COVID-19 Response

Our Response to COVID-19

In collaboration with the College of Communication, Architecture, + The Arts (CARTA), the dedicated team printed and delivered 2,603 shields in three months to local healthcare workers. The College of Engineering & Computing also worked to develop ventilator and ventilator valve designs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

REAL innovates to help the community during a global pandemic

M. Hadi Amini, assistant professor in the college’s School of Computing & Information Sciences, developed a dashboard that uses data analytics to forecast worldwide growth, or decline, in the number of COVID-19 cases. The data is updated using spatiotemporal data collection, the process of discovering patterns and knowledge of data to describe a phenomenon in a particular location and period of time.

NSF RAPID awards

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded FIU researchers with RAPID awards to conduct research that can be used immediately to understand the spread of COVID-19, to inform and educate and to welcome the development of actions to address this challenge and push forward.

Can antibodies from other viral infections fight COVID-19?

Researchers at the college, in collaboration with FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education and the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine are investigating if antibodies that people carry from other viral infections are fighting COVID-19, explaining why some countries may have beaten the virus. Giri Narasimham, professor and principal investigator on the grant, is using machine learning to detect molecular mimicry in SARS-CoV-2.

Fighting for equity in STEM

As a strong reflection of her dedication to educational equity for minority populations, Trina Fletcher, assistant professor, is studying the impact of COVID-19 on broadening participation in engineering at HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). In partnership with the University of Georgia, she is also exploring the impact of abrupt changes to instructional methods on minority students nationwide.

Exploring how REAL people are socially influenced online

Arif Mohaimin Sadri, assistant professor at the Moss School of Construction, Infrastructure & Sustainability, and M. Hadi Amini are collecting social media data to uncover how COVID-19 risk information is communicated online and how it influences the way people respond in times of crisis. The findings will be useful for public health and emergency management agencies.

Developing an app, using artificial intelligence, to help the healthcare system

In collaboration with FIU’s College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts (CARTA), researchers at the college are developing a mobile app, using artificial intelligence and augmented reality, for personal protective equipment training. The platform will support innovation and the manufacturing of essential medical equipment through a networking component. Miguel Alonso Jr. and Shu-Ching Chen, researchers in the School of Computing & Information Sciences, are two coprincipal investigators of the grant.