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University research directory
Research labs at
University of South Florida.
Compare 5 listed faculty-led profiles, explore their research interests, and follow the evidence in their selected work. These listings are a starting point for discovery and do not establish recruiting availability.
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Review each lab’s official website and recent publications. Compare the methods used, the questions being asked, and the practical requirements of any published opening. Unclaimed profiles are independently curated; the university has not approved or endorsed them.
How to compare research labs ↗Official university website ↗5 research-led lab profiles
Browse labs by their listed college affiliationMaya Trotz Research Group
University of South FloridaMaya Trotz · Professor
How can coastal protection strengthen communities as well as ecosystems? Maya Trotz’s research connects environmental engineering, water quality, and community participation. Her coastal resilience work investigates equitable nature-based solutions, including coral reef and mangrove restoration, and how those ecosystems can work alongside built infrastructure. Projects consider physical protection from environmental hazards together with social and economic benefits for coastal communities. Her broader interests include protecting water sources and providing sustainable water systems, making the research a bridge between engineering design, environmental processes, and community priorities.
Optical Oceanography Lab
University of South FloridaChuanmin Hu · Distinguished University Professor
Chuanmin Hu’s Optical Oceanography Lab reads the ocean through light. The group combines underwater optical measurements, satellite remote sensing, and radiative transfer modeling to investigate harmful algal blooms, coastal pollution, carbon cycling, and connections between river water and the sea. It develops targeted satellite algorithms and integrates their products with other observations to explain changing coastal conditions. Public observing systems include Sargassum monitoring, red-tide information, and virtual buoys, linking optical oceanography with practical information for people managing marine environments.
Ryan Carney Research Group
University of South FloridaRyan Carney · Associate Professor
Dinosaurs and disease surveillance meet in Ryan Carney’s unusually broad research program. His paleontology work uses three-dimensional imaging, modeling, and animation to study Archaeopteryx, functional anatomy, and the evolution of bird flight. A second direction applies artificial intelligence, citizen-science observations, remote sensing, and geographic modeling to mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit. Virtual and augmented reality help translate anatomical research into visual teaching tools. Across these projects, digital methods reveal biological patterns and make complex information useful for scientific analysis, education, and public-health monitoring.
Sudeep Sarkar Research Group
University of South FloridaSudeep Sarkar · Distinguished University Professor
Sudeep Sarkar studies how computers can understand the content and activity in images and video. His research covers visual grouping, gait biometrics, action recognition, medical images, and economic signals visible in satellite imagery. A major direction combines symbolic representations with deep learning to interpret events and support activities of daily living, including assistive robotics. The work links foundational computer vision with applications across medicine, engineering, and independent living. It is relevant to researchers interested in AI systems that reason about visual scenes and changing human activities.
Yu Sun Research Group
University of South FloridaYu Sun · Professor
Yu Sun’s research brings together robotics, deep learning, computer vision, haptics, and human-computer interaction. His work in robotic hands, grasping, and manipulation examines how robots can handle objects and carry out useful tasks, while medical applications connect intelligent systems with human needs. He also directs USF’s Center for Innovation, Technology, and Aging. The program links perception, physical interaction, and AI rather than treating them as separate problems, offering a research setting at the intersection of robotic capability, interactive technology, and applications involving people.
Showing 1–5 of 5 labs