🔬 AI Research & Peer-Reviewed Publications
Aaryan Samanta — 10th Grader, Legend College Preparatory, Cupertino, CA
Lead author of two peer-reviewed publications (IEEE · IJHSR) as a high-school sophomore, plus three active research programs spanning quantum-inspired ML, computational biology, biomedical imaging, science-education research, and reinforcement learning for wildfire response.
🎓 Google Scholar · 🌐 Personal Website · 💻 GitHub · 🤝 AI Ethos (501(c)(3))
🪄 This README is the map — every project has its own deep-dive README with figures, pipelines, and results.
🧭 Quick navigation
🌟 Portfolio · 🏆 Highlights · 🗂️ Repository map · 🧬 Project deep dives · 📖 Citations · ⚖️ License
🌟 Research Portfolio (2025–2026)
| # | Project | Venue / Program | Focus | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quantum-Inspired Hybrid GA + GNN Ensemble | IEEE 7th Intl. Conf. on AI & Advanced Manufacturing (AIAM) 2025 | Quantum-inspired genetic algorithm × Graph Neural Network fusion for multimodal classification, with SHAP interpretability | ✅ Published |
| 2 | Mitochondrial Resilience in Wild C. elegans | International Journal of High School Research (IJHSR) · UCSB SRA Capstone | Comparative genomics of six mito quality-control genes across CX11314 & EG4725 strains — selection, variant, and expression analysis | ✅ Published |
| 3 | Functional Imaging of the Pelvic Floor | Stanford University School of Medicine (Dept. of Urology) | Kinematic ultrasound analysis (displacement → velocity → acceleration) of pelvic floor muscle function, mentored by Prof. Emeritus Christos Constantinou | 🟡 Preliminary findings |
| 4 | InfernoTactics — Wildfire RL Agent | UCLA COSMOS 2026, Cluster 1 | Actor-critic reinforcement learning (CNN + MLP) that dispatches firefighting resources on a real LA terrain model grounded in the Jan. 2025 Palisades Fire | ✅ Results + live 3D demo |
| 5 | Diagrams That Mislead: Biology Visual Literacy | CBE—Life Sciences Education (ASCB) — targeted submission | Empirical study on how simplified biology diagrams create systemic student misconceptions; instruments + analysis pipeline built | 🚧 In progress |
- < 1% of U.S. high schoolers publish in AI/computational-biology venues — this repo holds two such papers from a single sophomore year.
- Spans the full stack of research skill: wet-lab-adjacent bioinformatics → clinical imaging analysis → deep RL simulation → human-subjects education research.
🏆 Highlights & Achievements
📜 Publications & Research
- 🥇 Lead author, IEEE AIAM 2025 (AIAM-6203) — quantum-inspired GA × GNN
- 🥇 Lead author, IJHSR 2026 — C. elegans mitochondrial genetics (DOI: 10.36838/IJHSR816.1)
- 🎓 Youngest accepted scholar, UC Santa Barbara Summer Research Academy (~top 10% acceptance)
- 🏥 Research Scholar, Stanford University School of Medicine, Dept. of Urology
- 🛰️ Selected for UCLA COSMOS 2026, Cluster 1 (wildfire ML/RL)
🧠 Academic & Leadership
- 🥈🥇 USACO 2025 US Open — dual perfect scores (Gold and Silver, 1000/1000); 1 of ~8 nationwide
- 🔢 AMC 10 & 12 — National 1st-place perfect scorer (150/150); 2× AIME qualifier
- 🌍 Founder/President, AI Ethos, Inc. (501(c)(3)) & NextGenAI International — ethical-AI education for 75+ students across 3 countries
🗂️ Repository map
ai-research-publications/
│
├── 🖼️ banner.gif animated banner (this README)
├── 📄 README.md ← you are here
│
├── 🧬 ieee-aiam-2025-ga-gnn/ ✅ Published · IEEE AIAM 2025
│ ├── paper/ code/ asset/ docs/
│ └── Quantum-inspired GA + GNN ensemble for multimodal classification
│
├── 🪱 ijhsr-2026-celegans-mito-resilience/ ✅ Published · IJHSR 2026
│ ├── notebooks/ paper/ presentations/ private/
│ └── C. elegans mitochondrial resilience — variant, selection & expression analysis
│
├── 🩻 stanford-urology-2026/ 🟡 Ongoing · Stanford Medicine
│ ├── 01-phase-1-topic-and-data/ 02-phase-2-imaging-analysis/ docs/
│ └── Kinematic pelvic-floor ultrasound analysis (mentored research)
│
├── 🔥 ucla-cosmos-2026-c1-infernotactics/ ✅ Results · UCLA COSMOS 2026
│ ├── infernotactics/ integration/ demo/ docs/ archive/
│ └── Actor-critic RL wildfire-response agent on real LA terrain
│
└── 📊 cbe-diagram-misconceptions/ 🚧 In progress · targeting CBE—LSE
├── manuscript/ instruments/ analysis/ docs/
└── Study on simplified biology diagrams & student misconceptions
| Go to… | What you'll find |
|---|---|
ieee-aiam-2025-ga-gnn/ |
Full QIHGA-GNN implementation, paper (PDF/TeX/arXiv), SHAP figures, acceptance certificate |
ijhsr-2026-celegans-mito-resilience/ |
Annotation/variant notebook, published manuscript, SRA capstone slides, CITATION.cff |
stanford-urology-2026/ |
Phase 1/2 READMEs, ultrasound clip previews, research deck, data-privacy notes |
ucla-cosmos-2026-c1-infernotactics/ |
RL package, live Cesium 3D demo, poster & write-up, honest limitations log |
cbe-diagram-misconceptions/ |
Study instruments, synthetic-data analysis pipeline, IRB/budget/timeline docs |
🧬 Project deep dives
1️⃣ Quantum-Inspired Hybrid GA + GNN Ensemble — IEEE AIAM 2025
First high-school-led paper hybridizing a quantum-inspired genetic algorithm (QIHGA) — qubit-encoded chromosomes with quantum-rotation gates — with a Graph Neural Network for multimodal classification, fused through a learned late-fusion layer and explained via SHAP.
| Model | Accuracy | F1 |
|---|---|---|
| QIHGA-GNN (ours) | 0.53 | 0.57 |
| Random Forest | 0.52 | 0.55 |
| SVM | 0.49 | 0.52 |
📌 At a glance
- IEEE Xplore, AIAM-6203
- 📄 Paper repo →
- 🧪 Full code + synthetic data included
- ⚖️ MIT-licensed code
2️⃣ Natural Genetic Variation & Mitochondrial Resilience in C. elegans — IJHSR 2026
Asks why wild strains CX11314 and EG4725 resist mitochondrial dysfunction better than the
standard lab strain N2. Combines CaeNDR population variant data (540 isotypes), Ensembl VEP
consequence calling, dN/dS selection tests, GEO RNA-seq (609 samples), and a neural-net expression
predictor (Spearman ρ = 0.959) across six conserved mito quality-control genes
(drp-1, fzo-1, eat-3, pink-1, pdr-1, atfs-1).
📌 At a glance
- DOI: 10.36838/IJHSR816.1
- 🎓 UCSB SRA 2025 Capstone (Track 5)
- 📄 Paper repo →
- 🧬 Proposed CRISPR-Cas9 HDR follow-up
3️⃣ Functional Imaging of Pelvic Floor Muscles — Stanford Medicine
Mentored biomedical-imaging project turning perineal ultrasound (5.5 MHz probe, 23 subjects) into displacement → velocity → acceleration curves across three physiological states: voluntary contraction ("The Knack"), Valsalva, and cough. Preliminary finding: voluntary contraction increases urethral support, with no significant caudal displacement on cough.
📌 At a glance
- 🧑⚕️ Mentor: Dr. Christos E. Constantinou (Prof. Emeritus, Stanford Urology)
- 🟡 Status: preliminary, not yet published
- 📄 Project repo →
- 🔒 Clinical data — no license granted, all rights reserved
4️⃣ InfernoTactics — Fire-Relative RL for Wildfire Response — UCLA COSMOS 2026
An actor-critic agent (CNN over a 595×316 terrain grid + MLP over weather/fleet scalars) that dispatches firefighting resources using a fire-relative action space — so it generalizes to ignition points it never trained on. Grounded in real SRTM elevation, OSM buildings/roads, NOAA weather, and the January 2025 Palisades Fire. Over training, mean reward improved 52% and buildings lost fell 54%.
📌 At a glance
- 🖥️ Live Cesium 3D demo + FastAPI backend
- 🎬 No-server replay viewer included
- 📄 Project repo →
- ⚠️ Honest limitations documented (synthetic traffic, unsourced constants)
5️⃣ When Help Becomes a Hindrance — Biology Diagram Misconceptions — targeting CBE—LSE
Examines how simplified biology diagrams (static snapshots, single-arrow flows, no variation shown) plant systemic misconceptions in students — and tests redesigned, clarification-enhanced versions against them across a 3-phase study (deconstruct → empirical test → synthesize design guidelines).
📌 At a glance
- 🧪 Instruments + IRB/consent docs drafted
- 📊 Stats pipeline built & validated on synthetic data
- 📄 Project repo →
- 🚧 Status: pre-data-collection
📖 Citations
@inproceedings{samanta2025qihga,
author = {Samanta, Aaryan},
title = {Quantum-Inspired Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Graph Neural Network
Ensemble for Multimodal Classification},
booktitle = {2025 7th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and
Advanced Manufacturing (AIAM)},
year = {2025},
publisher = {IEEE}
}
@article{samanta2026celegans,
author = {Samanta, Aaryan and Mandal, Mansi and Meeran, Mohammed Yasar},
title = {Natural Genetic Variation in Mitochondrial Health-Regulating Genes in the
C. elegans Strains CX11314 and EG4725 Leads to Increased Mitochondrial Resilience},
journal = {International Journal of High School Research},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.36838/IJHSR816.1}
}
Each publication folder also ships its own CITATION.cff / full .bib file for direct reuse.
⚖️ License & data use
- Code within
ieee-aiam-2025-ga-gnn/andijhsr-2026-celegans-mito-resilience/is released under MIT — see each project'sLICENSE. - Published articles are © their respective venues (IEEE / Terra Science and Education) and are not covered by the MIT license.
stanford-urology-2026/contains mentor-owned clinical data; no license is granted — seedocs/data-and-privacy.md.cbe-diagram-misconceptions/license is TBD pending public release.ucla-cosmos-2026-c1-infernotactics/third-party terrain/GLB assets retain their original licenses.
🙏 Acknowledgments
UC Santa Barbara Summer Research Academies · Stanford University School of Medicine (Dr. Christos E. Constantinou) · UCLA COSMOS Program · IEEE AIAM 2025 Committee · IJHSR Editorial Board · CaeNDR · Ensembl · WormBase · NCBI GEO
Made with 🔬 curiosity, 🧬 late nights, and way too much coffee-adjacent tea · Updated 2026