A research lab within FSU’s Department of Mathematics and Computer science, the Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISL) is exploring use-inspired data science, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), cybersecurity and multi-disciplinary collaboration in AI through funded research. 

Established in 2017, students and faculty work on projects collaborating with national research labs, other universities and government agencies like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and researchers and stakeholders from the US Intelligence Community. 

The ISL continues cutting-edge work in developing algorithms to program AI with specific use cases aligned with defense and national security missions. Collaborating with the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences at N.C. State University, the ISL is developing synthetic data for computers to detect rare and unique objects. Another project explores how to make AI/ML more efficient on computing devices that operate at the edge in a constrained network, with limited access to electrical energy from batteries. It advances capabilities to collect data from autonomous devices in adverse environments like space.

The university is a member of the US Cyber Command’s Academic Engagement Network. This gives lab researchers the ability to participate in certain research projects and competitive efforts that the Command holds for universities. ISL Director Dr. Sambit Bhattacharya and five students will be visiting the NSA and Cyber Command at Fort Meade on June 25 and 26 where Dr. Bhattacharya and five students will deliver a talk, tour labs and centers and pitch a new research

concept aligned with the mission of the Command.

With over 30 students supported by research stipends, the program provides opportunities for high schoolers in the early college program, undergraduate and graduate students to work on groundbreaking projects. The students get external internships which naturally develop

through these relationships because of the collaborative work in the lab. Recently, one student got an internship with the XVIII Airborne on Fort Bragg and two other students got internships with the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), the premier research lab of NASA. These are very productive relationships through which the students get internships, jobs, admission to grad school and a leg up in all future professional endeavors.  

Openings in the lab are advertised through FSU’s Career Services Office and through emails sent out to students within the department. Interested students are then asked to provide their current transcript and resume. If they advance from here, students enter into a one to two month trial period where they work with a project team and are observed. Following the trial period the student undergoes an evaluation where the lab team assesses if they are a good fit and the student also assesses if they enjoy working on the assigned project. If it’s a match from both sides, the student is accepted as an ISL researcher and the student becomes eligible to receive a monthly stipend. Students work in the lab as long as they are willing or until they graduate. 

The research done in the lab goes far beyond chatbot interfaces like ChatGPT. The main form of AI software the research students create gives AI the capability of understanding and analyzing complex visual information, through image and video data, infused with real-world

challenges that arise due to adverse conditions under which the data is acquired. They also work on AI that can detect objects in environments which are rarely seen in publicly available datasets. 

Another ongoing project is to design AI that can operate on computing devices which are small in the sense that they don't have high amounts of memory, computing power and access to a stable source of power in comparison to larger computers in data centers. In order for AI to work in remote places such as contested areas, there is a need to deploy that AI on devices which are almost invisible. For devices that operate in harsh conditions, they are designed to be small, light weight and not occupy a lot of space.  

One specific project the ISL lab is working on in collaboration with JPL is to develop an AI software that will deploy on a specific computer chip manufactured by Qualcomm, which they're going to test in space this year.

ISL researchers have been successful in many competitions, highlighting their skills. FSU students placed first and third in the Army xTech HBCU Student Competition of the U.S. Army’s xTech Program in 2023. Additionally, FSU was one of three awardees selected for NASA’s inaugural Minority Serving Institution Space Accelerator Challenge in 2022. These are just two examples of the achievements of ISL students. 

As the field of Artificial Intelligence continues to evolve, the Intelligent Systems Lab remains at the forefront, bridging academic research with real-world applications and preparing the next generation of AI innovators.