In an era of abundant AI resources, translating complex models into practical solutions remains challenging, yet it offers immense opportunities for aspiring young engineers. To harness these opportunities, our research lab focuses on applying data science and AI to tackle real-world problems across financial engineering, risk mitigation, automated decision-making, and beyond. In quantitative finance, we engineer effective stock and cryptocurrency trading strategies by leveraging sentiment signals extracted from social media data. We optimize investment portfolio performance using genetic algorithms and reinforcement learning. In risk management, we apply Vision Language Models (VLMs) to detect frauds in checks. Finally, to improve everyday user experiences with generative AI, we developed a multi-phase evaluation framework that benchmarks leading LLMs (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek), identifies model vulnerabilities, and proposes strategies to build more reliable, context-aware, and user-centric AI systems.

Nature provides an extraordinary starting point for cancer drug discovery, but synthetic chemistry offers the opportunity to reprogram, refine, and expand the biological function of natural products. Small molecules occupy a privileged position at the interface of chemistry and biology: they are at once products of synthesis, probes of biological mechanism, and starting points for therapeutic discovery. This presentation will describe work from the Njoo laboratory centered on the design, synthesis, and interrogation of bioactive small molecules in cancer. Our approach draws on the logic of organic synthesis, physical organic chemistry, and classical medicinal chemistry to ask how deliberate changes in molecular architecture translate across scales, from reactivity and conformation to target engagement, cellular phenotype, and therapeutic response. Natural products and established pharmacophores provide particularly rich starting points for these studies, enabling systematic interrogation of structure–activity relationships through scaffold editing, prodrug design, and the strategic incorporation of elements such as fluorine and silicon to access otherwise difficult regions of chemical space. In parallel, target-directed medicinal chemistry efforts employ iterative synthesis and SAR to develop synthetic small-molecule modulators of oncogenic signaling, including arylsulfonamide inhibitors of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and emerging approaches to pharmacologically interrogate KRAS-driven cancers. Across these programs, synthetic chemistry is integrated with spectroscopy, computation, mechanistic and cell-based chemical biology, and increasingly preclinical models to distinguish molecular features that merely accompany activity from those that govern it. Through studies spanning natural products, synthetic pharmacophores, targeted medicinal chemistry, and in vivo evaluation, this talk will explore how fundamental insights into molecular structure, reactivity, and biological function can be carried forward from molecules toward new approaches to cancer therapy. 

Adaptation and evolution are strongly influenced by environmental conditions that affect genome stability, gene regulation, and DNA repair. However, how external stresses interact with DNA to shape evolution remains incompletely understood. Here, we propose an integrated framework to investigate the relationship between environmental stress, gene regulation, DNA repair, CRISPR-induced DNA damage, and bacterial evolution. Using Escherichia coli as a model system, we examine how different conditions and antibiotic exposure influence mutation frequency, antibiotic resistance, and cellular stress responses. In parallel, CRISPR-Cas9 provides a controlled system for generating DNA double-strand breaks, while a MuGam-GFP-based reporter enables visualization of DNA fragmentation and DNA damage in living cells. By combining phenotypic measurements, fluorescence-based DNA-damage detection, gene-expression analysis, and genomic approaches, we aim to identify pathways that determine how bacteria respond to different external factors. We hypothesize that external stress alters regulatory and DNA-repair networks, thereby influencing mutation patterns and the persistence of resistant variants. Understanding these interactions may improve our ability to predict evolution in general, identify mechanisms of genome instability, and develop strategies to limit the emergence of antibiotic resistance, multidrug resistance and unintended genetic changes including diseases.

Biomaterials are materials designed to interact with biological systems for medical and biological applications. Calcium phosphate, a major inorganic component of bone and teeth, has been widely used in bone repair, dental materials, coatings, and drug delivery because of its biocompatibility. In nature, however, biological materials are often composed of multiple components. Bone, for example, is a natural hybrid material consisting mainly of CaP and collagen. This combination provides properties that cannot be achieved by either component alone. This presentation will introduce the basic properties and applications of CaP and other inorganic biomaterials, followed by their limitations and the concept of hybrid materials. The potential of biopolymers and hydrogels will then be discussed, with examples including modified calcium phosphate nanoparticles, methacrylated gelatin and hyaluronic acid, and photocrosslinked hydrogels. Methods used to characterize their chemical and physical properties will also be introduced.

This talk presents highlights of studies conducted at ASDRP. We are investigating the potential of the prediction of mechanical properties across three distinct material systems: nanostructures, bulk copper, and 3D-printed polylactic acid (PLA). For nanostructures, machine learning is used to identify and characterize the morphology.  Nanoindentation can be correlated to microhardness to macroscopic strength. Bulk mechanical properties of copper are evaluated through tensile and hardness testing to determine if grain size influences the linear correlation coefficients between hardness and strength. The mechanical behavior of 3D-printed PLA is characterized under two varying parameters—such as print orientation—to determine their effect on stiffness, strength, and failure modes. Comparative analysis across these materials highlights critical relationships between structure and mechanical response, potentially providing predictive insights applicable to materials design and additive manufacturing optimization. The topic of interfacial free energy measurements from dihedral angle of twin boundaries in copper will also be  discussed.

Sickle cell disease (SCD), also known as sickle cell anemia, refers to a group of inherited disorders that impact hemoglobin, the primary protein responsible for oxygen transport in red blood cells. In healthy individuals, red blood cells are flexible and disc-shaped, allowing them to flow easily through blood vessels. However, in SCD, the polymerization of hemoglobin S (HbS) leads to the formation of rigid, non-deformable sickle-shaped red blood cells. This loss of deformability, along with sickling and irreversible membrane damage, causes abnormal blood flow and increased blood viscosity. These factors contribute to Vaso-occlusion and a range of SCD-related complications, including pain, stroke, renal failure, cerebral infarction, lung problems, and infections.

GBT021601 (generic name Osivelotor) is a second-generation anti-polymerization and anti-sickling agent currently in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of SCD. This presentation will provide an overview of the drug's development, tracing its evolution from discovery through preclinical studies to its current status as a clinical candidate. In addition, we will examine data from in-vitro, ex-vivo, and in-vivo (animal) studies, demonstrating improvements in red blood cell biology, oxygen delivery, red blood cell membrane stability, and overall disease pathophysiology.

The Poudyal Lab research approach is themed "From Lab to Land to Lap", which combines education, research, and community service which promotes students’ scientific knowledge growth, application, and societal impact. The laboratory research is based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Project-Based Learning (PBL) frameworks, which emphasize student inquiry, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-based research.

Researchers will engage in activities that apply scientific concepts in to real-world application and together by addressing environmental challenges. The lab conducts several research on in-vitro, ex-situ and greenhouse-based, focusing on plant biotechnology, synthetic seed production, plant tissue culture, and organogenesis,

together with germplasm conservation, and agricultural research. Likewise, the laboratory also conducts research on environmental sustainability, including carbon sequestration, phytoremediation, and plant-based solutions for ecosystem restoration and climate change mitigation. Moreover, students also learn the techniques of writing research proposals, field design and layout, data collection and analyze, communicating scientific findings through oral and written form by participating on conferences, blitz talk and expo, and by publishing

research article on peer review journals.