Humayra Tasnim
Humayra Tasnim comes to New Mexico from Dhaka, Bangladesh and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science. She works as a research assistant under Computer Science Professor Melanie Moses, whose lab studies complex biological systems including the adaptive immune system and ant colonies with a focus on developing robust, scalable, and autonomous swarm robots that mimic ant foraging behaviors. The lab began organizing the NASA Swarmathon in 2016 and has recently wrapped up their third successful challenge at Kennedy Space Center.
Humayra’s research is based on immunology focusing on cell motility, signaling, and search behaviors through computer simulations. This basic research will ultimately help us to understand how the immune system is able to respond to novel infections so rapidly. She has developed a technique to mathematically and statistically measure and analyze the correspondence of naive T cells with other cell types in lymph nodes. Humayra will be progressing her work on developing the NMI technique to extend its application to other fields of biomedical imaging and possibly swarm robotics.
Humayra is an active member of various campus organizations. In 2018-19, she is serving as the President of Computer Science Graduate Student Association (CSGSA), having previously served as the General Secretary of CSGSA and Treasurer of Women in Computing (WinC) at UNM in 2017-18. Humayra organizes the yearly UNM Computer Science Student Conference (since 2017) from CSGSA. She often volunteers in Global Education Office (GEO) events. Humayra says, “Being a part of such organizations helps a lot to strengthen my communication and networking skills as an international student.”
