News Headlines
![an illustration of Branch-Solve-Merge from the paper by UNC-Chapel Hill and Meta](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/11/Branch-Solve-Merge-illustration-150x150.png)
Researchers from Meta and UNC-Chapel Hill Introduce Branch-Solve-Merge: A Revolutionary Program Enhancing Large Language Models’ Performance in Complex Language Tasks
October 31, 2023 | Marktechpost
Branch-Solve-Merge (BSM) is a program for enhancing Large Language Models (LLMs) in complex natural language tasks. BSM includes branching, solving, and merging modules to plan, crack, and combine sub-tasks. Applied to L … Read more
![Junier Oliva](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2018/07/Junier-Oliva-150x150.jpg)
Oliva given NSF grant to enhance machine learning extrapolation
October 17, 2023
Assistant Professor Junier Oliva received a two-year NSF grant to improve the ability of machine learning models to extrapolate beyond the scope of their training dataset. The project will hopefully enhance scientific ta … Read more
![Inbar Fried, Janine Hoelscher, and Ron Alterovitz](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/12/fried-hoelscher-alterovitz-150x150.png)
UNC CS researchers earn Best Poster Award at IROS 2023 medical robotics workshop
October 12, 2023
Inbar Fried, Janine Hoelscher, and Ron Alterovitz received a Best Poster Award during the Data vs Model in Medical Robotics workshop held at the 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (I … Read more
![Cynthia Sturton and the National Science Foundation logo](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/10/sturton-NSF-150x150.jpg)
Sturton receives 2 NSF grants for hardware security verification
October 10, 2023
Associate Professor Cynthia Sturton received two NSF grants to bolster hardware security verification. Both projects represent multi-institutional collaborations with broad applications.
![](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/10/UNC-CS-Career-Connections-150x150.png)
UNC CS introduces CS Career Connections on the Heels Engage Network
October 9, 2023
UNC Computer Science Department invites all alumni, current UNC students, faculty and staff to connect with each other through the new virtual networking community, CS Career Connections via Heels Engage.
![a digital rendering of a steerable needle device navigating human lungs](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/09/human-illustrative-example-1-150x150.png)
Autonomous Medical Robot Successfully Steers Needles Through Living Tissue
September 20, 2023
A team of researchers and physicians led by Professor Ron Alterovitz has demonstrated, for the first time, a robotic needle capable of autonomously maneuvering through intricate lung tissue while avoiding obstacles and i … Read more
![Alexander Tropsha](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/11/Tropsha-150x150.png)
Utilizing AI and machine learning for drug discovery
September 14, 2023 | Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Junier Oliva and Alexander Tropsha received at two-year grant from the National Science Foundation for a new project, “Extrapolative Analyses for Reliable Machine Learning Driven Scientific Discovery”, the goal of which … Read more
![Immune cell types, stimulations, and functional markers all contribute to the immunological features being analyzed by Stanley’s project](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/09/Overarching-Problem-2-Natalie-Stanley-150x150.png)
Stanley receives $219k NIH grant to analyze relationship between stimulations and responses in immune cells
September 1, 2023
Assistant Professor Natalie Stanley received an NIH grant worth $219,366 to develop new, fully automated bioinformatics techniques to identify and characterize clinically predictive intracellular signal responses elicite … Read more
![IEEE VIS 2023 Best Paper Honorable Mention (x2) - VisuaLab & UNC Computer Science](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/08/ieee-vis-best-paper-honorable-mention-visualab-150x150.jpg)
VisuaLab earns 2 Best Paper Honorable Mention awards at IEEE VIS
August 31, 2023
Members of UNC Computer Science’s VisuaLab received two Best Paper Honorable Mention awards from the 2023 IEEE Visualization Conference. Led by Danielle Szafir, the group undertakes research at the intersection of data s … Read more
![Rida Bayraktar teaches a lesson in a container in the Hatay province of Turkey](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/08/IMG_0544-150x150.jpeg)
Bayraktar draws on UNC experience in Turkey earthquake relief
August 25, 2023
After graduating in 2023, computer science alumna Rida Bayraktar traveled to Turkey to teach and mentor children and teens in refugee camps and to improve educational infrastructure with her non-profit organization Pink … Read more
![2023 new faculty cohort collage](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/08/2023-new-faculty-collage-crop-150x150.jpg)
UNC Computer Science introduces 7 new faculty members
August 21, 2023
The Department of Computer Science is excited to announce the addition of several new faculty members in 2023 and 2024. Six faculty members have already begun their work for the Fall 2023 semester, and another will join … Read more
![UNC Associate Professor Cynthia Sturton speaks during the 2023 REU Closing Ceremony](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/08/closing-ceremony-150x150.jpg)
2023 UNC-Intel REU cohort celebrates end of program with research presentations
August 18, 2023
The 2023 UNC-Intel Research Experience for Undergraduate Students wrapped up with a closing ceremony on July 28. The ceremony featured research presentations by each of the participating students and was attended by UNC … Read more
![UNC-NLP faculty members Mohit Bansal, Snigdha Chaturvedi, Colin Raffel, and Shashank Srivastava](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/07/unc-nlp-faculty-collage-150x150.png)
UNC-NLP advances state of the art at ACL 2023
July 30, 2023
The UNC Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Group presented research at the annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) advancing the state of the art in natural language processing … Read more
![Andrew Kwong](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/07/andrew-kwong-150x150.png)
Kwong joins UNC CS faculty as assistant professor
July 18, 2023
Andrew Kwong joined the department as an assistant professor, having recently completed a doctorate at the University of Michigan. Andrew’s primary research focus is in hardware security at the intersection of software, … Read more
![Cynthia Sturton delivers a lecture on hardware verification during WISC 2023 in Bochum, Germany.](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/07/sturton-wisc-keynote-2-150x150.jpg)
UNC CS shares research, builds connections at WISC 2023
July 12, 2023
Researchers from UNC Computer Science took part in the 2023 Women in Security and Cryptography Workshop in Bochum, Germany, sharing knowledge via a keynote lecture and building professional connections with women from 11 … Read more
![Mohit Bansal joins the TWMLAI Podcast at CVPR 2023](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/07/TWMLAI-Podcast-Bansal-150x150.jpeg)
Unifying Vision and Language Models with Mohit Bansal [Podcast]
July 3, 2023 | TWIML AI Podcast with Sam Charrington
In a conversation with Professor Mohit Bansal, host Sam Charrington explores the concept of unification in AI models, highlighting the advantages of shared knowledge and efficiency.
![A diagram demonstrates how CoDi takes in multiple elements of various modalities and outputs a file combing elements of each to make a composite video clip](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/07/Screenshot_20230703_090203_Gallery-150x150.png)
Breaking cross-modal boundaries in multimodal AI: Introducing CoDi, composable diffusion for any-to-any generation
July 1, 2023 | Microsoft Research Blog
In a recent paper: “Any-to-Any Generation via Composable Diffusion,” Microsoft Azure Cognitive Service Research and UNC NLP present CoDi, a novel generative model capable of processing and simultaneously generating conte … Read more
![Zineng Tang presents a Highlight research poster to a crowd at CVPR 2023](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/06/zineng-cvpr-presentation-wide-150x150.jpg)
UNC CS shares cutting-edge computer vision research at CVPR 2023
June 28, 2023
UNC Computer Science research groups led by Mohit Bansal, Gedas Bertasius, and Marc Niethammer presented several papers and contributed to workshops at CVPR 2023. Here is a roundup of their papers, which used deep learni … Read more
![Rida Bayraktar](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2021/09/merve-rida-bayraktar-150x150.jpg)
Beyond the Binary: Bayraktar (’23) breaks stereotypes and inspires change
June 21, 2023
While many 2023 grads are preparing for their next steps in industry or academia, Rida Bayraktar is digging deeper into work she started as an undergraduate by bringing STEM education programs and infrastructure to earth … Read more
![Abstract Rainbow Binary Code on black background](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/06/AdobeStock_58650256-150x150.jpeg)
Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community in Tech
June 13, 2023
June marks the month-long celebration of LGBTQ+ pride and community. UNC CS honors Pride Month and supports LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff by sharing campus, local, and national resources and highlighting the histor … Read more
![Saba Eskandarian received the NSF CAREER Award](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/06/eskandarian-career-award-150x150.png)
Eskandarian receives prestigious NSF CAREER Award
June 12, 2023
The National Science Foundation granted Assistant Professor Saba Eskandarian its Faculty Early Career Development Award to study the longstanding challenge of how to combat abuse while safeguarding user privacy on privat … Read more
![The members of the 2023 UNC-Intel REU Program cohort gather for a group photo in Brooks Building](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/06/reu-group-photo-2023-150x150.jpg)
UNC-Intel REU welcomes 2023 cohort, shaping the future of computer science research
June 8, 2023
UNC CS is excited to welcome the 2023 cohort of the UNC-Intel REU Program, which is designed to foster the next generation of computer science researchers through valuable hands-on experience, industry connections, and a … Read more
![Students pause for a photo while lining up in Woollen Gymnasium before the 2023 departmental commencement ceremony](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/05/IMG_4539-2-150x150.jpg)
UNC Computer Science celebrates more than 500 graduates in largest ever commencement
May 16, 2023
More than 2,500 family members, friends, and loved ones gathered at Carmichael Arena to celebrate computer science graduates from winter 2022, spring 2023, and summer 2023. With 510 total graduates across all degree prog … Read more
![Bubbly home page](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/05/bubbly-screenshot-150x150.png)
A bubbling innovation for kids with visual impairment
May 9, 2023 | Gillings School of Global Public Health
Partnering with Anitha Muthukumaran, a researcher from the University of Northern Colorado, and educational accessibility consultant Diane Brauner, students from App Team Carolina developed Bubbly, a free CVI literacy ap … Read more
![Anneliese Brei](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/04/Brei-Headshot-copy-Anneliese-Brei-150x150.jpg)
Brei awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
April 21, 2023
Graduate student Anneliese Brei was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship for 2023. The fellowship will provide a $37,000 stipend and $12,000 cost of education allowance each year for t … Read more
![screenshot of a YouTube video titled "Can AI kill the greenscreen?"](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/04/Capture-150x150.png)
VIDEO: Can AI kill the greenscreen? [Assistant Professor Roni Sengupta interviewed]
April 18, 2023 | Vox
Vox’s Phil Edwards set out to understand why greenscreens are still so common in video despite the advancements in AI. Roni Sengupta helps explain the challenges.
![A DEI student ambassador leads a workshop at Hillside High School](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/04/hillside-150x150.jpg)
UNC CS DEI Ambassadors celebrate partnership with Hillside High School
April 3, 2023
Earlier this spring, students from Hillside High School in Durham visited Sitterson Hall to celebrate the completion of a semester-long partnership with UNC Computer Science. Fifteen high school students participated in … Read more
![The Frederick P. Brooks Jr. Computer Science Building, an addition to Sitterson Hall, is pictured on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. The building houses UNC](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/03/Brooks-Building-Jan-2023-150x150.jpg)
Computer science department works to close the gender gap
March 28, 2023 | The Daily Tar Heel
The computer science department, typically a male-dominated field of study, has seen an increase in students identifying as non-binary and female over the past few years. Roughly 30 percent of the graduating students in … Read more
![Attendees of the Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. Professional Memorial gather for a group photo after the final panel of the day.](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/04/GroupPhoto-150x150.jpg)
Brooks remembered by colleagues with professional memorial service
March 26, 2023
The Department of Computer Science held a professional memorial service for Department Founder Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. on March 4, 2023. Brooks was remembered in panel discussions featuring colleagues from throughout hi … Read more
![Community members of the UNC Computer Science Experience Labs (CSXL) pose for a portrait on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 in Sitterson Hall.](https://cs.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1265/2023/03/csxl-team-150x150.jpg)
Sitterson houses collaborative computer science lab space
March 20, 2023 | The Daily Tar Heel
In Sitterson Hall, a server room has turned into an accessible experience lab for students and faculty. Pitched by Prof. Kris Jordan to the College of Arts and Sciences last October, it has seen over 2,200 visitors in th … Read more