Research Interests

Our faculty have varied interests and expertise. Consequently, our research projects often involve multidisciplinary teams of Ph.D. students, Master's students, undergraduate students and/or faculty. To learn more about faculty research interests and our research laboratories, please read on!

  • Brittany Terese Fasy
    Computational geometry and topology, topological data analysis, road network analysis, algorithms.
  • Clem Izurieta
    Software engineering, software evolution, ecological modeling.
  • Brendan Mumey
    Computational biology, networks, combinatorial optimization, algorithms.
  • Neda Nazemi
    Data mining, machine learning, deep neural networks, time series analysis, forecasting.
  • Ann Marie Reinhold
    Environmental data science & simulation, cybersecurity threat detection, computationally enhanced risk communication.
  • Matt Revelle
    Computer security, machine learning, graph neural networks, program analysis, binary analysis, type systems, exploit synthesis.
  • John Sheppard
    Probabilistic graphical models, machine learning, ethical and explainable AI, evolutionary and swarm-based algorithms, fault diagnostics and prognostics, health management, distributed optimization.
  • Laura Stanley
    Human computer interaction; virtual and augmented reality; human machine interaction; human robot interaction; affective computing; multimodal displays.
  • Sean Yaw
    Algorithms, graph theory, networks, resource management, optimization.
  • Fangtian Zhong
    Software security, program analysis, and machine learning for cybersecurity. 
  • Binhai Zhu
    Applied computational geometry, intelligent web searching, geographical information systems, spatial databases, design and analysis of algorithms, combinatorial optimization.
  • Mary Ann Cummings
    Software engineering, modeling and simulation, emergent behavior, system of systems.
  • Dan DeFrance
    Technical art, 3D modeling and animation, vector and motion graphics, web design/development.
  • Carson Gross
    Web development, programming languages.
  • Hunter Lloyd
    Robotics, computer vision, multimedia and animation.
  • John Paxton
    Artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer science education.
  • Reese Pearsall
    Cybersecurity, malware detection and analysis, cybercrime, computer science education.

Research Entities

These entities are listed because of their strong affiliation with our department, but our research is interdiscplinary and often involves other research entities in the college.

Research Opportunities

  • It is our intention to support all qualified doctoral students with either RA or TA positions (subject to availability of funding).
  • Available to undergraduates at MSU and other schools.
  • Students gain hands-on research experience working with a faculty adviser.
  • Provides residence hall lodging, reimbursement for travel to/from Bozeman, and $5,000 stipend.
  • Runs June through August.
  • Application deadline is generally in February.

Doing research is a great way to learn about a topic and gain valuable experience that can aid in applying to graduate programs or future employment.

Undergraduates interested in gaining research experience should contact faculty members directly based on their area of interest.

If you are a prospective graduate student, we invite you to learn more about our graduate programs!