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BRISTOL R.I. – �鶹ɫ��Ƭ Associate Professor of Engineering Ahmet Akosman has received a $40,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance his research on the early detection of breast cancer, breaking new ground on biomedical engineering research using artificial intelligence in engineering applications. The funding comes through the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) Star Training Award.

Akosman’s current project, “AI-Driven Optimization of THz Fiber Sensors for Enhanced Early Breast Cancer Detection,” builds on his earlier NIH-supported study, “Early Detection of Breast Cancer via Specialty THz Fiber Sensor Designs,” which ran from 2023 to spring 2025.

This latest phase marks the next step in his multi-year effort to develop more accessible and cost-effective technologies for identifying cancer cells at earlier stages. The project, now in the experimentation stage, has provided extensive opportunities for undergraduate research involvement in advanced research early on in students’ academic careers.

“Students are involved in almost every stage – the numerical studies, the simulations, the fabrication,” Akosman said. “My contribution to fabrication is minimal. Of course, I advise them and suggest what to do and how to improve, but fabrication is an area that they do all by themselves.”

Among those students is Riley Como, a senior double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from West Warren, Mass. Como has been a member of Akosman’s research team since sophomore year, contributing to the design and refinement of biosensors.

“Working on this project has greatly shaped my academic path,” Como said. “I started out as a Mechanical Engineering student, but this research gave me valuable insight into Electrical Engineering and ultimately inspired me to pursue both fields. This experience has allowed me to develop technical and research skills that I’ll carry with me into my future career, and I’m excited to continue this work through the semester.”

Ethan Neidt, a senior double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from Oakville, Conn., said the research experience has fueled his curiosity and career ambitions.

“Our work often tackles advanced topics that require constant learning and innovation,” Neidt said. “My project focuses on detecting breast cancer using optical sensors, which brings together biomedical engineering, photonics, and artificial intelligence. This hands-on experience has deepened my technical skills and reinforced my interest in pursuing research and development after graduation.”

The research process can be complex and time-intensive. Each simulation may take only a short time to run, but the work adds up across hundreds of simulations and hours of testing. Because cancer detection technologies can be prohibitively expensive, Askosman and his team are exploring new approaches using artificial intelligence to optimize sensor design and reduce cost of simulation testing.

“In order to get a better performing sensor, we need to do a lot of simulations – weeks long, months long,” Akosman explained. “So instead of doing weeks of simulations, can we use artificial intelligence to relate the results we already have? Can we create an input-output map that predicts outcomes if certain parameters change?”

The long-term goal of the project is to create sensors capable of detecting cancer cells in blood at the earliest stages – when treatment is most effective. The potential applications, Akosman said, reach far beyond the medical community.

“Being able to sense any unknown substance is important for many disciplines – security, pharmaceuticals, biomedical research,” he said. “We wanted to translate this to detecting tumors because cancer is one of the prevalent diseases in the world. This research is very translatable to the needs of humanity and could be directly applied once fully accomplished.”