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CS PhD student is making waves in research and the open water

Alexander James Servantez — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:22:14 +0000

CS PhD student is making waves in research and the open water Alexander Jame… Tue, 07/08/2025 - 15:22

Alexander Servantez

When a COVID-19 outbreak swept through a choir rehearsal in early 2020, it didn’t just spark headlines—it ignited a research journey for Corey Murphey.

Murphey, a fifth-year PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder, is using computational modeling to explore how aerosols are generated by the vocal folds during everyday actions such as speech and even singing. Her work aims to understand the spread of pathogens through these aerosols and limit the transmission of airborne, infectious diseases.

“There has been a fair amount of aerosol and air quality research done here at CU Boulder, but I am trying to explore the modeling side of things,” said Murphey. “I think it will give us a more mechanistic understanding of where these aerosols are being generated. If we can understand where they are coming from, we might gain insight into what pathogens are making their way out.”

The early inspiration and research

The work is inspired by the global COVID-19 pandemic. But Murphey said there was one specific moment that really caught her attention and guided her down this path: the infamous choir rehearsal in Skagit Valley, ��Ĺ��ý.

One of the earliest and most significant outbreaks in the United States, the Skagit Valley choir outbreak was lethal. Of the 61 attendees, 53 were infected with COVID-19, according to CNN. Two of the participants ultimately died.

PhD student Corey Murphey performing some testing in the lab.

Many people see the superspreader event as a pivotal moment that heavily influenced public health policies related to indoor gatherings. For researchers, it raised another alarm—could the act of singing have caused the virus to spread at a higher rate?

“I grew up singing in choirs and whatnot, so seeing a two-and-a-half hour choir rehearsal affect that many people was difficult,” Murphey said. “There was something related to singing—the severity of phonation that occurs when singing—that caused this event. I just wanted to continue some of the experimental research that was already being done.”

Murphey hopes her models can help guide public health policy in the event of another pandemic. Or could help raise awareness between the connection between speech and pathogen emission so that people are more cognizant of their actions.

“We’re looking at patient-specific diagnostic tools that can help us determine how certain voice disorders or geometries can change aerosol production. It will help us look at what types of public health measures we can propose—or even things as simple as adapting certain vocal ranges during a rehearsal if the risk of admitting aerosol is high,” said Murphey. “We also want people to just talk about the dangers of speech. Everybody knows the mantras ‘cover your mouth when you cough’ or ‘cover your nose when you sneeze.’ It’s the same sort of principle here with speech.”

The outlet outside of research

Murphey is not just a skilled researcher. She is also a talented swimmer with roots going all the way back to her childhood.

Growing up, Murphey excelled as a pool swimmer. She started competing on swim teams at the young age of three and continued through high school, winning a handful of meets along the way.

Murphey holding up a medal for an open-water swimming competition.

When she started her college journey at Stanford University, Murphey competed for a club team in Palo Alto, California. It allowed her to stay engaged in the swim community while also providing room for academics.

“It actually worked out really well,” Murphey said. “I was able to get on board as the manager of the women’s swim team during my senior year. It allowed me to continue swimming and it provided me with some structure. I was able to be involved in the community and still have time to focus on my engineering degree.”

After receiving her undergraduate degree, Murphey also acquired her master’s degree at the same university. She decided her next step was achieving a PhD from CU Boulder, but another life event awaited her.

At the age of 32, Murphey’s grandfather had a laryngectomy—a surgical procedure to remove part of the voice box. This left him with an open larynx and put him at a higher risk during the pandemic because masks failed to cover his stoma.

Concerned for his health, Murphey took on the responsibility of being his caretaker. To cope with the stress of caretaking, she said there was a void that needed to be filled.

“I was looking for an outlet with swimming, but I felt like I needed something different,” said Murphey. “I wanted to swim peacefully and focus on enjoying it.”

That outlet for Murphey was open-water swimming. Unlike pool swimming, there is no lap structure, stroke restrictions, rigid distance limit or even emphasis on speed. Wherever there was open water—like a reservoir or a lake—she could swim until her heart desires.

“The departure from the controlled environment of pool swimming was exactly what I needed,” Murphey said. “Nothing in open water, whether it's the temperature or the conditions, is controlled and it feels liberating. It’s completely free.”

The harmony of research and hobby

Murphey is considered a marathon open-water swimmer, meaning anything longer than six miles. Her current sights are set on 20 mile swims in environments around the country that can change in seconds.

Murphey swimming on an open-water competition alongside a kayaker.

Recently, Murphey took first-place in the SCAR Swim Challenge, a four-day swim stage race in Arizona that spans a total cumulative distance of 41.7 miles. It’s one of the largest organized marathon swims in the world and it took Murphey over 15 cumulative hours to complete.

“I went into the competition just wanting to finish. I really wasn’t expecting to win,” said Murphey. “It was the experience that I was more grateful for—the people that I met and the overall challenge I endured.”

It’s Murphey’s time in the open water that allows her to unplug from the world and be at peace with herself. But those benefits don’t leave when she exits the water. Every swim brings along a new perspective that she can carry into her research career, as well.

“Being completely disconnected from the world when I am in the water is truly meditative,” Murphey said. “I have some time out there to clear my head, but also think through life and research problems. It allows me to be more mindful when I come back to the lab or my teaching.”

On the flip side, there is also a fluid-structure connection in Murphey’s research that gives her a unique upper hand when she sets foot on a long swim. She said her background as an engineer has actually made her a better swimmer, fundamentally changing the way she views the sport.

“Sometimes I make changes to my strokes, head position and even breathing when I am in the water depending on the fluid mechanics and conditions of the environment,” said Murphey. “There are a lot of little changes you can make to fight currents or save energy. I’ve learned to approach these situations in a fun, scientific way.”

Murphey has her eyes on some future swim events and another year of research. Both come with their challenges, but one thing is for certain: as long as she can feel the water, she can conquer the tide.

Corey Murphey is a fifth-year PhD student working to understand the spread of pathogens through these aerosols and limit the transmission of airborne, infectious diseases. But she's also an accomplished marathon open-water swimmer who recently took first-place in the SCAR Swim Challenge.

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Corey Murphey (middle) with her mother and friend during the SCAR Swim Challenge

PhD student earns major National Science Foundation fellowship

Jeff Zehnder — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 14:58:22 +0000

PhD student earns major National Science Foundation fellowship Jeff Zehnder Tue, 06/24/2025 - 08:58

Jeff Zehnder

Livia Betti has earned a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award.

The NSF program supports outstanding grad students from across the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields who are pursuing research-based master’s or doctoral degree.

Betti, a computer science PhD student advised by Assistant Professor Esther Rolf, is advancing research at the intersection of data-centric AI and machine learning theory, with a focus on understanding what makes a dataset effective for model training.

"My latest project explores factors of dataset composition in geospatial applications. I'm really motivated by opportunities for my work to inform real-world decisions and policy, such as data collection and dataset design decisions. Ultimately, I aim to develop theoretical foundations that explain and guide these choices, to help bridge empirical insights with a formal understanding," Betti said.

GRFP awardees receive a $37,000 annual stipend and cost of education allowance for the next three years as well as professional development opportunities.

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CU Boulder receives $1 million grant to fund minority PhD STEM students

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 20:54:10 +0000

CU Boulder receives $1 million grant to fund minority PhD STEM students Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/25/2022 - 14:54

Grace Wilson

The fellowship will provide tuition support, a $34,000 stipend for two years and a unique support system for 12 students to advance their PhD studies and research in computer science and other fields.

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PhD students explore trust between humans and robots with augmented reality version of Minesweeper

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 21:55:09 +0000

PhD students explore trust between humans and robots with augmented reality version of Minesweeper Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/25/2022 - 15:55

Ellen Fike

When you should trust your robot teammate? Computer science PhD students Aaquib Tabrez and Matthew Luebbers, along with their advisor Assistant Professor Bradley Hayes, used augmented reality minesweeper to gain insight into a robot’s decision-making process and were awarded runner-up for best student paper at AAMAS 2022.

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How to turn throwaway cardboard into a DIY arcade game

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 15:48:09 +0000

How to turn throwaway cardboard into a DIY arcade game Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/22/2022 - 09:48

Daniel Strain

Tinycade, the brainchild of Gyory and his colleagues at ATLAS, brings a do-it-yourself spirit to the world of video games. Tinycade allows anyone, anywhere to make a working arcade machine that can fit on a side table, with just a smartphone, some cardboard, two small mirrors and bric-a-brac like rubber bands and toothpicks.

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CU Boulder researchers explore the engineering of bee honeycombs

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 19:20:43 +0000

CU Boulder researchers explore the engineering of bee honeycombs Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/19/2022 - 13:20

Jeff Zehnder

Assistant professor Orit Peleg in the Department of Computer Science will work on a new $497,000 grant with aerospace assistant professor López Jiménez Ann to explore how bees build honeycombs, research that supports bio-inspired system designs in swarm robotics and lightweight cellular structures.

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$20M ESIIL center aims to foster a “revolution” in environmental data science

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 18:45:58 +0000

$20M ESIIL center aims to foster a “revolution” in environmental data science Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/11/2022 - 12:45

Computer Science Associate Professor Claire Monteleoni is the AI/Machine Learning Lead for a new $20M NSF Center at CU Boulder, housed in CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. The new center is a major new data science and diversity effort including partners from multiple institutions around the world.

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CU Boulder part of $5.8M grant to improve cyber-physical transportation systems

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 06:00:00 +0000

CU Boulder part of $5.8M grant to improve cyber-physical transportation systems Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/29/2022 - 00:00

CS assistant professor Majid Zamani and his team are part of a new $5.8M grant from the NSF to help build the intelligent transportation systems of the future.

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Helping robots recover from failure: a Q+A with NASA graduate fellowship winner Gilberto Briscoe-Martinez

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 22:39:15 +0000

Helping robots recover from failure: a Q+A with NASA graduate fellowship winner Gilberto Briscoe-Martinez Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/27/2022 - 16:39

Grace Wilson

We all fail sometimes, but how we respond to those failures is important. Classical robotic failure mitigation focuses on trying to anticipate every way a system could fail and having an answer.

Gilberto Briscoe-martinez (PhDCompSci‘26) wants robots to be able to learn from their mistakes and continue persevering to finish a task as best they can. He was recently awarded a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research (NSTGRO) fellowship for his exploration of this topic, titled “Enabling Long-term Robot Autonomy through Adaptable Fault Resilience”. He is the first Computer Science P.h.D. student at CU Boulder to receive this award. The fellowship will fund Gilberto for 4 years and will allow him to collaborate with scientists at NASA research centers.

Alessandro Roncone, Briscoe-martinez' advisor and director of the Human Interaction and RObotics (HIRO) Group at CU Boulder, said "The NASA NSTGRO is one of the most prestigious fellowships awarded to graduate students in robotics at the national level. With this support from NASA, Gilberto will be able to not only advance the science of robotic fault resilience, but also understand how to transfer his discoveries to real systems, and, eventually, see his research deployed in space."

We asked Briscoe-martinez a few questions about his research and fellowship, here are his answers:

How would you describe this project to someone not familiar with your area of research?

Humans have an incredible, innate ability to compensate for an injury that we experience. If you’ve ever stubbed your toe, you’ve probably tried not to put weight on it without explicitly thinking about doing so. On the other hand, robots have an unchanging understanding of their physical selves. If anything breaks, even something as small as a piece of the robot’s gripper falling off, the robot is useless until a human can fix it. For NASA, this presents a problem. Robots will need to work reliably for months or even years on new space stations and future inter-planetary missions with few or no ways to fix themselves. My research will discover methods for these robots to compensate for injuries and wear they experience, as humans do, so they can continue to do their mission-critical work.

What does winning this fellowship mean to you?

For me, receiving this fellowship feels like a transition point. Until now, I’ve only used robotic technology developed by others, solving “engineering problems,” as my advisor likes to say. Now, I look forward to researching the ways that will push robotic abilities to the stars. The research I will be conducting through this fellowship is critical to enabling humans to go beyond the reaches of our planet. I am beyond excited to be at the forefront of space robotics.

How has it been working in the Human Interaction and RObotics (HIRO) Group?

My experience in the HIRO lab has been fantastic. The lab, as a whole, is focused on wholistically researching robotic systems. This enables unique collaboration opportunities between those working on the main research threads of robotic ability, physical Human-Robot Interaction(HRI), and Social HRI. My colleagues have been great inspirations because we have different outlooks, experiences, and research approaches. In addition, I believe the lab has a great work-life balance, where we are pushed to excel but can go out to ski on a snow day in the middle of the week.

What inspired your love of robotics?

My curiosity was first piqued when I took a middle-school robotics class after my school received a grant from LEGO to use their Mindstorm systems. I realized robotics would be a lifelong passion when I joined my high school robotics club. We competed in both the VEX and FIRST robotics competitions. By designing and building robots to complete many challenges, I realized that the only limits of robotic ability are the limits of our imagination. From those experiences, I was inspired to pursue the robotics research that I do today.

Any advice for folks not sure if STEM is right for them?

My advice for someone on the fence about entering STEM is to not be afraid to try it. If you’re thinking about it then that curiosity is already there which can turn into your life’s work. And it is important to remember that if it turns out that STEM is not right for you, switching majors, and even switching careers is something that many people successfully do.

Briscoe-martinez was recently awarded a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research (NSTGRO) fellowship. He is the first Computer Science P.h.D. student at CU Boulder to receive this award, which will provide him with 4 years of research funding and NASA collaboration in enabling long-term robot autonomy through adaptable fault resilience.

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Zamani CAREER award to bridge the gap between industry and academia in autonomous systems

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 18:53:20 +0000

Zamani CAREER award to bridge the gap between industry and academia in autonomous systems Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/24/2022 - 12:53

Grace Wilson

Majid Zamani, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder, wants to use real-life data, rather than mathematical models, to study and control autonomous systems with both software and physical components, bridging the gap between academia and industry and ensuring safety for all users.

He has just been presented with a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his proposal entitled “A Data-Driven Approach for Verification and Control of Cyber-Physical Systems.”

CAREER awards provide funding over five years to support the research and educational activities of early career faculty members who have the potential to become leaders in their field. Six faculty members within the College of Engineering and Applied Science received CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation in 2022.

Zamani said his CAREER award unifies three different fields: formal methods in computer science, optimization in operation research and control theory. The research brings insight from each to understand how to verify the safety of autonomous systems purely through data analysis.

"If I have enough data collected, I can work directly with the data to systematically generate the software code in charge of controlling a system," Zamani said.

Currently, rigid mathematical models that describe the behaviors of a system are the main ingredients of most academic research in ensuring safety in cyber-physical systems–- systems where software interacts tightly with physical systems—such as self-driving cars, pacemakers and power networks.

To have these mathematical models, someone must rigorously model every part of the system. When you have thousands of different components in a machine and possibly hundreds of computer program interactions, the layers of complexity stack exponentially and it is very hard to build the models accurately. Even if the models are computed, Zamani said, they are too complex to be dealt with.

With his CAREER award, Zamani will be working to entirely bypass the need for such a model of the system. This means that systems that are too complex for us to know their internal workings, known as "black boxes," can still be formally guaranteed as safe.

Safety is a constant concern when computer programs can impact the physical world. A single catastrophic safety failure in a cyber-physical system could cause trust in the autonomous system to be lost and lead to loss of life or infrastructure.

Despite the need for safety, many self-driving car industries do not have the time or interest to mathematically model their systems, Zamani said.

"You approach a company and they say, 'no, we don't have a model. We have the actual car or its simulator, but we don't know the precise mathematical model for it,'" Zamani said.

Zamani's award centers around the recent advances in inexpensive sensor technologies that can gather large amounts of data from a system's behaviors as it is run without autonomy, like when a person drives a car destined for autopilot.

Zamani said that, while they may not have models, industry partners do have large amounts of data available, making it possible to rigorously analyze realistic systems and build a "controller," the software code that autonomously controls the system, such as an auto-pilot in a self-driving car.

The framework that Zamani is crafting is also not system-dependent. Rather than needing a separate way of understanding self-driving cars, drones or medical devices, his work is abstracting the logic needed to create algorithms for controlling all these types of systems.

In addition, safety can mean different things to different people. Zamani's work allows companies to decide how conservative their safety confidence levels should be. The more data collected, the higher the confidence levels Zamani's framework is able to guarantee.

And, as well as determining what level of safety is necessary, the research supports a variety of "properties of interest." For example, if a car is safe only if it doesn't crash, it might speed past the speed-limit regularly, but by adding a property that requires the car to also follow the speed-limit, you craft a controller that accommodates both properties of interest.

This system-agnostic, flexible and data-driven framework provides an alternative to the severe computational complexity of rigid mathematical models and strong assumptions made about them that have caused a divide between academia and industry.

"The main goal of my CAREER award is closing the gap between what happens in reality and the theoretical, rigorous analyses which happen in academia. People in industry are not using the techniques we've been developing in academia. There is a gap between their assumptions and ours, and this work is trying to help close it." Zamani said.

Zamani wants to use real-life data, rather than mathematical models, to study and control autonomous systems with both software and physical components, bridging the gap between academia and industry and ensuring safety for all users.

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