#harvardseas

Alumni Paul Blankley, S.M. ’18 (computational science and engineering) and Ryan Janssen, S.M. ’18 (computational science and engineering), as well as current student Camilo Fosco, M.E. '19 (engineering), presented a workshop on fairness in data science at the Institute for Applied Computational Science’s (IACS) 2019 ComputeFest. They discussed new techniques that analyze the behavior of machine learning models and shed light on both interpretability and fairness, in an effort to combat the discrimination that can arise naturally in classifiers. Blankley and Janssen are alumni of the IACS at #HarvardSEAS and the @harvardgsas.⠀ #Harvard #HarvardIACS #ComputeFest2019 #Alumni #HarvardAlumni #datascience #machinelearning #fairness #computerscience #computation #engineering #workshop (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtOGDbQnHmy/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fy223bk37zg6

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This post is nearly a week late because engineering life is chaos, but I completed my thesis!! Thanks @harvardseas for this awesome shot of me with the "PRESShirt", a set of garment-implemented, fabric-based pressure sensors for contact sports athletes. (Basically I built this thing and my friends tackled me, for science. It was awesome.) . . . . #engineering #technology #tech #wearables #wearabletech #harvardseas #Harvard #thesis #science #sportsscience

Immunotherapy utilizes a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. Specific immune cells, called t-cells, target cancer cells based on an interaction between the t-cell receptor and mutant peptides on the cancer cell surface. But identifying the t-cell receptors, and the peptides they target, remains a major challenge that has been stymied by exorbitant costs and lengthy timelines. In an effort to solve this problem, bioengineering concentrator Shelby Yuan, S.B. '19, developed a platform that uses high-throughput microfluidics, single-cell droplet encapsulation and indexing, and genetic analysis to identify pairs of t-cell receptors and their unique target epitopes. High-throughput microfluidics enables the identification and analysis of hundreds of thousands of cells in a fraction of the time used by traditional methods. The specificity offered by the combination of these methods could enable a clinician to target specific responses that vary cell-by-cell within a patient’s immune system. “This method will help accelerate the field of personalized, targeted immunotherapy toward personalized anti-cancer vaccines. This type of treatment would also be medically safer, faster, and more cost-effective compared to current methods of adoptive cell therapy,” she said. “The high-throughput transcript analysis of only activated t-cells does not require administration of a large number of genetically modified, cultured cells, saving significant time and cost. Therefore, the biological and engineering innovation presented in this platform will help improve both the efficiency and efficacy of current t-cell immunotherapy.”⠀ #Harvard #HarvardSEAS #LifeatSEAS #student #project #cancer #immunotherapy #bioengineering (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) https://www.instagram.com/p/By7r-RYnFww/?igshid=rehscjswlm7f

More than 300 children and their families got a taste of science (literally) during the annual Holiday Lecture on the science of pizza. Howard Stone, a former #HarvardSEAS faculty member and now Dixon Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at @princeton_university, and research assistant Daniel Rosenberg began by demonstrating how liquid milk becomes crosslinked to form solid clumps of cheese. They showed children how fat droplets clump together in cheese and explained the chemical reaction that enables dough to rise. Kids had the chance to get up out of their seats and "act out" some of the chemical reactions, like the enzymes that interact with polymers to form bubbles in rising pizza dough. ⠀ Article by Selena Zhang, A.B. '20⠀ Photos by Oleksandr Babii⠀ #Harvard #holiday #science #community #STEM #pizza #cheese #dough https://www.instagram.com/p/BrxcqnBD6LG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qvq1ao4hunc1

Henri Seydoux, founder and CEO of micro drone company @parrot_official, highlighted the promises and perils at the intersection of technology and society during a new #HarvardSEAS industry lecture series. The talk was the first in a series of forums that will bring together SEAS faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates to meet in an intimate setting with industry leaders and learn about their latest projects, as well as their creative and business processes. Seydoux emphasized that nothing lasts in technology. To find success, entrepreneurs must constantly evolve, and for Parrot, that meant moving towards the increasing number of advanced tech companies beginning to outcompete them. “Technology’s progress in recent times has been based on seeing with our gadgets,” he said. “The high tech starts with the gadgets; it’s not serious. The world of today is led by young people and we are able to build huge businesses, but they are never so serious at the beginning.”⠀ Photo and article by @alanajoy_ful #Harvard #LifeatSEAS #drone #microdrone #technology #industry #business #entrepreneur (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

Linda Yao wasn’t the type of kid who was dead-set on becoming a lawyer or doctor when she grew up. With wide-eyed curiosity and a bit of indecisiveness, she was tugged in dozens of different directions until she landed at #HarvardSEAS, where she chose an applied math concentration because of the field’s flexibility. It should come as no surprise that Yao, director of mergers and acquisitions and business development at @Lenovo, has found a role that is impossible to narrowly define. In the company’s Data Center Group, Yao seeks to build partnerships and explore new business models to keep the company at the leading edge of a constantly transforming industry. “I like the fact that my work is truly multidisciplinary,” said Yao, A.B. ’10. “Every M&A transaction is defined by a bunch of disciplines that all come together, like finance, strategy, project management, negotiation, law, etc. It ensures I’m never bored.” ⠀ #Harvard #HarvardAlumni #appliedmath #businessdevelopment #mergersandacquisitions #multidisciplinary #datacenter (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

A class of engineering students spent the spring term studying problems around transportation connectivity in Boston and developed solutions aimed at easing the burden on residents and travelers. They explored methods to link the city's North and South rail stations, while increasing the transportation system capacity and creating operational efficiencies. One solution calls for a dedicated lane for rapid transit buses that forms a ring around the city. The Urban Ring would link North and South stations while also allowing commuters to travel circumferentially around the city, alleviating some of the downtown congestion that results from the city’s radial transportation structure. This subgroup, led by Matthew Li, S.B. ’19, an electrical engineering concentrator, also proposed adding additional bike lanes to relieve congestion and launching a network of large capacity, low-clearance ferries that could shuttle travelers between North and South stations without clogging city streets or overcrowded subway cars. “I think that these ideas have potential to really benefit people in Boston. We think that we can revitalize the system with new features that will improve people’s daily commute experiences and also help make Boston a hub of innovation by enabling transportation connectivity,” Li said. “A big bottleneck for the growth of a city is transportation. With better connectivity, we can create so much more economic potential for the city of Boston.”⠀ #Harvard #HarvardSEAS #LifeatSEAS #students #project #engineering #Boston #transportation #infrastructure #rail #commute #congestion (at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)