Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Publications & Research

Between Opportunity and Constraint: Digital Freelancing and Graduate Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Posted in Public Affairs/Community Development, SPARK! 2026

Author: Daniel Assamah | Public Affairs Abstract: The rapid growth of the digital gig economy is reshaping labor markets in developing countries, raising new questions about employment, inequality, and development. Optimistic accounts present online freelancing as a pathway to income and inclusion, while critical perspectives emphasize precarity and the reproduction of global hierarchies. These tensions… continue reading

Implementing a Large Language Model From Scratch

Posted in Data Science, SPARK! 2026

Author: Kirill Dragunov | Data ScienceAbstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) have transformed not only modern artificial intelligence, but also many aspects of professional and academic life. Today, they are widely used by students to prepare for classes, exams, and projects, as well as by practicing professionals, who use LLMs to increase their productivity by assisting… continue reading

Deterministic Verification of CNN Stability Via the Bivariate Z-Transform

Posted in Mathematical Sciences, SPARK! 2026

Author: Avery Ang | Mathematical SciencesAbstract: Convolutional neural networks achieve state-of-the-art accuracy yet remain formally unverified: their learned weights are optimized by stochastic gradient descent with no guarantee of spectral integrity. For safety-critical applications such as autonomous systems, medical imaging, industrial inspection statistical accuracy alone is insufficient. This thesis advances a deterministic, per-kernel auditing framework… continue reading

Do the nurse cells play any role in determining the anterior fate of the follicle cells during Drosophila Oogenesis?

Posted in Biology, SPARK! 2026

Author: Sohail Shaik | BiologyAbstract: Axis formation in Drosophila melanogaster is orchestrated through germline–soma interactions during oogenesis. Each egg chamber comprises 15 nurse cells, one oocyte, and a surrounding epithelium of follicle cells (FCs). Signalling pathways including EGFR, BMP/Dpp, and JAK/STAT coordinate anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral patterning across 14 developmental stages. At stage 9, around 55… continue reading

Switchable Nucleic Acids Nanoparticles for Enhancing Cell Uptake and Drug Delivery

Posted in Computational & Integrative Biology, SPARK! 2026

Author: Qiaochu Zhang | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Efficient and safe delivery of CRISPR components into hard-to-transfect cells remains a major challenge in gene therapy. We developed programmable tetrahedral DNA nanoparticles (TDN) as carriers for sgRNA/Cas9 complexes to enable intracellular genome editing. Including TDN–sgRNA complexes achieved targeted gene knockout and TDN-delivered Cas9 showed limited activity due… continue reading

Split Aptamer Catalytic Sensor for Detecting Viral Nucleic Acids

Posted in Computational & Integrative Biology, SPARK! 2026

Author: Nishat Jahan | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Hemin/DNA aptamers can catalyze the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated oxidation of various chemical compounds. For instance, hemin/G-quadruplex (G4) complexes convert Amplex Red into fluorescent product resorufin, enabling fluorescence-based detection. Due to their high catalytic efficiency, hemin-binding DNA aptamers have been extensively explored for biosensing applications, particularly in the… continue reading