Graduate students
Sung Ahn
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
BIOGRAPHY
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Near-infrared Spectroscopy, Electrophysiology, Signal Processing.
Laura Carlton
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
McGill University, Bioengineering, BEng
BIOGRAPHY
Laura is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. She received her BEng in Bioengineering from McGill University in 2022. During her undergraduate studies, Laura worked with Dr. Georgios Mitsis to model physiological fluctuations in resting state fMRI and Dr. Robert Kearney on the automatic detection of sleep apnea in premature infants. In the BOAS lab she will work on the advancement of wearable functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy systems.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, neuroscience, signal processing
Sudan Duwadi
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Biomedical Engineering, BS
BIOGRAPHY
Sudan Duwadi is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering. He earned his BS in Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. During his undergraduate studies, he worked under Dr. Antje Ihlefeld on auditory neuroscience projects that spanned electrophysiology, animal behavior, and computation. He also worked with Dr. Todd Mowery at Rutgers University, focusing on animal behavior, histology, and brain circuits for hearing and learning.
Currently, for his Ph.D., he is decoding attended spatial locations (audio-visual complex scene analysis) using machine learning techniques on combined fNIRS+ EEG and eye tracking data. He is co-advised by Dr. David Boas and Dr. Kamal Sen. His goal is to advance wearable fNIRS technology at the Boas Lab and utilize it to aid in restoring naturalistic hearing for the hearing-impaired population at the Sen Lab using fNIRS+EEG BCI.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Near-infrared spectroscopy and biomedical instrumentation
Alexander Howard
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Biomedical Engineering, BS
BIOGRAPHY
Alex is a PhD student in Biomedical engineering. He received his BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2023. During his undergraduate study, Alex worked with Dr. Yu Chen and Dr. Martin Hunter on developing a clinical device for optical noninvasive blood flow monitoring in human teeth. He is co-advised by Dr. Xiaojun Cheng and Dr. David Boas to work on device development for noninvasive cerebral blood flow monitoring using speckle contrast optical spectroscopy.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Mackenzie Hyman
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
University of Rochester, Electrical and Computer Engineering, BS
BIOGRAPHY
Mack is a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering. After graduating in 2015, he worked on a range of aerospace, defense, and biomedical projects at Draper Laboratory as a member of the technical staff. He joined the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in 2019 with the intention of launching a career in biomedical research. He now investigates vascular pathologies in neurodegenerative disorders under the co-advisement of Dr. David Boas and Dr. Hui Wang.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Biomedical optics, image processing, vascular pathologies.
Shannon Kelley
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, BS
BIOGRAPHY
Shannon Kelley is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering. She received her BS in Biomedical Engineering with a focus in Image and Signal Processing at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in May 2022. She worked with Dr. Jamel Ali as an undergraduate student researching nanoparticle synthesis for intravital drug delivery and microplastic degradation. During her undergraduate career, she found a passion for studying neurodegenerative diseases using advanced imaging techniques. She now works with Dr. David Boas studying the underlying hemodynamics and mechanisms of ischemic strokes as well as functional recovery post stroke.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Brain-computer interface, signal processing, biomedical instrumentation
Anastasiia (Nia) Rudaeva
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
BIOGRAPHY
Anastasiia graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in May 2025. As an undergraduate, she worked in Dr. Edmund Lalor’s lab, analyzing intracranial data from responsive electrodes placed in the auditory cortex of epilepsy patients to study how neuronal activity changes with the predictability of words in a sentence. The summer before her senior year, she joined Boston University’s REU program and worked in Dr. John White’s lab, developing software for accurate cell identification across multiple imaging modalities between scans obtained from targeted illumination and line-scan confocal microscopy (TICO) and two-photon excitation microscopy.
In the BOAS lab, she joined the GENUS project, which studies the effects of 40 Hz-pulsed sensory stimuli on blood flow oscillations and how they can be implemented for therapeutic purposes, especially in ischemic stroke recovery.
Cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, neurophotonics, signal processing, computational modeling, ischemic stroke.
Matthew Simkulet
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
University at Buffalo, Biomedical Engineering, BS
BIOGRAPHY
Matt is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. He received his BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University at Buffalo in 2022. There, he worked under Dr. Rita Alevriadou, imaging intracellular calcium dynamics in vascular cells under flow. In the BOAS lab, and under Dr. Tim O’Shea, he is using intravital microscopy tools to evaluate the performance of cell and biomaterial therapies in models of acute brain injury.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Two-photon microscopy, Optical coherence tomography, Biomaterials, Stem cells, Stroke
Sharayu Shrinivas
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
University of Missouri – Columbia, Biomedical Engineering, BS
BIOGRAPHY
Sharayu Shrinivas is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering. She received her BS in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation at the University of Missouri – Columbia in 2024. During her undergraduate studies, Sharayu gained experience working with various biomedical imaging modalities, including photoacoustic microscopy, spatial frequency domain imaging, and MRI. Co-advised by Dr. David Boas and Dr.Matthias Stangl, her PhD research focuses on advancing and harnessing wearable functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) technology to investigate brain function and cognitive behavior during everyday activities in real-world environments.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neurophotonics, Biomedical Instrumentation
Rockwell Tang Graduate Student
EDUCATION
Boston University, Biomedical Engineering, BS
BIOGRAPHY
Rocky Tang is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. He completed his BS in Biomedical Engineering in 2022 also at BU, during which he worked in Prof. Xue Han’s lab on imaging and computational modeling of ultrasound neuromodulation. He is now advised by Prof. David Boas on investigating potential treatments and mechanisms of recovery from ischemic stroke.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Ischemic stroke, neurovascular coupling, optical microscopy, computational modeling and machine learning
Allen Zhou
Graduate Student
EDUCATION
Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute, BS and MS
BIOGRAPHY
Allen is a research fellow (and incoming PhD student) in Biomedical Engineering. Allen completed their BS and MS studies in Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with thesis work focusing on ultrasonic power and data transfer.
Currently, Allen is working with Dr. David Boas and Dr. Xiaojun Cheng to develop and utilize volumetric ultrasound neuroimaging tools.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Neuroimaging, neuroscience, functional ultrasound, ultrasound localization microscopy, speckle dynamics, brain-computer interfaces, stroke, beamforming, signal/image processing