Team · MAP Lab

People

Core team

Laura E. Barnes

Lawrence R. Quarles Professor, Systems & Information Engineering
Director, MAP Lab · Associate Director, Link Lab · Director, S²He Lab

Laura Barnes is the Lawrence R. Quarles Professor in the Department of Systems & Information Engineering and Director of the Mobile, AI, and People Lab. She also serves as Associate Director of the Link Lab and directs the Sensing Systems for Health (S²He) Lab. Her research focuses on human-centered AI, mobile and wearable sensing, and technology-enabled interventions to improve health and well-being. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of South Florida. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Aerospace, U.S. Army, and private foundations.

Mark Rucker, Ph.D.

Associate Director, MAP Lab · Senior Research Scientist, UVA Link Lab

Mark is Associate Director of the MAP Lab, where he leads the design and development of research platforms and infrastructure spanning mobile technologies, wearable sensing, and AI. His work includes AI-enabled research systems and personalized digital health interventions. He received his Ph.D. in Systems and Information Engineering from UVA, with research focused on online and reinforcement learning for personalized digital health interventions.

Ibrahim Anjum

Staff Engineer · M.A. Information Systems

Ibrahim is a software developer working across mobile, web, and Azure to maintain and build MAP Lab — a research platform that collects data from health trackers, surveys, and more. Ibrahim has over a decade of experience developing cross-platform mobile apps.

Russell Rivers

Project Manager

Russ has been with UVA since 2017 and has worked across Grounds in different capacities with multiple departments, institutions, and schools. Most recently, he has been managing a UVA Grand Challenge at the Link Lab in the School of Engineering and Applied Science focused on expanding and improving digital technology through smart infrastructure and helping develop research proposals toward this end. With over 8 years of project management experience, Russ supports the team with communication and organization skills, institutional knowledge, and the drive to succeed in any endeavor. He lives in Staunton, VA with his wife, two children, and the family dog, Barley.

Affiliated

Students & postdocs

Indrajeet Ghosh

Postdoctoral Fellow · Ph.D. Computer Science

Works at the intersection of mobile and wearable sensing, AI, and digital health. Supports the design, development, and deployment of AI-enabled interventions across MAP Lab projects, including integrating machine learning and generative AI into research systems and studies.

Md Sabbir Ahmed

Provost's Fellow Ph.D. Student, Systems & Information Engineering

Works in the S²He Lab on wearable and on-device sensing systems for understanding social interactions and delivering context-aware micro-interventions for social anxiety. Develops custom smartwatch and wearable sensing applications and has built systems deployed in research across UVA Psychology, Nursing, and Medicine.

Sneha Moothedan

Research Assistant · M.S. Student, Systems & Information Engineering

Develops mobile applications for a range of MAP Lab research studies, supporting study implementation, data collection, and participant-facing features. Her work also includes secure research infrastructure, cloud integration, and the responsible integration of AI into research applications.

Atharv Gupta

Research Assistant · B.S. Systems & Information Engineering, UVA Engineering

Develops tools that make it easier for research teams to configure, manage, and maintain mobile and web-based study infrastructure. His work includes researcher-facing interfaces and AI-assisted workflows for software development, code review, and project maintenance.

Luyuan Niu

Web & Product Designer · M.E. Systems & Information Engineering, UVA Engineering

Designs human-centered digital interfaces for MAP Lab research projects, translating research requirements into intuitive interfaces and study tools. Works across UX/UI design, prototyping, and web and mobile product development to support research teams from early concepts through deployment.

The team