I enjoy advising and supervising curious students at all levels, from high school to Ph.D. You can see the list of students that I supervised over the years on this page. Select one of the menu items below to navigate this page.

• Open positions
• Interested in working with me?
• List of students and their work
  • PhD
  • MS
  • Undergraduate
  • High school

Last updated on Jan 10, 2022.

Student and post-doc positions

No open positions at this point.

Postdoc Position: We are looking for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join our inter-disciplinary team, which aims to make disease spread models more realistic. The expected start date is within Spring 2021. Application link.

GRA Position: We are looking for a graduate student to work on an agent based modeling of supply chain attacks project. Expected start date is Fall 2021.

Want to join my research group?

Send an email at hkavak [at] gmu.edu and mention four things please:

• your research interest
• your CV/Resume
• are you a current/accapted GMU student
• express whether you need funding/research assistant position.

List of students and their work

Ph.D. Committee Chair (8 current, 3 graduated)

• Na Jiang (Richard) - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Candidate at GMU
  • Dissertation Title: Exploring Urban Shrinkage via Computational Approaches: A Case Study of Detroit
  • Expected graduation: Spring 2022
• Tom Wallace - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Candidate at GMU
  • Research topic: Deep Q-Learning in Agent-Based Modeling
  • Expected graduation: Spring 2022
• Ramya Rakkiappan - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Student at GMU
  • Research topic: Recidivism, Bias, and Machine Learning
  • Expected graduation: Fall 2023
• Clifton Russ - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Student at GMU
  • Research topic: Cybersecurity Risk Assessment and Impact of Humans
  • Expected graduation: TBA
• Samiul Islam - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Student at GMU
  • Research topic: TBA
  • Expected graduation: TBA
• Chaoqian Wang - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Student at GMU
  • Research topic: TBA
  • Expected graduation: TBA
• Andrew Leach - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Student at GMU
  • Research topic: TBA
  • Expected graduation: TBA
• Clark Petri - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Student at GMU
  • Research topic: TBA
  • Expected graduation: TBA
• 🎓 Cody Mitchell - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. at GMU, 🎓Summer 2021.
  • Position after graduation: Lead Machine Learning Engineer at Interos
  • Title: Conjugated Learning: Semi-Supervised Learning with Bayesian Inference
• 🎓 Melonie Richey - Computational Social Science Ph.D. at GMU, 🎓Fall 2020.
  • Position after graduation: Vice President of Technology Solutions at Altamira Technologies Corporation.
  • Title: Scalable Agent-Based Modeling of Forced Migration
• 🎓 Paul Cummings - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Candidate at GMU, 🎓Fall 2020.
  • Position after graduation: Vice President, Transformational Training Systems at Amentum.
  • Title: A Hybrid Machine Learning and Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Examine Decision-Making Heuristics

Ph.D. Committee Member (10 current, 2 graduated)

• Bora Aslan - Ph.D. Candidate at International Relations Dept. at Old Dominion University.
• Scott Hopkins - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Candidate at GMU
• Jarrod Grewe - Computational Sciences and Informatics program Ph.D. Candidate at GMU
• Bruce Goldfeder - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Candidate at GMU
• Shatha Alahmadi - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Student at GMU
• Tony Henseler - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Student at GMU
• Amira Al-Khulaidy - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Student at GMU
• Noor Alsafi - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Student at GMU
• Wafi Almustafi - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. Student at GMU
• Salwa Patel Ismail - Computational Social Science Ph.D. Student at GMU
• 🎓Gideon Gogovi - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. at GMU, 🎓Fall 2020.
  • Title: Polymers and Biomolecules in Solvents: A Molecular Dynamics Study
• 🎓Christine Harvey - Computational Sciences and Informatics Ph.D. at GMU, 🎓Fall 2019.
  • Title: Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis of the US Organ Transplant System

MS Committee Chair (2 current)

• Maura Lapoff - Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Student (CSS concentration) at GMU
  • Graduation project topic: Investigations in complexity in the age of COVID-19
  • Expected graduation: Spring 2022
• Justin Elarde - Computational Science MS student at GMU
  • Graduation project topic: Human Mobility Simulation and COVID-19
  • Expected graduation: Spring 2023

MS Committee Member (1 current)

• Moh Mansoor Abdul Bari - Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Student (CSS concentration) at GMU

• James Stassinos - GEOINT MS student at GMU

Undergraduate Research Students (3 current, 10 past)

• Ekrem Kaya - (Fall 2021 - current). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU.
  • Project: Artificial Intelligence Based Analysis of the Relationship between Mass Media and Social Media in Creating Anti-U.S. Perceptions
  • 🏆 College of Science Promise Scholarship and University Scholars Program recipient.
• Luke Palmieri - (Fall 2021 - current). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU.
  • Project: Artificial Intelligence Based Analysis of the Relationship between Mass Media and Social Media in Creating Anti-U.S. Perceptions
  • 🏆 Virtual Virginia Datathon (2021) runner-up.
• Gowri Prathap - (Summer 2020 - current). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU.
  • Project: Artificial Intelligence Based Analysis of the Relationship between Mass Media and Social Media in Creating Anti-U.S. Perceptions
  • 🏆 Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (Summer 2020) recipient.
• 🎓Alberto Rodriguez - (Fall 2021). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU. 🎓 Spring 2021.
  • Project: Artificial Intelligence Based Analysis of the Relationship between Mass Media and Social Media in Creating Anti-U.S. Perceptions
• 🎓Justin Elarde - (Spring-Summer 2021). Geography and Geoinformation Science major at GMU. 🎓 Spring 2021. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.
  • Project: An Ensemble Approach to Combine Predictions from COVID-19 Simulations.
  • 🏆 Received College of Science Undergraduate Research Colloquium Award in Environmental and Earth Sciences.
  • 🏆 Received GMU’s OSCAR Student Award
  • Subsequent position: Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton
• Dhruv Gandhi - (Summer Team Impact Project 2021). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.
• Jack (John) Blumstein - (Summer Team Impact Project 2021). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.
• Radhika Laddha - (Summer Team Impact Project 2021). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.
• Leela Yaddanapudi - (Summer Team Impact Project 2021). Computer Science major at GMU. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.
• Shivani (Sai) Gurrapu - (Summer Team Impact Project 2021). Computer Science major at GMU. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.

• Shivani (Sai) Gurrapu - (Summer Team Impact Project 2021). Computational and Data Sciences major at GMU. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.

• 🎓Cecelia M Oneill - (Spring 2021). Geography and Geoinformation Science major at GMU. 🎓 Spring 2021. Co-supervised with Taylor Anderson and Andreas Züfle.
  • Project: An Ensemble Approach to Combine Predictions from COVID-19 Simulations.
  • 🏆 Received College of Science Undergraduate Research Colloquium Award in Environmental and Earth Sciences.
• 🎓Peter Banks - (Spring 2020). Economics major at GMU. 🎓 Spring 2020.
  • Project: Verification and Validation as a Service
  • Subsequent position: Research Professional at Chicago Booth School of Business

High School Research Students (3 current, 6 past)

• David Han (ASSIP 2021 - current) - Graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Cornell University (Class of 2025).
• Aarav Khanna - (ASSIP 2020 - current) - Rising Senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (as of Summer 2021).
• Srihan Kotnana - (ASSIP 2021 - current) - Westfield High School (as of Summer 2021).
• Derek Goh - (ASSIP 2021) - Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (as of Summer 2021).
• Fiona Zheng - (ASSIP 2021) - Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (as of Summer 2021).
• Darius Kianersi - (ASSIP 2021) - Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (as of Summer 2021).
• Nicole Liang - (ASSIP 2021) - River Hill High School (as of Summer 2021).
• 🎓Isheitaa Bansal - (ASSIP 2020) - Graduated from Chantilly High School. Virginia Tech (Class of 2025).
• 🎓Rayan Yu - (ASSIP 2020) - Graduated from James Madison High School. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Class of 2025).