Computer science and engineering researcher receives iDEA-TECH award from Sanofi
Mar 16, 2026
Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared on Penn State News.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Four Penn State researchers, including Wenpeng Yin, assistant professor of computer science and engineering in the College of Engineering, have been awarded Innovations in Data Exploration, Analytics & Technology (iDEA-TECH) Awards from Sanofi, a global R&D-driven, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered biopharma company. The awards provide $150,000 in research funding to advance cutting-edge discoveries through novel AI and digital tools and new technologies. Awarded projects cover topics spanning from predicting and tracking disease and treatment progression to predicting patient outcomes to optimized clinical trial design.
Yin and Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics in the Eberly College of Science, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in AI Mathematical Modeling, and director of the Center for Mathematical Biology in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, received funding for their project titled “Harnessing large language models to decipher Alzheimer’s pathophysiology: From biomarker causal networks to mathematical modeling of disease dynamics.”
Additional teams including a Penn State researcher receiving the award this cycle are:
- Le Bao, professor of statistics in the Eberly College of Science; and Shouhao Zhou, associate professor of public health sciences in the Penn State College of Medicine and associate professor of statistics in the Eberly College of Science, for their project titled “Automating clinical trial data synthesis using large language models and Bayesian learning methods for assessment of infection and serious infection risks in autoimmune disease therapies."
- Jeff Petrella, professor of radiology at Duke University; and Hao, for their project titled "Modeling for Virtual Clinical Trials and Personalized Treatment Predictions in Alzheimer’s Disease."
Award recipients have opportunities to engage with R&D expertise and drug development knowledge through collaboration with Sanofi to help advance research and technology during the one-year award period while also forging potential long-lasting relationships.
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Wenpeng Yin. Credit: Penn State College of Engineering.
