Tyler Ward

Prospective Students

I will be joining the Computer Science faculty of Morehead State University (MSU) in the Department of Engineering Sciences in Fall 2026, meaning I am actively looking for students to collaborate with on research. My research interests largely center on applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the medical domain, with a particular emphasis on how AI can be used to understand how various brain-related disorders affect patients, and how AI can better assist in mental health interventions. However, I do have broad multidisciplinary research experience and am always open to collaborations outside of my main focus. See my Research page for more detailed information on projects I'm interested in working on.

MSU is currently classified under the "Research Colleges and Universities" designation by the Carnegie Classification of Insitutions of Higher Education, meaning that student opportunities for research are different compared to what you may find at an R1 or R2 instition. Listed below are the different ways that students can get involved in doing research with me.

Undergraduate Students

Undergraduate Research Fellowships (URFs)

The best way to conduct research with me, in my opinion, is to take advantage of MSU's URF program, which allows undergraduate students to work on research with a faculty member, and get paid for their efforts ($9/hr for up to 20 hours per week, with $0.50 raises after every semester, up to $10.50/hr). Again, see my Research page for insight into what types of projects I'm interested in having students work on. Unfortunately for prospective students, I will largely identify potential URFs from a pool of high-achieving students who have taken courses with me, but, if you are interested, feel free to reach out and see if I have an opening.

George M. Luckey, Jr. Academic Honors Program

Honors students at MSU are required to conduct research for two semesters, with the hours per week you can work capped at 8. If you are interested in working under me to fulfill your research credits, please send me an e-mail to discuss. Since this is a requirement for the Honors program and is unpaid, I will give you much more agency over the research projects you are involved in compared to the URFs that I pay to work on specific projects.

CS-499: Capstone and Senior Thesis

All CS students at MSU must take two semesters CS-499 during their senior year. This course is designed to let students work with a faculty mentor to produce a capstone or senior thesis based on a topic of their choosing. If you want me to be your faculty mentor, please send me an e-mail to discuss. I prefer to work with students on projects that involve machine learning, particularly if they intersect with the medical domain. That being said, your capstone/thesis is meant to be personal to you, so I am happy to work with students on any projects so long as I deem it feasible and worthy of meeting the course requirements.

Graduate Students

The Department of Engineering Sciences at MSU offers three graduate degrees: Master of Science (M.S.) in Engineering & Technology Management, Master of Science in Space Systems (M.S.S.E.) in Space Systems Engineering, and Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng.). If you are a graduate student at MSU and want me to supervise your research or join your thesis/dissertation committee, send me an e-mail so we can discuss whether I would be a good fit for you.

K-12 Students

Craft Academy for Excellence in Science & Mathematics

Similar to undergraduate students enrolled in the George M. Luckey, Jr. Academic Honors Program, K-12 students who are enrolled in the Craft Academy are required to complete a faculty-supervised research project in order to graduate with Honors or Honors With Distinction (the latter classification requires your research project to be presented or published somewhere). If you are a Craft student and are interested in doing a research project under me, feel free to reach out. As a high schooler, I don't expect you to have the knowledge necessary to do true state-of-the-art research, so any project that I assign you will largely be focused on helping you build foundational skills in a research area that is interesting to you.

Volunteering/Research Mentorship for High Schoolers

Are you a high schooler looking to get involved in a research project to boost your college applications? I think that's awesome! I really wish that I knew that such opportunities existed when I was in high school. I am happy to take high school volunteers to work on research projects, either of my choosing or yours. High school research involvement with me will be a very casual affair, as I want to encourage you to still enjoy your last few years as a kid, while at the same time learning and working on cool stuff that could help your future career. Feel free to reach out or have your parents reach out if you are interested in getting some research experience, I'm sure we could set something up.