Research

Biosecurity & AI

My current research focuses on developing improved methods for DNA synthesis screening, the process by which gene synthesis providers check orders for potentially dangerous sequences before fulfilling them. As AI tools become increasingly able to obfuscate known biological agents and design novel ones, robust and scalable screening methods become increasingly critical biosecurity infrastructure.

During my ERA AI×Bio Research Fellowship in early 2026, in collaboration with Gary Abel of Fourth Eon Bio, I developed and evaluated multiple information-theoretic and machine learning approaches to the problem of rapidly and efficiently identifying protein-coding sequences within DNA synthesis orders. These approaches all focus on detecting statistical signatures imposed on amino acid sequences by biophysical constraints, and not on patterns imposed on raw nucleotide sequences by biological and evolutionary pressures, for robustness against codon-level changes. I explored compression-based methods, biophysically-motivated multi-feature classifiers, and convolutional neural networks. The work is ongoing, but preliminary results are very encouraging.

publications & presentations

• Cambridge Biosecurity Hub AIxBio Symposium Poster (March 16, 2026)

I’m actively looking for opportunities to continue and expand this work. If you’re working on synthesis screening, metagenomic biosurveillance, or related problems, I’d welcome a conversation.

Physics Education Research

Before pivoting to biosecurity, I spent over three decades conducting research in physics education, beginning as an undergraduate research assistant and ending as a group co-leader and principal investigator. The work spanned myriad topics, including physics-specific tooling for early online homework systems, formative assessment methods, classroom response technology, teacher professional development, game-inspired pedagogy, novel methods for assessment and grading, student self-efficacy, and computational physics instruction. It resulted in 20+ publications, dozens of talks and workshops, and over $3M in grant funding.

selected publications

• Beatty, I. D., Sedberry, S. J., Gerace, W., Strickhouser, J. E., Elobeid, M. A., & Kane, M. J. (2020). Improving STEM self-efficacy with a scalable classroom intervention targeting growth mindset and success attribution. Proceedings of the 2019 Physics Education Research Conference, 44–50. [link]
• Beatty, I. D. (2015). Collaboration or copying? Student behavior during two-phase exams with individual and team phases. Proceedings of the 2016 Physics Education Research Conference, 59–62. [link]
• Beatty, I. D. (2013). Standards-Based Grading in Introductory University Physics. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(2), 1-22. [link]
• Beatty, I. D. (2013). Improving physics instruction by analyzing video games. Proceedings of the 2012 Physics Education Research Conference, 70–73. [link]
• Beatty, I. D., & Feldman, A. (2012). Viewing teacher transformation through the lens of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). Education as Change, 16(2), 283–300. [link]
• Beatty, I. D., & Gerace, W. J. (2009). Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment: A Research-Based Pedagogy for Teaching Science with Classroom Response Technology. Journal of Science Education and Technology 18(2), 146–162. [link]
• Beatty, I. D., Gerace, W. J., Leonard, W. J., & Dufresne, R. J. (2006). Designing effective questions for classroom response system teaching. American Journal of Physics, 74(1), 31–39. [link]
• Beatty, I. D., & Gerace, W. J. (2002). Probing physics students’ conceptual knowledge structures through term association. American Journal of Physics, 70(7), 750–758. [link]