I’m thrilled to share that four of my first-authored papers have been accepted for presentation this spring and summer, two at IEEE IRI 2026 and two at IEEE ICCCN 2026! It is exciting to see these projects reach this stage, especially because they reflect several areas I am deeply passionate about: real-time AI, wireless and RF systems, affective computing, accessible technology, and human-centered AI. 1. Enabling Real-Time AI in O-RAN: Deploying and Measuring AI Inside a Near-RT RIC xApp This work demonstrates how AI inference can be deployed directly inside a Near-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller xApp on a live O-RAN testbed. We examine inference latency, deployment feasibility, and the practical challenges of integrating AI into the Near-RT RIC software loop. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2607.01583 2. Field-Deployable RF Capture System for Indoor, Outdoor, and Foliage Environments This paper presents a portable and autonomous RF capture platform for collecting geotagged signal data in real-world indoor, outdoor, and foliage environments. The system combines software-defined radio, GNSS positioning, high-speed storage, and open-source software to support reproducible field experiments. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2607.01368 3. Quantifying the Affective Gap: A Zero-Shot Evaluation of LLMs on Fine-Grained Emotion Taxonomies This study evaluates how effectively large language models recognize and distinguish fine-grained emotional states without task-specific training. The findings highlight important limitations in current LLMs and their potential use in affect-aware, human-centered, and digital library applications. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2607.00968 4. Touching and Feeling the Data: A Reusable Software Pipeline for Tactile Statistical Graphs in Accessible Education This work introduces a reusable software pipeline for transforming statistical data and chart images into 3D-printable tactile graphs. The goal is to make data visualization more accessible to blind and low-vision learners while reducing the technical effort required from educators. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2607.01214 A very special thank you to Dr. Sachin Shetty, Dr. Sampath Jayarathna, Dr. Jessica M. Johnson, Dr. Krzysztof J. Rechowicz, and all my co-authors for their mentorship, encouragement, thoughtful feedback, and collaboration throughout these projects. Research is truly a team effort, and I am deeply grateful to everyone who contributed their time, expertise, and support in helping bring these papers to this stage. I am incredibly excited and look forward to seeing these papers presented and sharing our work with the IEEE IRI and IEEE ICCCN research communities! #ArtificialIntelligence #Research #IEEE #IRI2026 @WebSciDL #ORAN #WirelessNetworks @ODUSCI #LargeLanguageModels #Accessibility #DataVisualization #RFSystems #HumanCenteredAI #GraduateResearch #PhDJourney #OldDominionUniversity #ODU #ODUResearch #IEEEIRI #IRI2026 #IEEEICCCN #ICCCN2026 #Nigeria #NigeriansInSTEM #UnitedStates