SBU student builds AI tool to measure leaf damage

Amy Chen, a 2027 graduate at Stony Brook University, is using artificial intelligence to quantify ozone damage in plant leaves. Her work has changed how researchers in her department track environmental stress on vegetation. The project earned her the designation of URECA Researcher of the Month for October 2026.

Chen started the project in March 2025 while working with Guanyu Huang. She holds a major in Information Systems and a minor in Environmental Studies. The team received funding from the SUNY SOAR undergraduate research program. They established a bioindicator garden to document how specific plants react to ozone exposure. Chen photographed the leaves and recorded the visible damage over time.

The team converted these observations into a computer vision dataset. Their first model successfully categorized leaves as either damaged or healthy. It achieved 82% accuracy during testing. However, the system could not yet calculate the exact percentage of damage present on a single leaf. The researchers are now gathering more photographs from other ozone gardens to improve that specific function.

Ahmad Esmaili, the Information Systems Undergraduate Program Director, noted that the project shows how a student in his major can apply data science to environmental issues. He highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of the work in a statement about Chen's progress.

Chen presented her findings at the American Meteorological Society annual meeting in January 2026. She won the best student poster award at that event. She also spoke at the National Ozone Garden Network Conference in August. She is currently writing a manuscript with her research group and plans to use the data for her WISE senior thesis.