Farhat Azam and a prototype of the AI-enabled smart mosquito trap [Photo by Innovative Education]
By Paul Guzzo, University Communications and Marketing
Farhat Azam thought her parents were going to die.
It was 2019, and they contracted dengue from a mosquito bite during what would become the worst dengue epidemic on record in Southeast Asia, with 658,000 cases reported.
Azam was infected too.
But at 23, she was far younger than her parents and better able to fight off the virus.
“You can guess how much the disease affected them,” Azam said. “They were also thinking they would die from it.”
They pulled through, but those frightening weeks inspired Azam’s studies at the University of South Florida.
She earned a master’s degree in computer science from USF in 2023 and will receive her doctoral degree in the same discipline this summer.
Since arriving at USF in 2021, she’s been part of a faculty-led team developing an artificial intelligence-enabled smart mosquito trap. The technology identifies disease-carrying mosquitoes, such as those spreading malaria, West Nile virus, Zika virus, yellow fever and dengue.
The technology works like this:
Bait lures mosquitoes into the trap where they land on a sticky pad. A camera takes a photograph that is then uploaded to the a cloud service.
Using artificial intelligence, the system identifies the type of mosquito.
“Only 2.5% of all mosquito species are known vectors for 78 human disease-causing pathogens,” Azam said.
If a captured mosquito belongs to one of those species, the trap’s owner and local public health agency receive an alert.
Professor Sriram Chellappan and Farhat Azam [Photo by Innovative Education]
The health agency can then notify the public of the danger and destroy the mosquito breeding habitat.
This project is a collaborative effort between Ryan Carney, an associate professor of integrative biology, and Sriram Chellappan, a professor in computer science and engineering. Together, they also developed a global tracking website that works in tandem with the smart trap, allowing citizens to photograph and upload mosquito sightings as an additional detection method.
Azam has been charged with leading the team working on the AI models to classify the images and detect the mosquito species.
“When she joined my group, I vividly remember her excitement at contributing to mosquito surveillance and with AI technologies,” Chellappan said. “Farhat immersed herself in data collection, algorithms development, testing in the field and interacting with Hillsborough County mosquito control districts.”
For Azam, the project is deeply personal
While Azam and her family were sick with dengue, she said the number of clot-forming cells in their bloodstream dropped dangerously low – a condition called thrombocytopenia. Their bodies ached, and fevers were high.
“It was very painful,” Azam said. “We had lost so much energy. We couldn’t even get up and stand for 14 days.”
Farhat Azam in her lab at the University of South Florida [Photo by Andres Faza, University Communications and Marketing]
Once healthy, she earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from another university. Azam then continued her education at USF because of her interest in AI.
Even before USF announced it would launch the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing this fall, Azam said that the university has already long been renowned as a top place to study the subject.
“I wanted to apply my AI skills in a specific field where I can see the impact it can make,” Azam said. “When I saw the mosquito project, I was very overwhelmed. It gets me very excited because I know how mosquito-borne diseases can affect people.”
Farhat Azam works on the AI-enabled smart mosquito trap [Photo by Innovative Education]
This project, funded in part by a $3.6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also showcases the impact that USF has on the nation, said Azam, who has worked under Chellappan on the project. “Without him, it would never come to reality. He has great vision.”
The admiration is mutual.
“Farhat was an incredible joy to work with,” Chellappan said. “Her commitment greatly helps our group's effort to make Florida safer from mosquito-borne diseases.”
The trap, which is designed, 3D-printed and assembled by USF engineering students, is being deployed throughout Hillsborough County for test runs.
After that, Azam hopes the trap will be adopted nationwide — so no other family suffers like hers did.
“I’m looking forward to the day,” she said, “when I go to any place and see the trap hanging there.”