- Gradstudents - mailman.cs.vt.edu

TechGirls Panel Tomorrow
by Jelson, Jelson 23 Jul '25

23 Jul '25

Good Morning Everyone, Just a reminder that our panel is tomorrow morning. Please fill out the slides for use here<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zCdtwWey99I3tvuy5N0Cer0bqgyZLD3pxlk…>. As a reminder that we don't want to spend a ton of time talking about research and would prefer to have the panel open to questions. A short introduction and 2-minute elevator pitch about your research is all that we need. Just a reminder about who these girls are: TechGirls is an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, implemented by Legacy International in partnership with Virginia Tech. Super talented female high school students (15-17) attend from all over the world (Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Middle East and North Africa, South and Central Asia, Western Hemisphere), and we would like to help them understand what it is like to do research and allow them to ask questions about college, graduate school, being a woman in STEM, etc. For more information about the camp, please visit https://techgirlsglobal.org/program/overview-2/. The panel will begin promptly at 11 AM tomorrow , please arrive by 10:50 AM at Lavery 350 (above Turner Place). Let me know if you have any other questions! If I don't reply quickly to your email, you can also call/text at 713-447-4998. I will send another follow up the day before the panel. This is a great experience for them and thank you all for agreeing to participate as panelists. Very Respectfully, Andrew Jelson jelson9854(a)vt.edu PhD student Computer Science Department of Computer Science Virginia Tech

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A research opportunity on robotic fish cutting
by Meng, Na 18 Jul '25

18 Jul '25

Hi all, I’m Na Meng, an Associate Professor in CS@VT. I’m now collaborating with a professor in Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center on a project, which trains a robot to cut fish to maximize yield and minimize waste. For this project, a student will explore to program FAIRINO—a robotic arm to cut fish automatically and optimize the cutting strategy via machine learning and computer vision techniques. The links related to the robot include https://www.devonics.com/collaborative-robot/fairino/fr10 https://github.com/FAIR-INNOVATION/fairino-cpp-sdk/tree/main/linux/ For this project, I expect the selected student to create an initial prototype within one semester. If things go well, the student is likely to receive financial support for continuously improving the initial prototype. If (1) you are interested, (2) have related project experience, and (3) are physically in Blacksburg, please send your resume to nm8247(a)vt.edu<mailto:nm8247@vt.edu>. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks a lot! Cheers, Na

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We're Here for You: Guidance and Resources for Advisor Relationships
by Dr. Eli Tilevich 18 Jul '25

18 Jul '25

Dear Graduate Students, As we head into a new academic year, I'd like to bring up a sensitive but important topic: the advisor-advisee relationship. A strong, respectful, and supportive relationship with your advisor can make a tremendous difference in your graduate experience. We know that grad school can be intense, and it's important that you feel supported and guided as you navigate it. While most advising relationships are constructive, we also recognize that challenges can arise. If that happens, it's okay to reach out for help. Here are some people you can turn to: 1. My door is always open. I encourage you to reach out to me directly, no matter how sensitive the issue may be. I'll treat anything you share with care and respect your comfort level around privacy. Please just know that in certain cases-especially those involving harassment or misconduct-I may be required to involve university officials. If that ever comes up, we'll talk through options together, and I'm always happy to connect you with fully confidential resources if that feels best. 2. The CS Human Resources (HR) Coordinator, Joe Morgan. If you are employed by the university as a GRA or GTA and have questions or concerns about your interactions with your supervisor, whether that's your research advisor for a GRA or instructor of record for a GTA, you're welcome to reach out to Joe at any time. He's also a good non-faculty resource if you have general questions about supervisory relationships or want guidance navigating them. 3. The CS Department Head, Christine Julien. Dr. Julien wants you to know that her door is open as well. No concern is too small, and you should never feel like you're overstepping by reaching out. While her schedule can be full, Debbie Zier ( <mailto:debzi5@vt.edu> debzi5(a)vt.edu) can help find a time that works, often on short notice if needed. 4. The Director of Graduate Programs, Sara Coulson, is a resource and advocate for students. Her office is in Torgersen 1180B, and her door is open-whether a student wants to discuss advisor dynamics, department policies, or just needs a sounding board. Students can drop in, email, or schedule a time to meet. Sometimes it helps just to have someone to listen, and Sara is glad to be that person when needed. There are also resources outside of our department, if you prefer that route - <https://www.graduate.ombudsman.vt.edu/community.html> Bryan Hanson serves as the ombudsperson for the graduate school, and <https://enge.vt.edu/People/researchfaculty/hmatusovich.html> Holly Matusovich serves as the Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Studies in the College of Engineering. Both are supportive resources and good connections for additional things as needed. We know that every student's experience in our program is different, and if there are other types of support or resources that you would find helpful, please don't hesitate to let us know. We're always working to make our community stronger and more supportive, and your input helps us do that. You are a vital part of this department, and your well-being matters to us. Best, Dr. T. Eli Tilevich, Ph.D. Professor and Associate Dept. Head for Graduate Studies Dept. of Computer Science Virginia Tech <https://people.cs.vt.edu/tilevich/> https://people.cs.vt.edu/tilevich/ Zoom: <https://virginiatech.zoom.us/my/tilevich> https://virginiatech.zoom.us/my/tilevich

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Recruiting for a Research Study on Using Gestures for Learning
by Bruen, Jacqueline 09 Jul '25

09 Jul '25

The Mind Music Machine Lab at Virginia Tech is seeking individuals to participate in a study to determine how gestures can improve the acquisition of algorithmic interpretation skills. During this study, participants will: * Complete a demographic survey. * Learn an algorithmic language either with or without accompanying hand gestures over the course of three 30 minute sessions. * Take two tests in a fourth 30 minute session which assesses your acquisition of various algorithmic interpretation skills. * Take a short 10 minute semi-structured interview. You’re eligible for our study if you: * Are >= 18 years old * Have normal hearing, vision (or correct-to-normal vision), and fine motor skills The study will take a total of approximately two hours over the course of four 30 minute sessions. Each participant will receive compensation of $10/hour. Total compensation for time and effort for the whole study will be $20 in cash, distributed to the participant at the end of the fourth session. You are free to discontinue participation at any point if you feel uneasy or uncomfortable. Interested individuals can reach out to Jacqueline Bruen at jacquelineb(a)vt.edu. The research protocol for this experiment has been reviewed by the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board (IRB #24-942). Jacqueline Elise Bruen Ph.D. Candidate | Mind Music Machine Lab Department of Computer Science Virginia Tech "Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute: What you can do, or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage and then the mind grows heated; Begin and then the work will be completed." -Goethe

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Seeking Autistic and Neurotypical Participants for Research Study at SAIL Lab
by Carik, Buse 08 Jul '25

08 Jul '25

Hi all, SAIL lab at Virginia Tech is seeking both autistic neurotypical participants for a study on how autistic and neurotypical individuals engage in text-based conversations. This research protocol has been approved by the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board (IRB #25-331). The goal of this study is to better understand conversational patterns, moments of misunderstanding, and how people reflect on these interactions. We anticipate that the experiment will take roughly 45–60 minutes. Participation is entirely voluntary, and it is not mandatory for students to take part. You will receive a $20 Amazon gift card upon completion of the study. The study involves a single session (approximately 45–60 minutes) where you will: * Engage in a text-based conversation with another participant using a pseudonym * Review the conversation and annotate moments that were clear, confusing, or challenging * Complete a brief post-study survey You are eligible to participate if: * You are autistic (diagnosed or self-identifying) * Are 18 years or older * Are fluent in English * Are comfortable participating in a text-based conversation If you are interested, you can fill this form: https://virginiatech.questionpro.com/t/AYNBXZ5o6h * You are neurotypical (do not identify as autistic) * Are 18 years or older * Are fluent in English * Are comfortable participating in a text-based conversation If you are interested, you can fill this form: https://virginiatech.questionpro.com/t/AYNBXZ5o6k If you have any question, please let me know. Thank you! Best regards, Buse Carik PhD student Computer Science Department of Computer Science Virginia Tech

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Invitation to Participate in a Workshop on Emotive Captioning in XR Across Cultures
by Ubur, Sunday 03 Jul '25

03 Jul '25

You are invited to participate in an approved (IRB 25-656) research workshop exploring how emotional expression in captions can be better designed for immersive environments like Augmented and Extended Reality (AR/XR) with special attention to cultural differences in communication and emotional interpretation. This workshop is part of a research study titled: “Design Guidelines for Emotive Captioning Systems: Cultural Differences in XR” Date and Time: July 10, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM Eastern Time What’s It About? In XR settings, captions can now go beyond text to include emotional cues, such as emoji, color, animations, and spatial positioning. But how we understand these cues varies across cultures. Our workshop will explore: * How people from different cultural backgrounds perceive emotion in captions * What kinds of visual/emotive enhancements are helpful, confusing, or culturally inappropriate * How Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) and hearing individuals experience these captions in real-time AR environments What Will You Do? You’ll take part in a 1-hour participatory design session, where we’ll: * Show you captioning prototypes with visual emotional enhancements * Ask you to provide feedback, sketch your ideas, and reflect on what “emotionally clear” captioning means to you * Explore scenarios representing high-context and low-context communication styles No prior design or technical experience is required - just your perspective! Who Can Join? We are looking for: * Participants from diverse cultural backgrounds (e.g., North Americana, and International US residents) * Both DHH and hearing individuals who use or are interested in captioning systems * XR or AR experience is welcome, but not required When and Where? The workshop will be held both in person at the Dean’s Board Room (Room 6020), Newman Libraries, Virginia Tech, and virtually via Zoom, based on your preference. What’s in it for you? * The opportunity to shape future inclusive and culturally adaptive technologies * Recognition (optional) in research publications or acknowledgments * A random selection of 5 participants to receive $25 Amazon gift card If you're interested, please complete the brief sign-up form here: https://forms.office.com/r/TQUzUh4qxN We hope you’ll consider lending your insights to help build more inclusive technologies. Sincerely, Sunday Ubur, DVE Lab, Virginia Tech, Department of Computer Science

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Recruiting participants for research study
by More, Anirudh 20 Jun '25

20 Jun '25

Hello, We are recruiting participants for a research study and would greatly appreciate it if you could distribute the following recruitment message to your grad students who are on campus over the summer: The Systems Cognition Engineering Laboratory at Virginia Tech is conducting a study on dynamic leadership assignment between a human and an autonomous agent in object detection and reassignment tasks employing four autonomous UAVs. We anticipate that the experiment will take roughly 2.5 to 3 hours. Participation is entirely voluntary, and it is not mandatory for students to take part. Participants are compensated for their time at approximately $10 per hour, with up to $10 in bonus. Eligibility Criteria: * Must be a current Virginia Tech student * Have normal or corrected to normal vision. If interested, please contact Anirudh (anirudh1(a)vt.edu). This study has been reviewed and approved by the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board (IRB #25-350). Thank you for your time and support. Best regards, Anirudh

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Srinivasan Ramachandra Sharma's MS Defense on Monday 06/23 at 11.00 AM in GP 4001
by Sundararajah, Kirshanthan 20 Jun '25

20 Jun '25

All are invited to the MS Thesis Defense of Srinivasan Ramachandra Sharma on Monday 06/23 at 11.00 AM in 4001 Gilbert Place and in my Zoom room https://virginiatech.zoom.us/my/kirshanthans Feel free to invite others as well. Title: Control Flow Merging: A Compiler Transformation to Mitigate Branch Misprediction by Branch Elimination Abstract: Modern superscalar processors have a high theoretical throughput, being capable of executing multiple instructions per clock cycle. In practice, however, this peak is rarely reached because data, structural, and control flow hazards can stall the pipeline and interrupt execution. Branch prediction is widely adopted in modern architectures to mitigate control flow hazards, yet even sophisticated predictors struggle to handle branches driven by random data. Each misprediction flushes speculative instructions and restarts execution on the correct path, making branch mispredictions a major performance bottleneck. Existing compiler solutions, such as outcome precomputation and simple predication, are effective only for loop-invariant conditions or small side-effect-free branches. This work introduces Control Flow Merging (CFM), a compiler transformation that eliminates branches by converting control dependencies into data dependencies. CFM systematically replaces if and if-then-else regions with semantically equivalent, predicated instruction sequences, even when handling operations with side effects. Our work targets branch elimination at the compiler level by converting control flow dependencies into dataflow. We introduce the Control Flow Merging (CFM) pass for branch removal which replaces if and if-then-else regions with predicated instructions, while maintaining semantics and safety, even in the presence of instructions with side effects and implement it in LLVM 14. We also evaluate its impact on real-world benchmarks. Our experiments show that CFM can reduce branch mispredictions by up to 99 % and improve performance. Across the entire benchmark set, the pass delivers upto 53x peedup in the best case, and a geometric-mean speedup of 1.57×. Kirshanthan "Krish" Sundararajah, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Virginia Tech | Computer Science 220 Gilbert St, Suite 4103 Blacksburg, VA 24060 (540) 231-1779 | kirshanthans(a)vt.edu<mailto:kirshanthans@vt.edu> kirshanthans.github.io<https://kirshanthans.github.io/>

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Recruiting for a Research Study on Using Gestures for Learning
by Bruen, Jacqueline 15 Jun '25

15 Jun '25

Hi there, I hope everyone is having a good summer! Please check out my study (happening in Blacksburg this summer and fall) below~ The Mind Music Machine Lab at Virginia Tech is seeking individuals to participate in a study to determine how gestures can improve the acquisition of algorithmic interpretation skills. During this study, participants will: · Complete a demographic survey. · Learn an algorithmic language either with or without accompanying hand gestures over the course of three 30 minute sessions. · Take two tests in a fourth 30 minute session which assesses your acquisition of various algorithmic interpretation skills. · Take a short 10 minute semi-structured interview. You’re eligible for our study if you: · Are over 18 years old · Have normal hearing, vision (or correct-to-normal vision), and fine motor skills The study will take a total of approximately two hours over the course of four 30 minute sessions. Each participant will receive compensation of $10/hour. Total compensation for time and effort for the whole study will be $20 in cash, distributed to the participant at the end of the fourth session. You are free to discontinue participation at any point if you feel uneasy or uncomfortable. Interested individuals can reach out to Jacqueline Bruen at jacquelineb(a)vt.edu. The research protocol for this experiment has been reviewed by the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board (IRB #24-942). Thank you for your help. Kindly, Jacqueline Elise Bruen Ph.D. Candidate | Mind Music Machine Lab Department of Computer Science Virginia Tech "Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys or a thousand ills." -James Allen

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EduTube AI User Study
by Farzanehpour, Sahar 11 Jun '25

11 Jun '25

Hey Heyyy, We’re conducting a study to explore how learners use and benefit from EduTube AI, a tool that recommends educational videos and generates a quiz to help you find related videos and learn algorithm topics more effectively. Survey Link: https://virginiatech.questionpro.com/edutube If you choose to participate, here’s what we’ll ask you to do: 1. Visit the EduTube AI tool link (https://edutube.cs.vt.edu/). 2. Choose a topic you’d like to learn (e.g., Dijkstra’s Algorithm) and briefly describe it along with your current knowledge level. 3. The search and quiz generating might take a bit to provide you the result! 4. Provide your feedback on the video recommendations and the generated quiz. 5. The study will take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Participation is voluntary and open to individuals 18 years or older. You can withdraw at any time. All responses will be kept confidential and reported in aggregate, without identifying individuals. This study has been approved by IRB with 25-480 number. If you have any questions, feel free to contact: * Sahar Farzanehpour – saharfarza(a)vt.edu<mailto:saharfarza@vt.edu> * Dr. Chris Brown – dcbrown(a)vt.edu<mailto:dcbrown@vt.edu> Thank you for your time and support. We truly appreciate your help! Best regards, -- Sahar Farzanehpour Graduate Student, Computer Science Department Virginia Tech Email: saharfarza(a)vt.edu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saharfarzanehpour/

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