2026-01-12: ODU CS 2025 Trick-or-Research Event Recap

 

The Department of Computer Science (CS) at Old Dominion University (ODU) hosted its annual Trick-or-Research event on October 31, 2025, blending academic exploration with Halloween-inspired creativity. Check out our previous Trick-or-Research blog posts for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Building on the success of previous years, this event brought together faculty, staff, and students to showcase the department’s cutting-edge research and encourage new collaborations. Designed especially to introduce undergraduate students to the wide range of research opportunities within the department, Trick-or-Research featured interactive lab tours, engaging demonstrations, and opportunities to network with professors and join research groups.

🎃 Trick or Research! | ODU CS Lab Tours 2025 👩‍💻👻 Tour CS labs, meet faculty & grad students, and win prizes! — Computer Science Graduate Society - ODU (@CSGS_ODU) October 13, 2025

Participants explored CS research labs in person at The E.V. Williams Engineering & Computational Sciences Building (ECSB) and Dragas Hall, with virtual option via Gather.town for remote attendees. To add to the festive atmosphere, attendees were encouraged to show their Halloween spirit by dressing in costume, with opportunities to win CS swag and a special prize for the best costume. The combination of hands-on research experiences, creative expression, and community engagement made Trick-or-Research an event that was both academically enriching and fun. 🎃

Online @gather_town Trick-or-Research

— Sampath Jayarathna (@OpenMaze) October 31, 2025

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Lab Visits

Our annual Trick-or-Research is happening today @oducs Come and say hi to our research groups. @WebSciDL @NirdsLab @ODUSCI @odu @CSGS_ODU
— Sampath Jayarathna (@OpenMaze) October 31, 2025

Web Science and Digital Libraries (WS-DL)

The Web Science and Digital Libraries (WS-DL) group, led by Dr. Michael Nelson and Dr. Michele Weigle, welcomed visitors interested in web-focused research and digital preservation. Lab members discussed ongoing projects through posters and informal conversations, answering questions about research directions and opportunities for student involvement. The group’s research spans web archiving, web science, social media analysis, digital preservation, human-computer interaction, accessibility, information visualization, natural language processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and scholarly data mining. Visitors also had the opportunity to learn more about CS graduate courses and pathways into research.

Lab for Applied Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing Systems (LAMP-SYS)

The LAMP-SYS lab, led by Dr. Jian Wu, shared its work in applied machine learning and natural language processing. Visitors learned about ongoing research in areas such as entity extraction, mining electronic documents, and computational reproducibility in deep learning. Lab members discussed how machine learning and NLP techniques are applied to real-world problems using building blocks from information retrieval, digital libraries, and scholarly big data.

Neuro Information Retrieval and Data Science (NIRDS) Lab

The Neuro Information Retrieval and Data Science (NIRDS) lab, led by Dr. Sampath Jayarathna, engaged attendees with demonstrations and discussions centered on perception- and cognition-aware systems. Students shared examples of their research involving eye tracking, EEG, wearable sensors, and explained how these technologies are used to study user behavior and support real-world applications. The lab’s work emphasizes integrating psychophysiological signals with information retrieval and data science.

Accessible Computing Group

The Accessible Computing group, led by Dr. Vikas Ashok, introduced visitors to research focused on improving digital experiences for users with visual impairments. Lab members discussed intelligent interactive systems, accessible user interfaces, and image-to-speech technologies. Through demonstrations and conversations, the team highlighted how their work enhances web accessibility and human-computer interaction.

Bioinformatics Lab

The Bioinformatics Lab, led by Dr. Jing He, showcased research in computational biology and bioinformatics. Posters and discussions highlighted projects involving genomic data analysis, protein structure modeling, and 3D molecular imaging. Lab members also explained how machine learning techniques are applied to address challenges in medicine and health-related research.

High Performance Scientific Computing Team for Efficient Research Simulations (HiPSTERS)

The HiPSTERS group, led by Dr. Desh Ranjan and Dr. Mohammad Zubair, introduced students to interdisciplinary research in high-performance computing (HPC). Visitors learned about the group’s use of advanced mathematical methods and GPU programming to support large-scale simulations, including examples related to particle collider beam dynamics and scientific computing workflows.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Applications Research Group

The AI and Applications research group, led by Dr. Yaohang Li, shared ongoing work in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Through posters and discussions, visitors learned about projects involving machine learning-based physics event generation, particle production simulations, protein crystallization classification, financial data analysis, and generative models. The group connected with students interested in applying AI techniques across scientific and real-world domains.

Hands-On Lab

The Hands-On Lab, established by Ajay Gupta, presented research focused on building practical, end-to-end systems. Lab members discussed projects involving real-time monitoring using sensors and wearables, health-related data collection and analysis platforms, learning management portals, and mobile applications for medical and educational use. Visitors learned how these systems are designed, implemented, and evaluated in real-world settings.

Data Mining Lab

The Data Mining Lab, led by Dr. Lusi Li, shared research in data mining, machine learning, and optimization theory. Topics discussed included online machine learning, representation learning, transfer and multi-view learning, recommender systems, and explainable AI. Attendees explored how these techniques are applied to complex datasets across different application areas.

Internet Security Research Lab

The Internet Security Research Lab, led by Dr. Shuai Hao, presented research focused on networking and security. Lab members discussed measurement-driven and data-centric approaches to studying internet infrastructure, web security, privacy, and cybercrime. Visitors learned how empirical analysis and large-scale data studies are used to understand and address modern security challenges.

Wadduwage Lab

The Wadduwage Lab, led by Dr. Dushan N. Wadduwage, focuses on developing novel computational microscopy techniques that capture biological systems at their most information-rich representations while minimizing redundancy. Students learned how the lab integrates optics, machine learning, and signal processing to advance high-fidelity biomedical imaging and build trustworthy medical AI systems. Lab members discussed research in computational and differentiable microscopy, interpretable and reliable AI for medical decision-making, and advanced tracking algorithms that enable pinpoint-level object and particle tracking in microscopic environments. Through these conversations, visitors gained insight into how interdisciplinary methods are applied to solve real-world challenges in biomedical imaging.

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Summary

The 2025 Trick-or-Research event once again highlighted the depth and diversity of research within ODU’s Computer Science department. By combining hands-on demonstrations, engaging conversations, and a festive hybrid format, the event provided students with valuable insight into research opportunities and pathways for involvement. Whether attending in person or virtually, participants left with a deeper understanding of the innovative work happening across CS. If you missed this year’s event, be sure to keep an eye out for the next Trick-or-Research! 🎃💻

-- Pasindu Thenahandi (@Psnd_Snklp) --