University Of Arkansas Professor Receives $1.25 Million DoD Grant For Computational Software Project

By Annie Baker • Oct 10, 2020
  • University of Arkansas ARA Scholar Professor of Data Science Justin Zhan has received a $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. These are the details.

University of Arkansas ARA Scholar Professor of Data Science Justin Zhan has received a $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. This grant will enable Zhan’s team to develop novel algorithms to enhance the speed and efficiency of computational software that uses large amounts of streaming data.

By utilizing big data analytics faster and more efficiently, the algorithms will significantly enhance computational performance of many applications and programs that require massive amounts of streaming data. And this so-called machine-learning approach to big data analytics will improve operational robustness in addition computational speed and “Technological advances in this area have enabled the ability to ingest disparate data sets, program relevant conditions and rules, and derive insights and prescriptive intelligence in an unprecedented fashion,” said Zhan. “With these advances and with unprecedented access to high volumes of data, we can now empower data-driven architectures in near or real time.”

Tools like hyperspectral imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging have been hampered by an inability to handle large sets of dense data. And hyperspectral imaging collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum to find objects, identify materials and detect processes.

And to be able to measure brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow, functional magnetic resonance imaging demands computational ability to process massive quantities of streaming data. The inability to process large sets of data has compromised the performance of both tools. And Zhan is expecting his algorithms to enhance their performance dramatically.

Zhan’s research is focused on big data, blockchain technologies, information assurance, social computing, and biomedical informatics. And he has published more than 240 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conferences and delivered more than 30 keynote speeches and invited talks.

As a principal investigator or co-principal investigator, Zhan was involved in over 50 projects funded by the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health.