can enable social support and care provision.” Find the paper and full list of authors in the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems…

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  • ‘Game Level Blending Using a Learned Level Representation’

    “Game level blending via machine learning, the process of combining features of game levels to create unique and novel game levels using Procedural Content Generation via Machine Learning (PCGML) techniques, has gained increasing popularity in recent years. However, many existing techniques rely on human-annotated level representations, which limits game level blending to a limited number of annotated games. … In this paper, we present a novel approach to game level blending … that can serve as a level representation for unannotated games and a unified level representation across games without … human annotation.” Find the paper and full list of…

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  • ‘Typed-Untyped Interactions: A Comparative Analysis’

    “The literature presents many strategies for enforcing the integrity of types when typed code interacts with untyped code. This article presents a uniform evaluation framework that characterizes the differences among some major existing semantics for typed–untyped interaction. Type system designers can use this framework to analyze the guarantees of their own dynamic semantics.” Find the paper and full list of authors in ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems.

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  • ‘EMShepherd: Detecting Adversarial Samples via Side-channel Leakage’

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    “Deep Neural Networks (DNN) are vulnerable to adversarial perturbations-small changes crafted deliberately on the input to mislead the model for wrong predictions. Adversarial attacks have disastrous consequences for deep learning-empowered critical applications. … Inspired by the fact that electromagnetic (EM) emanations of a model inference are dependent on both operations and data and may contain footprints of different input classes, we propose a framework, EMShepherd, to capture EM traces of model execution, perform processing on traces and exploit them for adversarial detection.” Find the paper and full list of authors at ArXiv.

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  • ‘Injecting Language Workbench Technology Into Mainstream Languages’

    “Eelco Visser envisioned a future where DSLs become a commonplace abstraction in software development. He took strides towards implementing this vision with the Spoofax language workbench. However, his vision is far from the mainstream of programming today. How will the many mainstream programmers encounter and adopt language workbench technology? We propose that the macro systems found in emerging industrial languages open a path towards delivering language workbenches as easy-to-adopt libraries.” Find the paper and full list of authors at the Dagstuhl Research Online Publication Server.

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