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Lab Paper Accepted to IEEE BSN Conference
Smart Glasses for Monitoring Eye Damage Risk from UV Exposure
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PhytoBits Workshop Hosted at Chicago Botanic Garden
The plant sensing and education team hosted a PhytoBits pilot workshop at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where students explored the integration of biology, physical computing, and programming using the Micro:bit-based toolkit. Through activities on photosynthesis, data collection, and computational modeling, participants built confidence in applying computational thinking to biology based on their prior expertise. This…
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Jack Thoene and Qitong Li Honored with ECE Best MS Thesis Awards
https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/electrical-computer/news-events/news/articles/2025/2025-ece-annual-award-winners.html Best MS Thesis Awards Qitong Li (MS ’25) won the Best Computer Engineering MS Thesis Award for “Phytobits: A Bioelectronic Sensor and Microcontroller-Based Curriculum for Cam Photosynthesis Education.” Li, a member of the VAK Sustainable Computing Lab, was advised by Nivedita Arora, the Allen K. and Johnnie Cordell Breed Junior Professor of Design and assistant professor of…
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Katie Jiang Wins UG Research Award
Congratulations to Katie Jiang, who was awarded the Best Computer Engineering Undergraduate Researcher Award. This award recognizes her outstanding achievements and dedication as an undergraduate researcher.
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Four Students Awarded SURG Grants; Ariana Earns Special Recognition
Congratulations to Nara Jung, Ariana Blake, Alice Ping, and Valerie Wong, who were each awarded Northwestern’s Summer Undergraduate Research Grant (SURG) to pursue full-time summer research in the lab. The SURG program supports students through every stage of the research process, from formulating questions to collecting and analyzing data, and synthesizing results. We are especially…
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Prof. Nivedita Arora Named IEEE Pervasive Computing Emerging Rockstar
Our PI, Prof. Nivedita Arora, has been named IEEE Pervasive Computing’s Emerging Rockstar for her work in sustainable computational materials. This recognition reflects her ongoing efforts and contributions to the field. We are proud to have her leadership in our lab and excited to be part of her vision for the future of computing. We…
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NSF CISE Director Dr. Ellen Zegura Visits the Lab
We were excited to welcome NSF Director Dr. Ellen Zegura to our lab today! Here’s a snapshot of our PI Nivedita introducing the Smart Textiles project by the knitting machine. It was a great opportunity to share our vision for wearable tech using innovative materials and energy-efficient designs. The discussions were engaging, and we’re looking…
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Prof. Nivedita Arora Shares 16 Lessons from Her PhD Journey
Excited to share 16 valuable lessons learned during our PI Nivedita Arora’s PhD journey—now published on ACM! From embracing the fear to the importance of the healthy lab culture, these insights are a must-read for anyone on the academic path! Please find more details at ACM-W.
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Prof. Nivedita Arora Featured as People of ACM
Our advisor, Nivedita Arora, was selected as People of ACM on August 6 and was also invited by ACM to create a video discussing her research. In the video, she introduces her work on transforming everyday materials like paper, wood, soil, plants, and textiles into computational devices that can harvest energy from the environment.Details can…
VAK Embodied System Lab 