The Value of Collaboration and Time in the World of Research
Bishoy Galoaa, MS’25, electrical and computer engineering, has participated in multiple, impactful research projects throughout his time at Northeastern. These projects have taught him valuable skills and the importance of time and collaboration when conducting research. Galoaa has decided to continue his education and pursue a PhD in computer engineering to dive deeper into the world of research.
Bishoy Galoaa graduated from the electrical and computer engineering master’s program at Northeastern University in May of 2025. During his journey throughout the program, he has engaged in various research opportunities and held a teaching assistant position. He has been grateful for his experiences and has learned the beauty of collaboration and time in the world of research and higher education.
In this program he has had the pleasure of collaborating with individuals from all disciplines of technology and engineering. He said he specifically chose the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering for its interdisciplinary aspect and its room to collaborate. After completing an undergraduate degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the American University in Cairo, he wanted to broaden his knowledge by engaging with researchers and students from other fields.
Galoaa giving a poster presentation of paper “DragonTrack” at the 2025 Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV) in Arizona.
“I think it’s nice to surround yourself with like robotics people, communications, wireless communications, hardware people. It shapes the research, you get this fish-eye view of, like, everything surrounding you. Especially in today’s tech industry, I don’t think any company is just working on their software. Everyone is saying we need GPU’s, we need power, we need hardware, so that’s why I even applied for my master’s, I wanted to surround myself with the interdisciplinary environment.”
Research Opportunities
Galoaa’s first research opportunity at Northeastern started with the position for a data science research assistant for Yakov Bart, the Joesph G. Riesman Research Professor at D’Amore-McKim School of Business. He said the research was highly fascinating as it involved working with visual advertisements and measuring the attention of the individuals watching them.
After completing his position as a research assistant with Professor Bart, Galoaa started to reach out to more professors conducting research. Associate professor of electrical and computer engineering Sarah Ostadabbas responded and welcomed him to observe the research she was conducting and later offered him an intern position in the Augmented Cognition Laboratory (ACLab). The first research project Galoaa worked on with Professor Ostadabbas was working on a solution to the difficulties associated with multi-toddler tracking in video footage.
While being an intern for Professor Ostadabbas, Galoaa worked as a teaching assistant for Assistant Professor Michael Everett for the course “Verifiable Machine Lear
Galoaa collecting data for exoskeleton research.
ning”. Galooa said being a TA taught him how to abstract ideas in an objective way to a large group of people, which has been a useful tool in his career journey. During his time being a TA for Professor Everett’s course, Galooa joined his research team as well. This research was focused on looking at ankle exoskeletons and controlling them for people with limited mobility.
Following his TA position, Galoaa was asked back by Professor Ostadabbas to be a research assistant as a co-op experience on a new project she was working on. The project, entitled “AIWover”, is working to develop a baby monitor that uses artificial intelligence to more accurately assess and track babies’ movements to prevent injuries. However, this is not the only thing “AIWover” can do, the device is being developed to detect early signs of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder, based on the baby’s movement. The device will hopefully be able to prevent any harmful injuries and additionally allow infants to get diagnoses for any neurodevelopmental disorders to receive the early intervention and care they need.
Galoaa and his fellow researchers at the ACLab at dinner.
Through Galooa’s time in the electrical and computer engineering program and his various research opportunities he has participated has taught him a lot. It has given him a diverse set of skills to problem solve and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of research. Galoaa has also learned the value of research and the good it can do for humanity.
“I don’t believe that research or, technology, in particular, it shouldn’t be made for improving research but improving human life in general.”
Reflections and Post Graduate Plans
Now that Galoaa is a recent alum of the electrical and computer engineering program he reflected on the opportunities he has been able to experience. One major thing Galoaa had learned during his experience was how wonderful it is spending time and really seeing through a project till the end. Through working as a TA, Galoaa learned the value of taking time to work through a problem and working to understand others’ point of view in order to find a solution. Due to all his positive experiences in research and in his TA position, he agreed when asked by Professor Ostadabbas if he would like to continue his education at Northeastern and pursue a PhD in computer engineering in the Fall of 2025. This will allow Galoaa to continue his passion for further exploring a problem and coming up with a solution.
Galoaa, Professor Sarah Ostadabbas and others taking a group photo on last day of their Coursera small machine learning course.
“The crafting of ideas, I think maybe there is a beauty in it for me, maybe for others not, but it’s so nice when you look at everyone around you trying to abstract ideas in a healthy, constructive environment” Galoaa said.