SPARKS Lab

Scientific Prediction through AI Research, Knowledge & Simulation

Department of Computer Science · Texas State University · San Marcos, TX

About SPARKS

The SPARKS Lab (Scientific Prediction through AI Research, Knowledge & Simulation) develops next-generation AI methods that are grounded in scientific principles. We build machine learning algorithms that don’t just fit data — they respect the laws of physics, scale to real-world complexity, and provide interpretable insights for scientific discovery.

Our work spans physics-informed neural networks, neural operators, generative AI for science, and hybrid modeling — with applications ranging from climate modeling and turbulence to nanoscale heat conduction and metamaterial design.

Research Areas

🧠

Scientific Machine Learning

Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs), DeepONets, and deep neural operators for solving complex PDEs and multiphysics problems.

🌍

Climate & Earth System Modeling

Neural operator-based bias corrections, nudging strategies for E3SM, and hybrid approaches for weather and climate prediction.

🌊

Turbulence & Fluid Dynamics

Generative models and diffusion-based neural operators for super-resolution, forecasting, and sparse reconstruction of turbulent flows.

🔬

Nanoscale Heat Conduction

Neural network methods for ultrashort-pulsed laser heating, parabolic two-temperature models, and multi-layer thin film thermal analysis.

⚡

Neural Operators & Spectral Methods

Mitigating spectral bias, high-frequency scaling, multi-fidelity operator learning for physical systems.

🛡️

Engineering & Inverse Design

MOSFET heat sink optimization, PIER routing, mechanical metamaterial characterization, and inverse design via neural operators.

Team

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Aniruddha Bora

Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Texas State University
Ph.D., Louisiana Tech University
Postdoc, Brown University
aniruddha_bora@txstate.edu

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Rajnish Kumar

Ph.D. Student (Part-time)

Department of Computer Science
Texas State University

"Researching ML methodologies and bridging them with large-scale systems and real-world applications."

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHERS

Pawan Pradhan

Undergraduate Researcher

Mechanical engineering, Texas State University

"I transform ideas into real-world systems."

Arjun Gyawali

Undergraduate Researcher

Computer Science, Texas State University

"I don't just call APIs and tune hyperparameters, I trace the math down to the gradient, because black boxes don't teach you anything."

ALUMNI & PAST MENTEES

* **Sotos Lois** (Imperial College London, 2022–2023) — Mathematical finance using PINNs and operator learning

Selected Publications

Learning bias corrections for climate models using deep neural operators

A. Bora, K. Shukla, S. Zhang, R. Leung, G.E. Karniadakis

AAAI 2023

Integrating Neural Operators with Diffusion Models Improves Spectral Representation in Turbulence Modeling

V. Oommen, A. Bora, Z. Zhang, G.E. Karniadakis

Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 2025

Characterization and Inverse Design of Stochastic Mechanical Metamaterials Using Neural Operators

H. Jin, B. Zhang, Q. Cao, E. Zhang, A. Bora, et al.

Advanced Materials, 2025

Neural network method for solving nonlocal two-temperature nanoscale heat conduction in gold films

A. Bora, W. Dai, J.P. Wilson, J.C. Boyt, S.L. Sobolev

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2022

XAI4Extremes: An interpretable ML framework for understanding extreme-weather precursors

J. Wei, A. Bora, V. Oommen, et al.

ICLR 2025 Workshop

👉 See all publications →

Grants & Funding

PIER: Physics-Informed, Energy-efficient, Risk-aware Routing — Texas State University, $12,000 (2026–Present)
ALCF Director’s Discretionary Allocation — Physics-Informed Generative AI (Argonne)
ALCF Director’s Discretionary Allocation — Extreme Weather via Neural Operator Approximation (Argonne)
MURI Program (ONR) — ML Methods for Phase Change Heat Transfer Modeling and Design (Brown, contributor)

HPC Resources

The SPARKS Lab has access to world-class computing infrastructure:

ALCF Polaris — HPE Cray EX (AMD EPYC + NVIDIA A100)
ALCF Aurora — HPE Cray EX (Intel Sapphire Rapids + Intel Data Center GPU Max)
OSCAR — Brown University HPC Cluster

🔥 Join the SPARKS Lab!

I am recruiting one funded Ph.D. student for Fall 2026 and welcome motivated Master's and undergraduate researchers.
Looking for students with backgrounds in CS, Applied Math, Physics, or Engineering interested in:

Machine learning for physical systems · Scientific & interpretable AI · Computational modeling using AI

📧 Apply Now — aniruddha_bora@txstate.edu

Contact

Dr. Aniruddha Bora
Department of Computer Science
310D COMAL, Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666

📧 aniruddha_bora@txstate.edu
🌐 aniruddhabora.github.io
🔗 LinkedIn
📚 Google Scholar