About the Wang Research Group
The Wang Research Group is an interdisciplinary research group in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Tougaloo College. Our work lies at the intersection of computational biology, biomedical artificial intelligence, network science, and mathematical data science.
We develop computational, mathematical, and machine learning approaches to investigate complex biological and biomedical systems. Our research focuses on high-dimensional biological data, cellular dynamics, disease-related patterns, and large-scale biological networks.
Current research directions include single-cell transcriptomics, RNA velocity, long-read sequencing, large-scale cell-cell similarity networks, biomedical signal analysis, and multimodal artificial intelligence.
A central mission of the group is to provide undergraduate students with meaningful research experiences. Students participate in computational research, scientific programming, data analysis, conference presentations, and scholarly publication.
Principal Investigator
Xiuquan Wang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Tougaloo College
Education
- Ph.D. in Mathematics, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- M.S. in Mathematics, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Hebei Normal University
Research Support
National Science Foundation · 2025–2030 · Co-PI, Lead Author and Technical Lead · Active
National Science Foundation · 2023–2026 · Principal Investigator · Active
MS-INBRE Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF): Mega-Scale Cell-Cell Similarity Network Analysis of Embryonic Mouse Brain Transcriptomes
Mississippi INBRE · 2026 · Subaward PI · Active
Nissan Foundation Award: Increasing the STEM Pipeline
Nissan Foundation · 2026–2027 · Principal Investigator · Active
NSF EPSCoR E-RISE RII Project (#269732): Increasing Mississippi’s Research Capacity in Artificial Intelligence for Agricultural Autonomy (AI4A2) for Food Security and Upskilled Farm Work
National Science Foundation · 2027–2030 · Co-PI · Pending
Integrating RNA Velocity and Isoform-Level Analysis to Define Macrophage State Transitions in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
MS-INBRE Project Development Grant · 2026–2028 · Principal Investigator · Pending
RITA UARC Contract Award: Representational Assessment Tools for Neuroscience Computational Modeling and AI Engineering
RITA UARC · 2023–2025 · Subaward PI · Completed
Uncovering and Understanding Population Differences with Topological Methods
NIH/NIGMS, Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research · 2017–2021 · Subaward PI · Completed
Designing Machine Learning: A New Multidisciplinary Course at Tougaloo
HBCU-UP Seed Grant, Curriculum Development Award · 2021–2022 · Subaward PI · Completed
Awards and Recognition
- Dania M. Zein — First Place, Data Science Division, Undergraduate Oral Presentation, Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM (ERN), 2026
- Dania M. Zein — First Place, Computer Sciences and Information Management Poster Category, Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM (ERN), 2025
- Raven Lee — First Place Oral Presentation, Mississippi IDeA Conference, 2025
- Raven Lee — Student Research Paper Accepted at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2026
Student Research and Mentoring
The Wang Research Group actively mentors undergraduate researchers in mathematics, computer science, data science, and computational biomedical research. Student researchers have presented their work at national and regional conferences, received competitive research awards, and continued into graduate programs in data science and related fields.
- Raven Lee , Meharry Medical College (M.S. in Data Science , 2026 )
- Dwhite Ross , Brown University (Ph.D. , 2025 )
Research Sponsors and Partners
