UNC-PRIMES
UNC PROGRAM FOR RESEARCH IN IMAGE PROCESSING AND MACHINE LEARNING FOR EMERGING SCHOLARS
OUR TEAM
Program Directors & Administration
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Program Director
Professor Guorong Wu, PhD
Dr. Wu is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry with a joint appointment in the Department of Computer Science, Department of Statistics & Operation Research, UNC Neuroscience Center, and Carolina Institute of Developmental Disabilities. Meanwhile, Dr. Wu is also an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research. Dr. Wu is the director of the Advanced Computational Laboratory (ACMLab). Dr. Wu has been teaching COMP/BME 775 (Image Processing and Analysis), COMP 776 (Computer Vision), and NBIO 750 (Neuroanalytics). In the last three years, Dr. Wu has been closely working with the Summer Reserach Program at NCSSM and supervised more than ten high school students
Program Director
Professor Jasleen Kaur, PhD
Jasleen Kaur is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests lie in the design and evaluation of networks and operating systems, with a special focus on mesurements, performance analysis, and protocol design. Her recent research efforts have also focused on K-12 Computer Science Education and on providing research experience in data science to high school students. Jasleen is a recipient of a 2020 Google Faculty Award and a 2004 NSF CAREER Award. Jasleen received her B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1997, where she was also awarded the Motorola Student of the Year Gold Medal. She earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999 and 2002, respectively. She is a recipient of the J.C.Browne Graduate Fellowship and the M.C.D. Fellowship from the University of Texas at Austin
Outreach Director
Professor Minjeong Kim, PhD
Dr. Kim is an Associate Professor, Head, and Director of the Advanced Research Image Analysis (ARIA) lab at the Computer Science Department, UNC Greensboro. Her research mainly focuses on deep learning method development for human brain connectome and biomedical image analysis. She teaches Digital Image Processing, Advanced Topics in Image Processing, and Deep Learning in Computer Vision. She dedicates her efforts to promoting student research and broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in computing, including National Students & Technology in Academia, Research & Service (STARS), U-RISE (Undergraduate Research training Initiative for Student Enhancement), and REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates).
Associate Director
Professor Derek C. Monroe, PhD
Derek Monroe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Exercise & Sport Science at UNC Chapel Hill. Leveraging his multidisciplinary training in neuroscience, psychology, and physiology, Dr. Monroe’s current research uses multimodal brain imaging to define novel measures of brain health in populations that are at risk for TBI and associated long-term sequelae (e.g., athletes, warfighters).
Program Coordinator
Malcolm Bailey
Malcolm graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Mathematics, concentrating in pure mathematics, chemistry, and pre-medical coursework.
PRIMES Team 2025
On-Campus Team
Om Shewale
Om Shewale is a dedicated and versatile software developer with a strong passion for artificial intelligence and computer science. Currently pursuing his Master’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he has consistently maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his academic journey, earning recognition for his outstanding performance, including the prestigious Moeur Award.
With experience spanning from AI/ML projects to full-stack web development, Om has a knack for quickly learning and adapting to new technologies, demonstrated through his work with Python, TensorFlow, and React. His professional journey includes roles as a Deposit Specialist and Lead Software Developer at UNC, where he has successfully managed significant projects and streamlined processes.
Om's commitment to education extends beyond his own studies; he has served as a software engineering tutor and teaching assistant, mentoring over 1500 students in complex coding and software engineering concepts. His leadership skills have been honed through leading multiple team projects, showcasing his ability to motivate and guide others toward success.
Outside of academics and work, Om enjoys exploring new technologies, working out, and playing pool. He is excited to bring his expertise and enthusiasm to the UNC Primes program, where he looks forward to inspiring high school students to explore the fascinating world of computer science.
On-Campus Team
Chidaksh Ravuru
Chidaksh is a first-year Master’s student in Computer Science at UNC Chapel Hill, working with the UNC PRIMES program on projects at the intersection of statistics and AI. He’s especially interested in multimodal learning, natural language processing, and video understanding, exploring how machines can better connect text, images, and videos to make sense of the world. At UNC, he’s been a teaching assistant for Intro to Data Science and Statistics, building on past experience tutoring during his undergrad. He enjoys helping students bridge theory with real-world, data-driven problems, especially in the context of AI and statistical modeling.
On-Campus Team
Pavan Narayana Akkineni
Passionate about building scalable, intelligent systems that bridge the gap between real-world business problems and cutting-edge technologies.
As a Master's student in Computer Science at UNC Chapel Hill and a former Senior Software Engineer at Bajaj Finance, I thrive at the intersection of data science, system design, and intelligent automation. My professional journey has been driven by a deep-rooted curiosity and an obsession with turning complexity into clarity — whether that means reducing 3-day data scans to 20 hours or deploying models that unlock $100K+ monthly growth.
I’ve led full-stack development of custom Django solutions, built high-impact OCR pipelines for financial KYC processing, and architected NLP-based systems using Naive Bayes and Transformers. I believe in not just building models but in crafting purpose-built, precision-driven AI systems that deliver real business outcomes.
From optimizing ETL pipelines with Apache Spark to engineering face recognition for AI-powered sports commentary, I’ve built across verticals and scales. In my current journey, I’m diving deep into LLM alignment, attention mechanisms, and multi-agent planners, while mentoring and teaching Data Science as a TA.
On-Campus Team
Anubhav Garg
Graduate student in Computer Science with prior experience as a Machine Learning Engineer, specializing in generative AI, deep learning and distributed systems. Skilled in NLP, computer vision, and ML systems, with a strong track record of designing, training, and deploying AI models efficiently. Previously worked with researchers from MIT and Nvidia.
On-Campus Team
Xiyuan (Sophia) Shen
Hi, I’m Sophia (she/her/hers), an aspiring data scientist currently studying at the UNC School of Data Science and Society (SDSS). I’m passionate about using data-driven tools to uncover meaningful insights and support informed decision-making. While I enjoy exploring machine learning algorithms, I’m always excited to dive into new fields and expand my skill set!
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Digital Team
Juhyun (Julie) Lee
Julie is a first year Computer Science Master’s student at UNC Chapel Hill. She’s interested in Computer Vision, Medical Image Analysis, and AI in biology.
Digital Team
Saksham Khajuria
Saksham Khajuria is a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science. He is currently involved with the UNC PRIMES program, contributing to the Machine Learning and Python Programming lecture series. Saksham’s academic interests span areas such as Natural Language Processing, Cryptography and Blockchain. At UNC, he has served as an instructional grader for courses such as STOR 120: Foundations of Statistics and Data Science and HNUR 102: Elementary Hindi-Urdu II. He is passionate about teaching and dedicated to supporting others in their academic journey.
Digital Team
Yunni Qu
Yunni is a Computer Science PhD student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interest is in developing general ML methods and applying to various science disciplines. Before joining UNC, Yunni received her bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto majoring in Computer Science and Data Science.
Digital Team
John Hunt Bailey
Hi, I'm John Hunt. I'm a rising Junior at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Information Science. I'm heavily interested in coding and working out!
Digital Team & On-Campus Team
Sai Ananya Channamsetti
Sai Ananya is a sophomore undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill studying Computer Science and Quantitative Biology volunteering in the digital and on-campus teams. She is passionate about the intersection of these two fields and applying technology to solving biological problems. Namely, she aspires to pursue graduate studies and a career in the Biotech and Biopharma industries, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Outside of academics, Sai Ananya’s hobbies are music, dance, and spending time with her friends and family.
Digital Team & On-Campus Team
Xinyue Yang
Xinyue Yang is a sophomore student at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in computer science and statistics. She is passionate about coding and building digital experience. She is also enthusiastic about giving back to the community. She is a member of digital and on-campus team in UNC PRIMES program.
Contributor
Yuyu Zhang
Yuyu is a master‘s graduate from UNC with a major in Information Science. She is interested in data processing and data analysis, and she joined Dr. Wu’s lab in 2022. She helped on the UNC-EPIC and UNC-PRIMES projects