CM
Lab director & principal investigator
Cory Merkel
Associate Professor, Computer Engineering
Dr. Cory Merkel joined the RIT computer engineering department in 2018. He earned his BS and MS degrees in computer engineering (2011) and a Ph.D. in microsystems engineering (2015), all from RIT. From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Merkel was a research electronics engineer with the Information Directorate, Air Force Research Lab.
His current research focuses on mapping of AI algorithms, primarily artificial neural networks, to mixed-signal hardware and the design of brain-inspired computing systems using emerging technologies such as memristors. He has published his work in several peer-reviewed conferences, journals, and books, and is also engaged in a number of STEM outreach activities.
Current research assistants
Alumni
2026Cole JohnsonMS Computer Engineering · ProjectExploring Forward-Forward and Spiking Architectures for Reinforcement Learning Without Backpropagation
2025Manali DangarikarMS Computer Engineering · ProjectInvestigating the effect of hardware faults and weight perturbations on adversarially-robust pruned models
2025Robbie RiviereMS Computer Engineering · ProjectReimagining Handheld Games through FPGA-based AI
2025Diana VelychkoMS Artificial Intelligence · ThesisEnhancing adversarial robustness in convolutional neural networks by integrating human viewing strategies
2025Trent WesleyMS Computer Engineering · ProjectLiquid State Machine-Based Testing of Neuromorphic Systems
2024William BottomMS Computer Engineering · ThesisArtificial Neurovascular Networks to Simulate Energy Distribution to Spiking Neural Networks
2024Blake DonleyMS Computer Engineering · ProjectIn Situ Training for Time Domain in-Memory Computing
2024Andrew TevebaughMS Computer Engineering · ProjectInvestigating the Impact of Early Exiting in Convolutional Neural Networks
2023Anusha HolavanahaliMS Computer Engineering · ThesisAn Analysis of Heterogeneous Quantization Schemes for Neural Networks
2023Sherry MathewsMS Computer Engineering · ThesisTraining Circuit Design for an Analog Neural Network using Zeroth Order Optimization to Minimize Hardware Complexity
2023Yash ShahMS Computer Engineering · ProjectComparison of Pixel-Level Saliency Between CNNs and Humans when Learning to Classify Objects
2022Jacob KigginsMS Computer Engineering · ThesisDevelopment of a Bio-Inspired Computational Astrocyte Model for Spiking Neural Networks
2022Sabrina LyMS Computer Engineering · ThesisQuantum Solutions for Training a Single Layer Binary Neural Network
2022Andrew MeyerMS Computer Engineering · ThesisInfoMixup: An Intuitive and Information-Driven Approach to Robust Generalization
2022Rajiv NagarajuMS Computer Engineering · ThesisSemi-Supervised Video and Image In-painting
2022David PastuchMS Computer Engineering · ThesisSingle-Input Signature Register-Based Time Delay Reservoir
2022Joseph ZonghiMS Computer Engineering, RIT/KIT · ThesisTowards Real-Time Classification of Human Imagined Language
2021Daniel AdamsMS Computer Engineering · ThesisThe Application of Echo State Networks to Atypical Speech Recognition
2021Enzo CasamassimaMS Computer Engineering · ProjectExploring CNN Features in the Context of Adversarial Robustness and Human Perception
2021Tommy LiMS Computer Engineering · ThesisModel Extraction and Adversarial Attacks on Neural Networks Using Side Channel Information
2020Andrew FountainMS Computer Engineering · ThesisExploring the Influence of Metabolic Energy Constraints on the Performance of Liquid State Machines