Google Cloud Research Innovators launch fourth cohort to drive innovation

Now in its fourth year, the Google Cloud Research Innovators program is proud to announce 23 new participants who have been selected for their innovative ideas and commitment to solving some of today’s most difficult challenges using AI and cloud computing technology. This year’s cohort will collaborate with each other and Google experts to accelerate their most groundbreaking projects. Participants will get access to Google Cloud technology and a community of support, including cloud credits and networking opportunities. By working together across disciplines, program participants can amplify their research, accelerate discoveries–and inspire new ways to advance scientific computing.

This year’s cohort includes researchers from a wide variety of institutions across the nation–from the University of Houston to Florida International University. They meet quarterly with mentors and participate in research conferences and special training days. Mentors for this cohort include Alexander Titus, Principal Scientist for Transformative AI at the University of Southern California; Somalee Datta, Director of Research IT, Technology, and Digital Solutions at Stanford University; and Astitva Chopra, AI Science and Sustainability Program Manager at Google.

The new Research Innovators will focus on solving real-world problems with Google Cloud. For example,

• Jacob Fisher at Michigan State University plans to use neuroscience and machine learning to better understand the neural underpinnings of attention to messages and digital environments.
• Haiying Shen at the University of Virginia hopes to improve the performance of cloud computing by focusing on resource management and job scheduling.
• Weiqiang Zhu at University of California at Berkeley aims to use AI and ML analytics to gain insights from a 800T database of seismic data and show how cloud computing can better predict earthquakes.

This year’s Research Innovators join an esteemed list of researchers who previously participated in this program and have developed technology solutions that improve everyday life for researchers, consumers, and commuters: Mohammad Shahrad at The University of British Columbia developed a new framework for serverless computing that saves costs and resources for researchers across domains. Ignacio Carlucho at Heriot-Watt University used Google Cloud’s graphic neural network models to train robots to collaborate. Abhishek Dubey of Vanderbilt University worked with Tennessee public transit agencies to make regional transportation systems more efficient with AI and real-time data analytics.

Congratulations to the 2024 Research Innovators:

Opeyemi Emmanuel Ajibuwa, North Carolina A&T State University

Zeynettin Akkus, Mayo Clinic

Spencer A. Bruce, NY State Department of Health

Jacob Fisher, Michigan State University

Alasdair Gent, Duke University

Sishuai Gong, Purdue University

Steven N. Hart, Mayo Clinic

David Jimenez-Morales, Stanford University

Rabimba Karanjai, University of Houston

Suresh Kondeti, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Ying Mao, Fordham University

Marc Melcher, Stanford University

Ronald Metoyer, University of Notre Dame

Mike Mylrea, University of Miami

Giri Narasimhan, Florida International University

Ramesh Natarajan, Yeshiva University

Rahul Suryakant Sakhare, Purdue University

Haiying Shen, University of Virginia

Cheng Tan, Northeastern University

Gautam Malviya Thakur, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Yue Zhao, University of Southern California

Mikhail Zhizhin, Colorado School of Mines

Weiqiang Zhu, University of California at Berkeley

If you’re a researcher interested in exploring the benefits of the cloud for your projects, apply here for access to the Google Cloud research credits program in eligible countries. If you’d like more information about Google Cloud’s Research Innovator program, see here. If you want to read more about how Google Cloud’s technologies are transforming research and education, you’ll find more case studies here.