On December 16-17, 42 faculty members from NYU’s New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai campuses convened at NYU Abu Dhabi for the inaugural Serendipity Research Confluence. The two-day event, spearheaded by deans and faculty from NYU Shanghai and NYU Abu Dhabi, was meant to bring together faculty from across NYU’s campuses to encourage and cultivate research collaborations.
“This event is about building bridges—creating a platform for faculty to meet, share ideas, and ignite new collaborations,” said NYU Shanghai Dean of Computer Science, Data Science, and Engineering Nasir Memon during his opening address on the first day of the event. He shared his vision with the attendees of an engineering faculty across NYU’s campuses that could be united and work together, instead of siloed from each other.
The event emphasized emerging areas in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), while encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations across sectors like finance, public health, and urban science. NYU Abu Dhabi Professor of Computer Science Keith Ross, speaking on computer science, said that these connections can open new doors for researchers. “The tools and approaches in computer science can be applied broadly,” he said. “It’s good to have faculty members from cross-disciplinary backgrounds here to open new pathways for collaboration and build synergies.”
“A core focus of the event was cultivating junior faculty”, said NYU Abu Dhabi Associate Dean for Faculty Development Ozgur Sinanoglu, who added that the mentoring and collaborative relationships being fostered at the event could play an important role for each attendee. “When I joined NYU Abu Dhabi as a junior faculty member, collaborations with peers from other campuses were invaluable to my growth,” he said. “By gathering talent in one room, we’re planting seeds—some will flourish immediately, while others might take time, but all contribute to long-term growth.”
A highlight of the event was a “scientist speed dating” session designed to facilitate rapid, focused discussions between faculty members. Professors were grouped and rotated in 10-minute intervals, exchanging ideas, sharing research interests, and identifying potential collaborative opportunities.
Twelve thematic groups emerged from these sessions, covering topics such as LLMs for code generation, AI in healthcare, video/image processing, and sustainable transportation networks. Faculty collaborated on drafting initial project concepts, seven of which were later refined and formally presented. Each project incorporated faculty from at least two campuses and culminated in white papers outlining research visions, applications, and funding strategies.
NYU Abu Dhabi Professor of Computer Engineering Muhammad Shafique said that cross-campus collaborations can benefit challenging projects, like the one his group is working on using LLMs for hardware coding, which requires expertise in constrained decoding, NLP, robotics, and beyond. “By pooling knowledge across campuses, we’re able to accelerate progress in ways a single institution couldn’t achieve alone,” he said.
NYU Abu Dhabi Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering Farah Emad Shamout said she’s seen the benefits of international collaborations. “My collaborator Chen Zhao and I are both working on AI for healthcare, which often involves large datasets,” she said. “International collaboration offers access to diverse data sets from Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, allowing richer analysis and comparisons.”
As the event wound down, attendees said the event did just what it set out to do—set the stage for collaboration. “The best research often stems from serendipitous encounters—exactly what this event facilitates,” said NYU Abu Dhabi Assistant Professor of Technology, Operations, and Statistics Cynthia Zeng. “The diverse program, from speed dating to the safari outing, created an inspiring environment to spark ideas and build lasting partnerships.”
As the event marked an initial step toward collaboration, participants will receive seed funding for white papers submitted following the event to help kick-start their projects. At the closing ceremony Dean Memon urged participants to sustain these connections. “Leverage NYU’s global resources,” he advised them. “Stay connected, visit each other, and bring the ideas sparked here to life.”
Participant Reflections
Chen Feng (Institute Associate Professor, Civil and Urban Engineering, NYU)
“This event struck the right balance—perfect timing, location, and participants. While I knew some faculty socially, connecting in a research-driven environment allowed for deeper, more meaningful collaboration.”
Miguel Modestino (Director of Sustainable Engineering Initiative & Donald F. Othmer Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, NYU)
“Sustainability and climate studies are global challenges that demand global teams. This event enabled us to form a truly international group, reflecting diverse urban conditions and perspectives crucial for designing sustainable systems.”
Renyuan Xu (Assistant Professor of Finance and Risk Engineering, NYU)
“This event fostered meaningful exchanges, strengthening existing ties and opening new ones. I discussed LLM applications in finance with colleagues from other campuses and gained valuable insights. Unlike packed conferences, this event, with its unique format, encouraged deeper conversations and sparked potential collaborations.”
Qiaoyu Tan (Assistant Professor of Computer Science, NYU Shanghai)
“Enhancing LLMs' reasoning in understanding structured environments is a challenging yet promising AGI problem. This event provided a vital platform for collaboration across NYU campuses, fostering timely partnerships and opening opportunities for joint PhD supervision and academic visits.”
Jin Han (Assistant Professor of Global Public Health, NYU Shanghai)
“As a relatively new faculty member, this event helped me form valuable connections across campuses at an early stage. It’s more than one-time networking—these relationships will drive future collaborations as well.”