My name is Sebastián A. Cruz Romero and I am from Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico, located in the south side of Puerto Rico. I currently reside in Mayagüez as I am a upcoming graduate at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in Computer Science and Engineering.
While my academic training is in engineering and computing, I do have a keen interest in the life sciences and research. Particularly, my interests align in two things: computational approaches to biological phenomena. My last research project for the Computational Optics and Imaging Laboratory (COIL UPRM) under the mentorship of Dr. Heidy Sierra, we leverage the use of biomedical signals to detect abnormalities in a persons health vitals. Our work prioritized minimally or non-invasive ways to acquire medical data, therefore, the use of electrocardiography (EEG) or photoplethysmography (PPG) to estimate changes in blood volume that could be correlated with sepsis through oxygen saturation, blood pressure or heart rate. Our work was presented at the International Symposium on Intelligent Computing and Networking (ISICN) 2024 and can read our most recent publication in the following link.
Currently, I am part of the Edge Computing Group through the NSF-EPSCoR Center for the Advancement of Wearable Technologies (CAWT) Undergraduate Research Fall Internship 2024, and now UR Spring 2025, under advisement of Dr. Wilfredo Lugo Beauchamp working on developing Deep Learning models to detect anemia through the interior part of the eyelid (conjunctiva pallor) whilst making them efficient in resource-limited environments through battery-powered devices. [NSF Award OIA-1849243]. You can read about it more through our pre-print submitted at the International Symposium on Intelligent Computing and Networking (ISICN) 2025 through this link.