Spotlight Stories
Mar 06, 2026
A Commitment to Accessibility and Community with Fatima Mumtaza Tourk
Fatima Mumtaza Tourk, MS’25, PhD’27, mechanical engineering, focuses her research on improving accessibility to assistive medical devices. With two current research projects that include exoskeleton devices for the hip and ankle, Toruk is committed to give access to novel mobility aids to everyone.
Mar 05, 2026
Making His Research Matter: From Lab to Practical Applications
Francesco Pessia, PhD’27, electrical engineering, develops machine learning systems for autonomous antenna calibration at the Mentis Lab in collaboration with the Institute of Intelligent Networked Systems. After graduation, he plans to transform his research into practical applications—either through industry or by launching his own startup in wireless communications technology.
Mar 04, 2026
Improving Lives by Exploring Urban Mobility and Transportation
Nail Bashan, PhD’26, civil and environmental engineering, graduates this March ready to bring his transportation research expertise to industry, where he aims to translate complex data science into practical solutions that improve how people move through their communities.
Mar 04, 2026
Beyond the Comfort Zone: An Undergraduate’s Journey to Quantum Research
Through co-ops and research, Evan Clifford, E’26, electrical engineering, discovered his passion for quantum computing—a realization that is now shaping his path to graduate school and led to his first publication in the Journal of Optics.
Mar 02, 2026
One Step Closer to Reducing Emissions with the Help of a Northeastern Co-op
Cameron Little, E’26, mechanical engineering, completed a co-op at CargoKite last year. He worked with the company with creating wind-powered container ships that uses large kites to propel them over the water, with his main role being to collect data during testing,
Feb 26, 2026
Shalini Agrawal’s Journey in Robotics from “Scratch”
Shalini Agrawal, MS’26, robotics, works as a robotics software engineer co-op at Orpheus Ocean, where she’s applying the state estimation and sensor integration skills she developed at Northeastern’s Field Robotics Lab. After graduation, she plans to bring her hands-on experience to industry, advancing autonomous robotics systems at scale.
Feb 24, 2026
Building Reliable Systems Through Experience
Shreya Wanisha, MS’26, software engineering systems, leveraged Northeastern’s co-op program to gain hands-on experience in large-scale backend development at Labcorp, where she worked on systems processing over 70 million healthcare records daily—experience that’s shaping her path toward cloud computing and distributed systems engineering.
Feb 24, 2026
Building from Scratch: A PhD Journey in Bio-inspired Robotics
Bibek Gupta, PhD ’27, computer engineering, is developing morphing-wing robots at the Silicon Synapse Lab. From building bat-inspired systems from scratch, he’s mastered the modeling, control, and deployment skills needed to create robots that solve real-world problems—expertise he’ll bring to industry after graduation.