Labs and Groups

The AOIL consists of a team of ophthalmologists, engineers, software specialists, statisticians, and trainees that focus primarily on the study of glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness in the world. The groups of Profs. Schuman, Wollstein and Ishikawa develop advanced imaging tools to detect this disease, monitor its progression, and investigate its pathogenesis.

ARPL performs fundamental and applied research in robot autonomy. The lab develops agile autonomous drones that can navigate on their own using only onboard sensors without relying on maps, GPS or motion capture systems.

We aim to establish mathematical models, quantitative criteria, and algorithmic/computational foundations toward their implementations in robotics (for design and control), biomechanical systems (for prediction and analysis), and their intersections such as lower-body wearable robots. Our current research topics include energetics of dynamic systems, legged balance and gait stability, and integration of dynamics/control with numerical optimization.

Taking advantage of state-of-art nanotechnologies and fabricating fascinating functional biomaterials and integrated biosystems, the Professor Weiqiang Chen’s laboratory addresses numerous important problems in fundamental biology as well as clinical applications in disease diagnosis and treatment.

The Building Informatics and Visualization Lab (biLAB) is part of the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering at the NYU School of Engineering. It focuses on understanding the operational challenges associated with construction and operation of facilities and infrastructure systems in urban settings.

The Behavioral Urban Informatics, Logistics, and Transport Lab conducts research in the area of transportation systems design and modeling. Typical products of this lab may include dynamic operating policies for flexible transport services, a parking pricing and information system for travelers, or a fleet routing algorithm for autonomous vehicles or other cyber-physical transportation systems.

CATT promotes industry-university collaborative research and development in these areas: wireless and personal communications networks and devices, secure information technologies, and media and network applications/services.

The Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the application of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the service of urban communities across the globe. Using New York City as our laboratory and classroom, we strive to develop novel data- and technology-driven solutions for complex urban problems.

The Communication and Information Theory (CommIT) Group at New York University is led by Professor Elza Erkip. They are interested in the theoretical foundations of networks, including wireless and social networks.

CMML focuses on research related to lightweight highly damage tolerant materials and aims at understanding the fundamental role of porosity in materials. The specialty of the lab is in the area of hollow particle filled composites called syntactic foams and in dynamic characterization of materials. CMML has been working on polymer and metal matrix syntactic foams for civilian and military automotive applications that are exposed to dynamic loading conditions. The other areas of interest to CMML are additive manufacturing and sensors for structural health monitoring.

CCRL conducts research projects on unmanned vehicles, autonomy and navigation, control systems, cyber-security, and machine learning.

Professor Lukasz Witek’s research group performs in vivo and in vitro evaluations of a wide range of (bio)materials that can be used as implants for dental and orthopedic applications. A special focus is on 3D printing of bio-ceramic materials for tissue regeneration.

Natural catastrophes are steadily increasing in severity and frequency as cities become larger, denser, and more interconnected. The Disaster Risk Analysis Lab's goal is to extend the limits of what is feasible with catastrophe modeling and collaborate synergistically with researchers within and outside civil engineering to leverage new technologies to increase post-disaster power accessibility, provide more effective disaster emergency response, and reduce risk trajectories in our cities.

Professor Maurizio Porfiri’s group conducts multidisciplinary research in the theory and application of dynamical systems, motivated by the objectives of advancing engineering science and improving society. They perform research and development in the areas of robotics and mechatronics, experimental fluid mechanics, material characterization, animal behavior, and vibrations.

The Game Innovation Lab brings together faculty and students from the School of Engineering and the greater NYU community doing research focused on games as an innovation challenge. The Lab's emphasis is on the technical / engineering / science side of games and simulations. Sample projects include user interface innovation (sensor-based tracking, multi-touch), network and video quality research, and research on games for learning.

Using advances in computer vision and machine learning, Professor Guido Gerig’s team develops image analysis methodologies related to segmentation, registration, atlas building, shape analysis, and image statistics. Collaboratively with clinical research, this work is driven by medical problems covering research in autism, Down's syndrome, eye diseases, Huntington's disease, and musculoskeletal disorders.

Todd Hudson is a computational neuroscientist whose research focuses on modeling sensory and motor systems, particularly eye and arm movements in healthy and disease states. He received his training at the Clarence Graham Memorial Laboratory of Visual Science at Columbia University, and co-founded Tactile Navigation Tools, LLC, a company that develops navigation aids for the visually impaired.

Sahu Group — Our research investigates the transport phenomena in new and novel classes of nanostructured hybrid materials that have promise for optoelectronic and thermoelectric energy conversion. Our group has expertise in colloidal synthesis, advanced characterization, and device implementation of such materials.

INTERCEP is the first academic center dedicated to organizational resilience and agility. The center maintains a global outreach with a special focus on multi-party collaboration including business-to-business and public-private partnerships. Acknowledging that "risk and reward" are at the core of all undertakings in both the public and private sectors, the Center focuses on the development of strategies to most effectively address uncertainty so as to achieve targeted objectives — in essence addressing "risks" to achieve "rewards".

The ultimate goal of Professor Kirsch’s research is to define novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of osteoarthritis and other joint diseases and injuries. To this end the laboratory studies mechanisms involved in the regulation of cartilage homeostasis, maintenance and pathology. In addition, research is performed on how cells and the joint environment interact.

Professor Alesha Castillo and her team study the interactions between mechanobiological cues and musculoskeletal systems with the long-term goal of developing novel biophysical, pharmaceutical, and stem cell-based interventions to improve musculoskeletal health

Professor Jeremy Teo and his LIBRA team study the mechanobiology of single immune cells and the implications of microenvironmental cues in down-stream immune biology. They are interested in depicting the mechanisms of these signals and modulating the immune outcome using bioengineering strategies. The overall goal is the development of technologies for translational therapeutics.

The lab provides undergraduate and graduate students a real-world, hands-on experience in modern DSP- and PC- based data acquisition and real-time control.

Led by S. Farokh Atashzar, the MERIIT Lab develops and implements artificial intelligence algorithms, smart wearable hardware, advanced control systems, and signal processing modules systems to augment human capabilities using multimodal robotic technologies.

mLab is broadly interested in real-world security and privacy threats in healthcare and consumer technologies. Led by, Assistant Professor Danny Yuxing Huang, mLab builds systems to measure these threats at scale.

NYU’s Mobile Augmented Reality Lab is devoted to pioneering the field of mobile augmented reality with emerging AR technologies.

Our lab designs, develops, and applies nanoscale and bioengineering tools to understand and manipulate cell fate and function. Our ultimate goal is to help the body regenerate better.

Home to world-class micro- and nanofabrication and metrology tools, which meet or exceed the demands of academic and industry users alike. With over ~ 2000 sq. ft. of Class 1000 space, the Cleanroom is appropriately equipped to meet the present and future demands for device fabrication.

The team of Professor Shy Shoham works at the interface of neuroscience and engineering, developing and applying modern bidirectional neural interfaces for observing and controlling neural population activity patterns. Their goal is to better understand sensory-motor information coding and to advance medical neurotechnology.

Kevin Chan and his group are developing and applying new methods for noninvasive imaging of neurodegeneration, neurodevelopment, neuroplasticity, and neuroregeneration in people with vision-related diseases and injuries. They study the structural, metabolic, physiological, and functional relationships between the eyes, brain, and behavior with the mission to improve vision.

Our research team studies the physics of electronic materials and their application in building devices and circuits. We are an experimental group with experience in the synthesis of layered materials, nanofabrication of electronic devices, and electrical measurements at both room and cryogenic temperatures.

Research activities in Professor Yao Wang’s group deal with encoding and distributing videos among a large number of users. Of special interest are diverse network access links and applications to biomedical imaging. The lab collaborates extensively with other research groups in wireless communication and networking at the School of Engineering and NYU’s medical school and hospitals.

Professor Smita Rao and her colleagues in the Center of Health and Rehabilitation Research study the effects of exercise in individuals with diabetes, neuropathy, osteoarthritis, and other musculoskeletal conditions. Her research focuses on improving physical therapy and rehabilitation care in these patients.

Riedo Group ­­— Understanding and manipulating solids and liquids at the nanoscale is a matter of continuously growing scientific and technological interest. Our mission is to develop novel scanning probe microscopy-based methods for fabricating the next generation of electronic and biomedical devices, as well as for groundbreaking studies of the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of novel nanomaterials, including 2D materials and bio-interfaces.

Garetz Group — We investigate the ways that laser light can passively and actively interact with materials. We use depolarized light scattering to passively characterize the micron-scale grain structure of block copolymer materials, which influences their viscoelastic, adhesive, optical and electrical properties. We use lasers to actively induce the nucleation of supersaturated solutions, providing novel ways of controlling crystal size, morphology and polymorphism.

Unique in New York City, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering offers a complete program in electrical power systems. Research areas include: Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution, Electric Machines, Electric Drives, Power Electronics, Electromagnetic Propulsion and Design, Distributed Generation, and Smart Grid.

The Secure Systems Laboratory (SSL), under the direction of Professor Justin Cappos, works to find practical and deployable solutions to real-world security threats.

In the laboratory of Professor Ivan Selesnick, PhD, researchers are interested in digital signal processing, sparsity in signal processing, and multi-dimensional wavelet-based signal/image/video processing. They develop new methods for signal filtering, separation, and deconvolution, especially in the area of biomedical imaging.

The work that Professor Samir Taneja and his colleagues are conducting at NYU Langone’s SCPCC and Perlmutter Cancer Center has transformed the field of prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy. Their clinical research focuses on the use of MRI to improve methods of prostate imaging, cancer detection, disease localization, and treatment.

SONYC researchers have launched a citizen science initiative to train artificial intelligence (AI) technology to understand exactly which sounds are contributing to unhealthy levels of noise in New York City. A first-of-its-kind project addressing urban noise pollution, SONYC is based at NYU Tandon’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP).

The Apell Research Group specializes in understanding the environmental fate of manmade organic pollutants in order to protect ecosystems and human health. They focus on determining the mechanisms that control: the transport of these pollutants in and between environmental compartments (water, soil, & air) as well as their uptake into biological organisms, and the abiotic degradation of these pollutants.

Our group focuses on the development of novel materials and devices for energy conversion and storage. True to our name, we design and study transformative technologies that have the ability to change the status quo and promote the adoption of sustainable energy generation and use.

The Visualization and Data Analytics Research Center at NYU consists of computer scientists who work closely with domain experts to apply the latest advances in computing to problems of critical societal importance, and simultaneously generate hypotheses and methods that new data sources and data types demand.