Lab Members

Brett McKinney, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

  • Warren Endowed Professor in Bioinformatics
  • Professor of Computer Science
  • Professor of Mathematics
  • Director, Master’s Program in Computer Science
  • Phi Beta Kappa honor society executive committee
  • University of Tulsa
  • Office: Rayzor Hall 2145

Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Lab: Rayzor Hall 2058
ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-9494-8833.
Google Scholar

Brett McKinney, Ph.D., is a theoretical physicist and professor of computer science who specializes in the development of machine learning (ML) and AI algorithms for problems in the biomedical and physical sciences. He has made important contributions to methods that detect networks of interacting variables for accurate and interpretable ML models. He applies these explainable ML methods in close collaboration with researchers in neuroscience, immunology, geochemistry and astrobiology. He has also developed theoretical approaches to understand the foundations of quantum mechanics, such as the role of the dimensionality of space on many-body systems like Bose-Einstein condensates.

Current PhD Students

  • Jamie Li, MS, PhD Student, CS
  • Lily Clough, BA Math and Chemistry, MS Geosciences, PhD Student, CS
  • Muhammad Imran, MS Math, PhD Student, CS
  • Hamideh Khaleghpour, MS, PhD Student, CS
  • Patrick Kampmeyer, MS Chem E, PhD Student, CS
  • Saira Batool, MS Math, PhD Student, CS
  • Setareh Akbari, MS Math, PhD Student, CS
  • Selim Karaoglu, MS CS, PhD Student, CS

 

  • Isabelle Fite, Physics Undergrad, TURC, Goldwater 2024
  • Connor Williams, CS Undergrad, TURC, NASA Intern 2024
  • Leyton McKinney, CS Undergrad, TURC, NASA Intern 2024
  • William Nguyen, CS Undergrad, TURC
  • Cameron Walker, Physics Undergrad, TURC
  • Amelia Chen, Physics Undergrad, TURC
  • Anna Pearson, Physics Undergrad, TURC
  • Jack Fuller, Physics Undergrad, TURC

Previous Members

PhD

  • Elizabeth Kresock, 2024
  • Bryan Dawkins, Ph.D. Mathematics, 2020
  • Marziyeh Arabnejad Khanouki, Ph.D. Computer Science, 2020
  • Matt Moradi, Ph.D. Computer Science, 2020
  • Saeid Parvandeh, Ph.D. Computer Science, 2018
  • Trang Lê, Ph.D. Applied Mathematics, 2017
  • Bahareh Rahmani, Ph.D. Computer Science, 2016
  • Nick Davis, Ph.D. Computer Science, 2012

 

M.S. 

  • Anush Shrestha, MS Computer Science, 2019
  • Sara Mohammadi,
  • Ahwan Pandey, M.S. Computer Science, 2012
  • Jingyu Guo, Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Genetics Graduate Program University of Alabama School of Medicine

 

Previous Undergraduate Researchers 

  • Lanie McKinney, B.S Physics 2022, NSF Graduate Fellowship
  • Sara Douglas, B.S. Biology and Computer Science, 2017
  • Zach Osman, B.S. Physics, 2017
  • Caleb Lareau, B.S. Chemistry and Mathematics, 2015, Goldwater and NSF Graduate Fellowship
  • Tricity Andrew, B. S. Mathematics, 2014, NSF Graduate Fellow
  • Matt Kocisak, B. S. Mathematics, 2014
  • Michael Presley, B.S. Chemistry
  • Chris Johnson, B.S. Math, CS

Previous Research Staff and Post-doctoral 

  • Bill White, M.S. Research Associate Programmer
  • Dehua Tian, M.S Programmer Department of Genetics University of Alabama School of Medicine
  • Nicholas M. Pajewski, Ph.D. UAB, Postdoctoral Researcher