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SlideStride Machine Learning Cancer Cell Classification My First Publication! CRediT Role Generator Machine Learning on a Chip Machine Learning + Electrochemistry Get Pumped! COUNT Cotton-Uphaus Competition ImageJ Macros First publication experience

Graduate School Projects

Here are some projects I've worked on in the Anand Lab. Most of these projects are related to publications (emphasized in purple and gold), but I've included a few little projects / curiosity pursuits as well. I've simplified and abridged the project titles and descriptions compared to their published counterparts. If you are interested to learn more about my professional career, feel free to check out my resume/cv and Google Scholar page. I am also happy to connect on LinkedIn.

This page is a work in progress. I'm only providing limited information about unpublished work, but I'm excited to share more soon!

SlideStride

A tool to generate instructions for automatic microscope stages

Screenshot of a terminal showing stage movement program

The purpose of this program is to generate a coordinate list of positions for a microscope to visit using an automatic stage. It calculates a linear path between a start and end point and formats it into an XML file that Nikon NIS-Elements can read.

You can find the code for this project on GitHub

Skills Learned:

Rust, CLI tools, GitHub releases, XML

Machine Learning Cancer Cell Classification

Preprint Available
(first author)

Construction worker working on my website

Check back for more info later!

Read more:
DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-z6k68

Skills Learned:

Machine Learning, Interpretable AI, Model Evaluation, CNNs, Transfer Learning

My First Publication!

Available on Analytica Chimica Acta
(first author)

Construction worker working on my website

My first publication as first author! I am very excited to have this work published. This article was featured as the front cover of Analytica Chimica Acta! I plan to do a write up on what this project was all about soon, but I am so, so busy (5th year grad student).

Read more:
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344663

Skills Learned:

Analytical skills, Python, Blender, Data analysis and visualization, grit

CRediT Role Generator

Generate CRediT contribution statements easily

Screenshot of CRediT role generator

I couldn't find a simple tool to generate CRediT roles for my publications, so I made one! I think this tool can help other researchers generate CRediT roles for their publications too. This is a simple web app that allows you to select roles and generate a formatted list of authorship contributions.

The site went live in early August 2025. As of 2025-09-28, this site has helped 71 visitors! Pretty cool!

Check it out on www.credit-role-generator.app!

Skills Learned:

HTML, CSS, React

Machine Learning on a Chip

Manuscript in progress
(first author)

Image of a microfluidic device with arrows coming out

Check back for more info later!

Skills Learned:

PyTorch, CNNs, transfer learning, deep learning fundamentals.

Machine Learning + Electrochemistry

Pursuing my curiosity about machine learning

Construction worker working on my website
At the time, I had a lot of domain knowledge when it comes to machine learning principles, but not very much experience. It was like the difference between being a hardcore sports fan and actually playing professional sports. My personal goal for this project was to bridge that gap and get hands-on experience with machine learning. Here I'm using a random forest model to help interpret electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data. The results help predict device performance.

During this project, I had a need to plot the output of a CH Instruments CHI650E potentiostat. You can find the code for plotting here: GitHub.

Skills Learned:

Random Forest Models, EIS

Get Pumped!

Enabling ML data collection by automating microfluidic operation.

Image of an automated microfluidic device
This project was the automation of an experiment that involved lots of tedious pipetting. The control of a few syringe pumps can remove this repetitive task from the experiment workflow. In this project, I learned about interfacing hardware and software, utilizing serial connections, and multithreading.

You can find the code for this project on GitHub

Skills Learned:

Serial control over USB, interfacing hardware + software, multithreading, UI design

COUNT: Count objects until no tomorrow

Custom object tracking for cancer cells

User interface for COUNT
I like to look at cells under a microscope. I would like to count them, but they move, and there's thousands of them... I wrote some code to track and count cells using OpenCV. This project is my first foray into computer vision, and also includes a gui for increased accessibility. I learned a lot about different image processing techniques and object detection algorithms. Building this was intense!

You can find the code for this project on GitHub

Skills Learned:

Computer vision, Python, UI, Git, OpenCV, APIs, Clean Code

Cotton-Uphaus Competition

ISU oral presentation competition

Example slide from competition

I competed in a department wide presentation competition on April 24, 2024! I made a really nice presentation about my work on the MMP9 project, using animations created in Blender. Blender is hard to learn but extremely powerful for scientific communication. I plan to write more about this soon!

Skills Learned:

Blender, scientific communication, professional presentations

ImageJ Macros

Useful tools for image analysis

Construction worker working on my website

Some of the first code I've ever wrote was in the ImageJ macro language using notepad. I was interested in improving the data analysis workflow for making measurements on fluorescence microscopy images. I wrote a series of macros that automatically place regions of interest (ROIs) over regions of interest, identify the presence of cancer cells, and made data collection easier. ImageJ is awesome!

See the code on GitHub

Skills Learned:

ImageJ Macro Language, image analysis/processing

First publication experience

Published in Analytical Chemistry
(co-author) TOC abstract

I contributed towards this project while being trained by my mentor Joe. This project is about device optimizations and an investigation into single-cell β-galactosidase activity.

Read more:
DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c00078

Skills Learned:

Lab skills, microfluidics, cleanroom skills, technical writing