Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •

Abstracts submitted by the Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program cohort of 2025. Each describes an 8-week project conducted under faculty mentorship at George Mason University that was publically presented at our in-person or remote research symposiums in August 2025. Congratulations interns on your completion of the program, and thank you for your hard work!

(Note: Not every ASSIP 2025 participant has an abstract that may posted publically. Some projects are the subject of an invention disclosure, are undergoing double-blind peer review as part of a scientific manuscript, or describe findings that are part of a grant submission.)

College of Science: School of Systems Biology

JSSR

Optimization of RPPA Protocols for FFPE Tissue: A Comparison of Protein Extraction, Protein Printing, and Total Protein Staining Methods

• Chloe Chedester
• and Sheila R. Nicewarner Peña

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Science: School of Systems Biology

Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience

JSSR

Multi-Camera 3D Behavioral Tracking of Rodents using OptiTrack and DANNCE Deep Learning Framework

• Kazhal Shafiei,
• Fatemeh Farokhi Moghadam
• and Holger Dannenberg

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience

College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Bioengineering

JSSR

Fast Sampling Algorithms for Identifying Pathway Occlusions in Metabolism

• Amy Li,
• Alex Mao,
• Qi Wei
• and Chi Zhang

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Bioengineering

College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

JSSR

From Imagery to Insight: Applying Multimodal Large Language Models for Rapid Disaster Impact Assessment

• Arnav Shah,
• Ansh Gupta,
• Rohith Swaminathan
• and Catalina Gonzalez Duenas

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

JSSR

Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Self-Powered Wearable Sensors

• Aviva Wang,
• Lixin Wang
• and Xijin Zhang

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

JSSR

Data-Driven Prediction of Metal-Organic Dissolution and Adhesion Using Machine Learning

• Devin Wanchoo,
• Neeraj Dandamudi,
• Shawn Li,
• Junyi Wang
• and Xijin Zhang

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

JSSR

Evaluating the Impact of Traffic Control Measures on the Severity of School Zone Crashes in Virginia

• Anna Xiao,
• Adriana Valentina Farias
• and Shanjiang Zhu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

JSSR

Identifying Environment-Based Risk Factors for Crashes in Fairfax County

• Chris Yang,
• Adriana Valentina Farias
• and Shanjiang Zhu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

JSSR

Spatial and Statistical Analysis of Crash Frequency and Severity: An Arlington, VA Case Study

• Wenrou Liu,
• Adriana Valentina Farias
• and Shanjiang Zhu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Creating Distortion Frames in 2-D Animation via Motion Tracking and Trajectory Analysis

• Sahana Kumar
• and Yotam Gingold

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Enhancing Flaky Test Detection Using iDFlakies and TuscanE

• Amanda Nguyen,
• Md. Mahmudul Hasan Pious,
• August Shi
• and Wing Lam

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Generating Extended Regular Expressions: A LLM-Based Approach and a Systematic Synthesis Guide

• Daniel Feng,
• AJ McDaniel,
• Ying Zhou,
• August Shi
• and Wing Lam

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Detecting and Understanding Operating Systems Dependent Flaky Tests

• Radha Joshi,
• Talank Baral,
• Shayer Khan,
• August Shi
• and Wing Lam

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Optimizing Sequence-to-Graph Alignment

• Andrew Gao,
• Justin Ma,
• Justin Liu,
• Bobby Chab
• and Fei Li

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Effectiveness of Rule-Based Scripts for Automated Dependency Repair in Legacy Software

• Aarav Dinesh,
• Annikka Xu,
• Suzanna Rafi,
• August Shi
• and Wing Lam

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Recurring Pattern Discovery on Time Series via Large Language Models

• Amba Narayanan,
• Thirumalai Vinjamoor Akhil Srinivas
• and Jessica Lin

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Comparing Learning Rate and Batch Size Transfer Across Different Network Widths for Standard and Maximal Update Parameterization

• Yeeyung Li,
• Xiaochuan Gong
• and Mingrui Liu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Verifier-Guided Reinforcement Learning for GSM8K Math Reasoning

• Michelle Lin,
• Jie Hao
• and Mingrui Liu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Enabling Multi-Node Underwater Image Transmission with a LoRa Mesh Network

• Rishi Pathuri,
• Srikar Akundi,
• Samuel Kim,
• Rezoan Zazib
• and Parth Pathak

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Creating an Interface for Fluent-Based Task Planning for Robotic Object Search in Household Environments

• Edward Lin,
• Vennela Mandava,
• Rohan Peddireddy
• and Gregory Stein

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Optimizing Dynamic Learning from Learned Hallucination (Dyna-LfLH) using a Transformer-based Motion Planner for Agile Navigation in Dynamic Environments

• Kameron Lee,
• Saad A. Ghani
• and Xuesu Xiao

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Enhancing Wheeled Robot Autonomy in Off-Road Terrain through Data-Driven AI Models

• Madison Mermelstein,
• Srihith Layagala,
• Francesco Cancelliere,
• Aniket Datar
• and Xuesu Xiao

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Persona Simulation in Opinion Prediction with GPT-4.1

• Sarah Li
• and Ziyu Yao

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Invisible Threats: Uncovering UI Security Vulnerabilities in Augmented Reality Platforms

• Aiden Wang
• and Xiaokuan Zhang

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

JSSR

Understanding the Effectiveness of State-of-the-art Deep Learning Models on Vulnerability Detection

• Ansh Agrawal
• and Xiaokuan Zhang

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Computer Science

College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Titanium-infused Nichrome Thin Films for Applications in Extreme Thermal Environments

• Aarna Gupta,
• Pranav Choori,
• Julia Rodrigues,
• Fitunerediate Gebeyehu,
• Sezin Sayin,
• Shawn Wagoner
• and Ethan C. Ahn

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Optimization of Mechanical Exfoliation Parameters for 2D MoSe₂

• Sean S. Kim,
• Emily Keung,
• Fitunerediaate G. Gebeyehu
• and Ethan C. Ahn

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Optimizing Mechanical Exfoliation of Tungsten Diselenide (WSe2) for Large-Area 2D Flakes

• Suan Cho,
• Julia Rodrigues,
• Emily Keung,
• Fitunerediate G. Gebeyehu
• and Ethan C. Ahn

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Tungsten Thin Film Electron-Beam Evaporation for Electronic Device Fabrication Applications

• Emma Graf,
• Noreen Hossain,
• Julia Rodrigues,
• Pranav Choori,
• Shawn Wagoner
• and Ethan C. Ahn

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Physics-based Simulation of RRAM for Reliable Memory Technology

• Aditi Karnik,
• Julia Rodrigues
• and Ethan C. Ahn

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Deep Intrinsic Surprise-Regularized Control: Scaling Temporal-Difference Updates for Stability in Deep Q-Networks

• Yash Kini,
• Shiv Davay,
• Shreya Polavarapu,
• Hamed Poursiami,
• Shay Snyder
• and Maryam Parsa

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Looming Detection in Athletic Motion Using AI-Driven Visual Stimulus Modeling

• Varsha Muthiah,
• Shay Snyder
• and Maryam Parsa

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Design of a Dragonfly Inspired Lighter-than-air Vehicle

• Harry Yu,
• Kentaro Nojima-Schmunk,
• Yojan Gautam
• and Ningshi Yao

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

Monocular Visual SLAM Using YOLO-Based Object Detection and Depth Estimation

• Ruhani Sujlana,
• Yojan Gautam
• and Ningshi Yao

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JSSR

CORE: A Novel Cost-Effective Operational ROV Explorer

• Sanjay Vempati,
• Lang Xiong,
• Yojan Gautam
• and Ningshi Yao

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

A Novel Approach to Detecting AI-Generated SQL Queries and Explanations By Utilizing Parallel Dual-Encoder Architecture

• Hem Akarapu,
• Rithvik Pathuri,
• Ethan Zhang
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Analyzing Prompt Engineering for Code Generation Accuracy with o4-Mini on CodeForces Problems

• Sunmay Padiyar,
• Aaroosh Kurchania,
• Daivya Singh
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Application of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) Machine Learning Model in Determining Mental Health Illness Severity

• Ishaan Chiplunkar,
• Vrishin Chenreddy,
• Shreyas Muppaneni,
• Jia Modi,
• Nikhil Anand,
• Mihai Boicu
• and Kamaljeet Sanghera

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Using an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) to Teach Sequencing and Pattern Recognition

• Aditi Arunprakash
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Enhancing the Performance of Small Language Models in Programming Tasks Through Deep Research and Task Decomposition

• Aarav Khatri
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Determining the Optimal LLM for a Hybrid-Model, Conversational Feedback Tool in Educational Dialogue Systems

• Advaitha Taire,
• Rakshith Jangity
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Exploring the creative output of six LLMs measured by Torrance’s 4 components of creative thinking based on holistic and analytic cognitive styles

• Andy Wang,
• Charvi Kanna,
• Herui Ray Li
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

A Comparative Study of Gemini 2.5 Pro and Human Evaluative Metrics in Assessing Student Comprehension Across STEM and Humanities Topics through Conversation-based Assessments

• Ashwath Muppa,
• Joel Raj,
• Raj Vora,
• Ansh Saini
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

PET and SPET: A Two-Stage Pipeline for Pulmonary Embolism Detection from CTPA Scans

• Anisha Raghu
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Evaluating the Effectiveness of AI Assistants in Enhancing Conceptual Understanding of Machine Learning Classification Topics

• Ella Oliver,
• Mihika Ranjan,
• Sumaya Binte Zilani Choya
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Leveraging the Table of Contents to Improve Efficiency in an RAG-Powered Chatbot

• Harshit Kondle,
• Ruhaan Singh,
• Sai Satheshkumar,
• Saketh Nandam,
• Yuvaan Chandra,
• Anvit Koppella,
• Lieutenant Colonel John McKee,
• Mihai Boicu
• and Kamaljeet Sanghera

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

A Comparative Evaluation of Large Language Models for Integration within Argumentation and Graph-based Open Student Modeling Software (ARGOS)

• Joel Raj,
• Ashwath Muppa,
• Raj Vora,
• Ansh Saini
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Internal Study of Artificial Intelligence Assistants (AIAs) to Identify the Most Effective AIA For Socratic Learning in Time Series Analysis

• Julia Chen,
• Timothy Guo,
• Nikhil Kalburgi
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Tracking Claude Sonnet 4’s Answers Drift when Explaining Beginner SQL Concepts

• Kalena Imura
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology

JSSR

Comparative Analysis of LSTM and XGBoost ML Models for Short-term Rainfall Forecasting

• Malek Swilam,
• Daksh Mamnani
• and Mihai Boicu

• 25 September 2025
• Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2025 •
• College of Engineering and Computing: Department of Information Sciences and Technology