The Quark Lab

A deep intellectual curiosity drives our lab to explore how emerging technologies—especially location analytics, GeoAI, and machine learning—can solve real-world problems. It’s a place where creativity meets rigor, and we pursue questions that excite us while mentoring graduate students eager to push the limits of research and innovation. We do all this with passion, collaboration, and a healthy dose of fun along the way. 

The lab benefits from members' backgrounds in Experimental Particle Physics, Computer Science, Information Systems, and Geography, where the focus is always on precision and solving complex challenges. This experience gives our work a solid technical foundation to blend our technical expertise to make a real-world impact. This combination enables us to develop innovative research methods that advance science and provide practical solutions to pressing issues.

At our lab, we are passionate about using GeoAI and machine learning to address real-world challenges that matter. One of our core research areas focuses on homelessness, not simply as a statistic, but as a deeply human crisis shaped by housing instability, economic stress, mental health burden, and geographic inequality. We are developing predictive GeoAI models that integrate satellite imagery, geospatial infrastructure data, socioeconomic indicators, and public-sector datasets to identify communities at elevated risk. By combining spatial analytics with machine learning, our goal is to create early-warning systems that help policymakers and service providers intervene more effectively, allocate resources more equitably, and better understand how place-based conditions influence homelessness outcomes. 

We are also conducting advanced research on gun violence using a multi-layered GeoAI framework that combines geospatial risk modeling, demographic and socioeconomic indicators, and social media intelligence. In collaboration with the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University, we are analyzing geolocated social media data to explore whether online behavioral and linguistic signals can serve as early indicators of violence in vulnerable communities. Using natural language processing, GIS, and machine learning, we aim to better understand how digital signals, neighborhood conditions, and structural disadvantage interact across space and time. The broader goal is to support more proactive, data-informed interventions to improve community safety and prevent violence.

In a separate line of work, we are applying our geospatial and AI expertise to national security. In partnership with the United States Department of Defense and the Irregular Warfare Center, we are leading a project titled GeoAI-Driven Analysis of Airspace Vulnerabilities Against Unauthorized Drone Activity. Focusing on the U.S.-Mexico border, we are using satellite imagery, terrain analysis, and open-source intelligence to map areas where small drones may pose a threat. This work aims to move from reactive to proactive defense by helping frontline agencies anticipate drone incursions before they occur. 

Another emerging area of our research is geo-medicine, which combines geographic information with clinical and environmental data to better understand how place influences health outcomes. We examine how factors such as pollution exposure, neighborhood safety, access to green space, transportation connectivity, and proximity to healthcare services shape mental health risk across communities. By integrating spatial analytics with machine learning, we are developing predictive models that can identify vulnerable populations and support more targeted, place-based public health interventions. 

We are also exploring how agentic AI can support strategic decision-making at the executive and board level. In collaboration with leaders from the W. P. Carey School of Business and industry partners, we are developing a governance-driven agentic AI framework designed for director and executive decision support. The system integrates real-time economic indicators, regulatory developments, geopolitical signals, workforce trends, and operational risk data into an intelligent multi-agent architecture that monitors emerging risks, interprets their organizational impact, and generates concise board-level briefings. Our goal is to help directors move from information overload to actionable insight by creating AI systems that are transparent, accountable, and aligned with governance and oversight responsibilities. 

Across all these projects, our mission is clear: to use geospatial data and AI not only to solve complex problems, but to improve lives. Whether helping vulnerable populations, supporting safer communities, strengthening national security, or making education more accessible, we believe technology is most powerful when guided by empathy, responsibility, and real-world impact.