UHV research team honored with award at Waste Management Symposia
A collaborative research paper led by faculty from the University of Houston-Victoria has been honored as one of the top submissions during this year’s Waste Management Symposia, a non-profit organization focused on safe handling and disposal of radioactive materials.
The paper, titled "Generative AI Based Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Advancing Groundwater Contamination Monitoring,” received the “Superior” Paper Award, a distinction given to just 93 of more than 530 papers submitted, representing the top 17 percent of all entries.
The paper is written by Hardik Gohel, UHV associate professor of computer science; Maulin Raval, R&D Architect; Aobo Jin, UHV assistant professor of CIS; and Daniel Kaplan, associate director at the University of Georgia Research Institute. The paper was presented by UHV student Aradhana Sharma during the Waste Management Symposium held March 9-13 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona.
"This recognition reflects the dedication and multidisciplinary collaboration of our entire team", said Gohel, the project’s lead researcher. “This award is a testament to our commitment to developing impactful, interdisciplinary solutions that address some of the most complex environmental challenges of our time. With Groundwater Intelligence Retrieval System (GIRS), we’re not just improving information access – we’re fundamentally transforming how experts interact with critical environmental data.”
The paper was featured in a session during the symposium titled, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Applications in Radioactive WM.” It proposed the idea of the Groundwater Intelligence Retrieval System, an AI-powered tool that used Retrieval-Augmented Generation to extract factual, science-based responses from large collections of environmental research documents.
The GIRS is designed to improve how experts can access and interact with critical groundwater contamination data, a key concern in radioactive waste management.
“Ultimately, this is about attracting more students to UHV to explore AI’s potential in energy and environmental research, “Gohel said.
To learn more about data science and AI degree programs and the UHV’s Applied AI Research, contact Gohel at (361) 570-4219 or gohelh@uhv.edu.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.