Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group

I am excited to share that our proposal, " REU Site: Human-AI Interaction and Evaluation in Web and Information Systems ," has been funded by the National Science Foundation . This is a renewal of our previous NSF REU grant, " Disinformation Detection and Analytics ." The renewal provides $372,000 to support at least eight undergraduate students each year in conducting on-site research at Old Dominion University and the Virginia Modeling, Analytics, and Simulation Center ( VMASC ) during the summers of 2027–2029.  As AI technologies proliferate across web platforms and information systems, the nature of human-computer interaction is fundamentally changing: users increasingly engage with and rely on adaptive, generative, and often opaque AI agents such as chatbots. This shift makes human-AI interaction (HAI) a critical research topic, as researchers must now understand and shape how humans and AI systems communicate, collaborate, build trust, and share decision-makin...

I am delighted to receive the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Grant for $100,000 to support our collaborative proposal, “Adaptive Intrusion Detection in IoT Networks Using LLM-Driven Behavioral Analysis and Deep Reinforcement Learning” beginning in January 2025. This is a collaborative work with Dr. Neda Moghim and Virginia Tech.   Figure 1: Project Plan and Tasks This research project explores the integration of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), Large Language Models (LLMs), neuro-symbolic AI, and wireless networking to create adaptive intrusion detection systems for Internet of Things (IoT) networks. The central research question focuses on developing resilient IoT systems capable of recovering swiftly from cyberattacks without degrading the user experience. To address this, the project introduces several key innovations. First, an adaptive prompt-generation system is proposed using DRL to optimize LLM queries in real-time by tracking the evolving nature of cy...

CIMA Disaster Recovery Platform Over the summer, and now into this Fall semester, I have been working on an amazing project called CIMA (Convergence, Inventory, Matching & Assignment) . I would like to share my excitement for this project and bring attention to the problems it is working to solve. The frequency of disasters in the United States is increasing  year after year . When disasters occur, homes are damaged and many victims are often left displaced in the aftermath. With a lack of resources, Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI) and medically fragile households tend to experience lengthy periods of displacement, much longer than other groups. Lengthy recovery periods are associated with increased pain and suffering and reduced longevity. These disparities in recovery times across population groups pose fundamental equity and injustice concerns. Getting displaced households quickly back on their feet through housing recovery not only helps lessen disparate health, educatio...

Dr. Erika Frydenlund , Melissa Miller-Felton and I attended the Air Force Office of Scientific Research ( @AFOSR ) 2024 Trust and Influence Program Review on August 12-16, 2024 in Dayton, Ohio. We were invited because of our Minerva Research Initiative Grant, “ What's Missing? Innovating Interdisciplinary Methods for Hard-to-Reach Environments ” awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2022 (described in a previous blog post by Dr. Erika Frydenlund when this grant was first awarded). Although the research conducted is public, this meeting was not recorded.   On the first day, the afternoon keynote was given by Dr. Samuel Segun , senior researcher at Global Center on AI Governance . He spoke on the topic “Building responsible & trustworthy AI: Operationalizing Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) Practice,” where he underscored the critical need for trust in AI systems. Dr. Segun motivated the importance of trusting AI systems by asking, 'Who is responsible?...

The 17th Annual Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference (MSVSCC 2024) took place at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC) on April 11, 2024. The conference was held in-person and it was my second time attending the MSVSCC. This year,  I, Tarannum Zaki , along with Lawrence Obiuwevwi , Brian Llinas , and Jhon Botello represented WS-DL at the conference to present our work. We’re excited to kick off the 17th annual @ODU Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Student Capstone Conference today! Welcome to students, professionals, and enthusiasts for a day packed with innovation, learning, and networking. #ODUInnovate #MSVSCC pic.twitter.com/zF3jxCZhQ3 — ODU Office of Enterprise Research and Innovation (@oeriatodu) April 11, 2024 The MSV Student Capstone Conference provides a platform that features research of both undergraduate and graduate students in modeling and simulation, across various disciplines from different departm...