Image: Sloka Sudhin, a Data Science major, is a recipient of a CURO Research Assistantship for Fall 2023. This award includes a one-semester stipend of $1000 to conduct faculty-mentored research. As a CURO Research Assistant, Sloka will develop a new global optimization technique, under the guidance of Drs. Abhyuday Mandal and Joshua Lukemire of Emory University. In particular, this technique will be used for finding optimal designs for experiments with mixed-type factors under generalized linear models. Optimal designs extracts maximal information from the data, and Sloka will focus on A- and D-optimal designs. Her research proposes a complex metaheuristic algorithm that uses Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization for finding optimal designs, named d-QPSO algorithms.She will extend the current algorithm available in the literature, and create an R package for the practitioners to use it. Sloka will present her research at the Spring 2024 CURO Symposium to be held in April. Type of News/Audience: Departmental