It’s been a busy 2025-26 tutorial yr for the School of Computing, from new leadership, analysis, and on-line grasp’s levels to pupil and alumni successes.
New SoC director
In November, Kuang-Ching “KC” Wang joined Binghamton University and the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science as a Professor of Empire Innovation and School of Computing director.
At Clemson University, Wang held a range of leadership roles and directed greater than $100 million in sponsored analysis, together with main multi-university groups on landmark National Science Foundation initiatives corresponding to FABRIC (a U.S.-wide testbed for the following technology of the web) and CloudLab (an identical effort centered on cloud computing).
SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Weiyi Meng stepped down as SoC director final spring and stays on the school.
Online grasp’s levels
Starting this fall, college students all over the world will have the ability to earn a Binghamton University master’s degree in computer science or information systems from home.
The new packages will supply the identical tenure-track school, classroom supplies and rigorous scholarship as in-person instruction, however with the comfort of high-quality pre-recorded lectures which are damaged down into quick segments so college students can study at their very own tempo.
Students within the MSCS program will examine core matters corresponding to synthetic intelligence, robotics, cybersecurity, pc imaginative and prescient, human-AI interplay, and underlying {hardware}/software program ideas and foundations. The MSIS diploma is designed for college students fascinated by pc methods from a person and utility perspective for careers centered on pc {hardware} and software program methods operations and upkeep.
New AI middle
A record-setting $55 million dedication from a Binghamton University alumnus and New York state will set up the Center for AI Responsibility and Research, the first-ever impartial synthetic intelligence analysis middle at a U.S. public college.
The middle will probably be half of the Empire AI undertaking, an initiative to ascertain New York as a frontrunner in accountable AI analysis and improvement, will probably be supported by a $30 million dedication from Tom Secunda ’76, MA ’79, co-founder and vice chairman of Bloomberg LP. This will probably be coupled with a $25 million capital funding from Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Binghamton is one of the primary members of the Empire AI Consortium utilizing Empire Alpha, the supercomputer housed on the State University of New York at Buffalo till the full-scale Empire AI computing is accomplished. Faculty researchers and their college students at Binghamton are engaged on 10 permitted tasks to advance AI for the general public good in New York.
NSF CAREER Award winner
Assistant Professor Yincheng Jin received a $599,588 National Science Foundation CAREER grant to design a each day American Sign Language coaching platform utilizing wearable know-how and synthetic intelligence. The CAREER Award is the very best distinction the NSF presents to researchers it has tapped to turn into future leaders of their fields.
Other analysis information
A Stanford University examine that appears on the affect of scientists worldwide recognized 29 current Binghamton University faculty who were among the top 2% of all researchers on the earth of their fields in 2024. Among these cited have been Associate Professor Jeremy Blackburn and Distinguished Professor Lijun Yin.
A story in the 2025 Watson Review magazine mentioned robotics analysis at Watson College and featured progressive work from Associate Professor Shiqi Zhang, Assistant Professor Monika Roznere ’18, and Assistant Professor Jayson Boubin.
A story in last year’s Binghamton University research magazine highlighted Boubin’s work programming drones to search out and analyze points on the bottom, together with invasive species and landmines.
Also, Boubin and PhD pupil Melika Dastranj participated within the SUNY Summer Startup School (S4) and took home the grand prize of $50,000 because the winner of Demo Day. REMIX, Boubin’s firm, goals to develop real-time processing for big quantities of drone knowledge to find out what are true pixels of gentle from an object versus reflections from surrounding objects mistaken for actual issues.
Another research magazine story checked out most cancers detection throughout campus, together with Professor of Empire Innovation Nancy Guo’s analysis utilizing synthetic intelligence to look at hundreds of thousands of medical knowledge factors to attempt to uncover higher therapy for breast most cancers.
In collaboration with the startup firm Cauth AI, school and college students have developed My Music My Choice (MMMC), a digital safeguard that empowers artists by defending their songs from generative AI cloning. Leading the analysis at Binghamton is Umur Aybars Ciftci ’11, MS ’14, PhD ’21, a analysis assistant professor within the First-Year Research Immersion Program.
The new Watson College Seed Grant Program for Major Research Proposal Development contains a number of SoC school among the many inaugural awardees. The program is designed as a catalyst for accelerating interdisciplinary analysis, addressing urgent scientific and technological challenges whereas demonstrating a path to main analysis funding from exterior sponsors.
Student information
New club StackHacks helps college students develop their technical and teamwork abilities via real-world tasks, mentorship and networking. It welcomes members of all backgrounds and expertise ranges, creating an area the place everybody learns and grows collectively.
Pallabi Mitra, MS ’27, is a global pupil from Kolkata, India, who now helps different potential college students as a graduate assistant for the Watson Graduate Recruiting Office. Outside of work, Mitra has discovered unobstructed entry to discover the surroundings via close by parks and trails round upstate New York.
Michael Bronikowski ’24, an MSCS pupil, and Luke Riddoch ’24 (now a configuration administration engineer at GE Vernova) positioned first within the 2025 New York Business Plan Competition’s Food and Agtech track. Their undertaking, BuzzHive, builds synthetic intelligence-powered beehives that monitor bee well being, optimize pollination and enhance honeybee survival charges to assist safe the long run of the agricultural meals ecosystem.
A story in the 2025 Watson Review magazine centered on college students who’re volunteering their time in the neighborhood. Gianni Zaccarelli offers time to the native department of Habitat for Humanity via Binghamton University’s Center for Civic Engagement, whereas Bryan Perez ’25 (earlier than graduating final May) helped out on the Broome County Humane Society.
Another piece in the Watson Review checked out undergraduates who’re doing real-world analysis alongside school. Rowan Devereux-Smith ’26 is engaged on optimizing transistor routing in pc chips with Associate Professor Patrick Madden.
Last yr, SoC college students matched wits with groups from all over the world within the MITRE Embedded Capture the Flag Competition. They completed at #26 general and #2 in New York — respectable rankings for an inaugural outing. Associate Professor Aravind Prakash serves because the workforce’s advisor.
The Watson Future Faculty Fellows (WF3) Program, launched final yr, will foster tomorrow’s tutorial leaders with skilled coaching for chosen doctoral college students to encourage profitable school careers. PhD pupil Amir Esmaeili was among the many first cohort.
Alumni information
James Bankoski ’91, a vp of engineering at Google, was honored last year by the Binghamton University Alumni Association. He has greater than 30 years of expertise managing groups and creating applied sciences which have considerably impacted the online. He has performed a key function in creating video and picture codecs utilized by billions globally. His leadership has pushed developments in internet efficiency, capabilities, safety and privateness, benefiting many Google companies. He at present leads 540 engineers for Google Chrome.
John MacDonald ’92, MS ’98, has labored in trade for greater than 25 years, the place he’s had a front-row seat to the evolution of pc science at IBM Corp. and Cisco Systems. He’s additionally been an adjunct lecturer for greater than 12 years on the School of Management, educating programs in undertaking administration, databases and strategic enterprise communications.
Michael Fasching, MS ’25, had expertise with software program improvement and programming languages however felt interested in the data methods grasp’s program as a result of it presents extra hands-on, utilized instruction somewhat than the theoretical {hardware} and software program foundations of conventional pc science.
While she was nonetheless a pupil, Rimjhim Singh, MS ’25, helped to construct new software for the Doctor of Physical Therapy program on the Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences. B-Competent is a dashboard created that shows competency-based evaluation knowledge to DPT college students, giving a transparent understanding of their efficiency.