Research Connections :: University of Rochester

Thomas Howard with a Baxter robot in his lab in Gavett Hall. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester)

Machine learning advances human-computer interaction

Inside the University’s Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a robotic torso looms over a row of plastic gears and blocks, awaiting instructions. Next to him, Jacob Arkin ’13, a doctoral candidate in electrical and computer engineering, gives the robot a command: “Pick up the middle gear in the row of five gears on the right,” he says to the Baxter Research Robot. The robot, sporting a University of Rochester winter cap, pauses before turning, extending its right limb in the direction of the object.

Baxter, along with other robots in the lab, is learning how to perform human tasks and to interact with people as part of a human-robot team. “The central theme through all of these is that we use language and machine learning as a basis for robot decision making,” says Thomas Howard ’04, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science and director of the University’s robotics lab.

Machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence, started to take off in the 1950s after the British mathematician Alan Turing published a revolutionary paper about the possibility of devising machines that think and learn. His famous Turing Test assesses a machine’s intelligence by determining that if a person is unable to distinguish a machine from a human being, the machine has real intelligence.

Today, machine learning provides computers with the ability to learn from labeled examples and observations of data—and to adapt when exposed to new data—instead of having to be explicitly programmed for each task. Researchers are developing computer programs to build models that detect patterns, draw connections, and make predictions from data to construct informed decisions about what to do next.

The results of machine learning are apparent everywhere, from Facebook’s personalization of each member’s NewsFeed, to speech recognition systems like Siri, e-mail spam filtration, financial market tools, recommendation engines such as Amazon and Netflix, and language translation services.

Howard and other University professors are developing new ways to use machine learning to provide insights into the human mind and to improve the interaction between computers, robots, and people.

For example:

Jiebo Luo, associate professor of computer science, teaches computers to identify features and detect configurations in social media images and data.

Robby Jacobs, professor of brain and cognitive sciences, uses machine learning to study how the human brain takes in data.

Ehsan Hoque, assistant professor of computer science, has developed computerized assistants that can sense a speaker’s body language and nuances in presentation and use those to help the speakers improve their communication skills.

Guidance for psoriatic arthritis, a hard-to-diagnose disease

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a debilitating inflammatory joint and skin disease, is a grab bag of mixed and matched symptoms. While it always occurs along with psoriasis — the immune skin disorder that causes red, scaly patches of skin — other symptoms are less reliable.

Now, lead author Christopher Ritchlin, professor and chief of allergy, immunology, and rheumatology who has studied PsA for more than 25 years, and two collaborators offer their collective expertise on testing for PsA and differentiating it from other forms of arthritis in a review recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The group recommends assessing a litany of joints for tenderness and soft swelling due to inflammation, occurring in a unique “ray pattern”; each joint of a single finger may be affected, while neighboring fingers are entirely spared. Physicians should also evaluate spinal range of motion and back pain as well as the severity of psoriasis, indicated by the amount of skin that appears inflamed and signs of nail pitting or separation from the nail bed.

Because PsA varies so much from patient to patient, the review authors suggest physicians tailor treatment strategies to specific, dominant features of the disease in each patient. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) may be sufficient for some, while others may need one of the many disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS) now available.

All PsA patients, however, can benefit from lifestyle modifications that keep inflammation at bay. Quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, staying physically active, managing stress, and protecting joints are some vital changes that PsA patients can make to help manage their disease.

Coaching available for writing NIH grant applications

Writing a successful grant is critical to career advancement. Take advantage of a unique program that supports faculty who are underrepresented in medicine in improving critical writing skills to strengthen grant proposals. The coaching group is designed for minority faculty actively working on both K and R NIH grant proposals, and includes an intensive one-day workshop, as well as virtual online learning sessions and continued peer review over two to three months to the strengthen proposal.

The program will provide:
• Sessions on developing grant writing skills
• Direct hands-on assistance with proposal preparation
• Detailed feedback on strategies to improve the design and writing of proposals
• Online sessions for continued peer and coaching support

The target audience includes faculty who are underrepresented in medicine. However, all faculty regardless of racial ethnicity are welcome to apply.

Registration opens in April 2017. For more information please visit the Association of American Medical Colleges website. For additional information, contact: Tai Conley.

University research in the news: Made-to-order bone implants

“Imagine getting a made-to-order bone implanted in your body that’s composed of your own cells,” writes James Goodman in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have been developing a procedure to use 3-D printing and stem cells from the patient to create bones made of regenerated tissue.” The multi-step procedure still has a ways to go before it is tested on humans and can become part of the services provided by the Center for Musculoskeletal Research, Goodman notes. But it’s the latest example of how 3-D printing, which is increasingly finding its place in manufacturing, is leaving its mark in medicine. Read more here.

Congratulations to . . .

Joanna Scott, the Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English, and James Longenbach, the James Henry Gilmore Professor of English, who are spending part of this spring in the fishing village of Bogliasco, near Genoa, Italy. They’re recipients of fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation, awarded for notable achievement in the arts and humanities. Read more here.

PhD dissertation defenses

Rajarshi Chakraborty, Materials Science, “Resolving Puzzles in Conjugated Polymer Photophysics: Nanoseconds to Microseconds.” 1 p.m. March 20, 2017. Hylan 101. Advisor: Lewis Rothberg.

Julie Kueppers, Health Practice Research (School of Nursing), “Maternal and Child Dietary Intake: The Role of Maternal Healthy-Eater Self-Schema.” 1 p.m., March 24, 2017. Helen Wood Hall (3w-301). Advisor: Karen Farchaus Stein.

Michelle Gregor, Physics, “The Shock and Release Behaviors of Diamond at Terapascal Pressures.” 2:30 p.m. March 24, 2017. LLE Seminar Room. Advisors: Thomas Boehly, David Meyerhofer.

Mark your calendar

Today: Center for Integrated Research Computing (CIRC) symposium. Andrew White from the Department of Chemical Engineering will discuss improving the accuracy of molecular dynamics simulations of peptides using experimental data. Matthew Tanner from the Department of Biomedical Genetics will discuss studies of mRNA splicing defects from deep RNA sequencing. 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Goergen 108.

March 19: Deadline to register for the University’s preliminary Falling Walls competition to see who will represent Rochester at the final competition in Berlin, Germany this fall. This year’s Falling Walls preliminary contest will be held April 20 in Schlegel Hall’s Eisenberg Rotunda on the River Campus. Register here. Contact Adele Coelho, faculty outreach coordinator, at adele.coelho@rochester.edu for additional information.

March 20: Deadline to submit applications for a University Research Award of up to $37,500, matched by the applicant’s home school for a total of $75,000. The program provides seed money on a competitive basis for innovative research projects that are likely to obtain external support. Completed applications should be directed to adele.coelho@rochester.edu. Click here to view the full RFP.

March 20: Deadline to submit applications for an AS&E PumpPrimer II award. Click here for more information. Faculty in the School of Arts & Science should refer questions to Debra Haring, and those in the Hajim School of Engineering to Cindy Gary.

March 20: Deadline to nominate early career faculty in AS&E and SMD natural and biological sciences for Furth Fund awards. Additional information can be found here.

March 25: Brainstorming for the Healthy Weight Initiative, which aims to increase the proportion of people with healthy weight in Rochester and beyond. The goal is to identify potential collaborators and research topics in any area related to body weight development as a first step toward developing new transdisciplinary research teams to obtain more research funding. Register by March 22. For more information, go to the CTSI Stories Blog.

March 28: Seeds for Collaboration mixer. Presentations by David Auerbach, Danielle Benoit, and Eric Phizicky. 4:30 to 6 p.m., LeChase Assembly Hall (G-9576). Sponsored by the Del Monte Institute for Neuromedicine and the office of the dean of basic research.

March 29: “Two Decades of Nursing Home Compare: What Have We Learned?” Presented by R. Tamara Konetzka, professor of health services research at the University of Chicago. Saward-Berg Honorary Lecture sponsored by Department of Public Health Sciences. 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. Helen Wood Hall Auditorium (Room 1W304).

April 7: “Innate Allergy?” Keynote address by Richard Locksley ’76, professor of infectious disease and director of the Strategic Asthma Basic Research Center at University of California, San Francisco. Medical Scientist Research Symposium. 3-4:30 p.m. Class of ’62 Auditorium. The Medical Scientist Research Symposium showcases the research and scientific accomplishments of the University’s Medical Scientist Training Program, and also includes luncheon and student oral presentations at noon in the auditorium, and poster sessions at 1:30 and 2:15 p.m. in the Flaum Atrium. Click here for more information.

April 10: Deadline to apply for pilot and feasibility awards offered by the Schmitt Program in Integrative Neuroscience (SPIN), in conjunction with the Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience. Click here for more information and to download the RFA.

April 13: CEIS (Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences) Technology Showcase. Researchers share their work in optics, imaging and photonics, energy and materials, biomedical technology, and IP with industry professionals. 1 to 5 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, 1111 Jefferson Road. Free and open to the public. Register online.

April 26: “Precision Medicine: Notre Dame’s Bold Initiative to Lead the 21st Century Revolution in Personalized Care.” Presented by Paul Bohn, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, University of Notre Dame. Hesburgh Lecture, sponsored by Notre Dame Club of Rochester and Department of Pharmacology and Physiology. 7 p.m., Adolph Auditorium, Medical Center.

May 22: Deadline to apply for research awards from the Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences to collaborate with New York state companies on projects in ophthalmic and vision science, fiber optic communications, biomedical imaging, geospatial imaging, precision optics, consumer imaging and displays. Click here to learn more.