I am an interdisciplinary data scientist interested in natural language processing (NLP) and computational social science (CSS). Recent work includes the introduction and analysis of “evil twin prompts” (arXiv‘24, accepted to EMNLP ‘24) and a large-scale network analysis of U.S. opioid-involved overdose journeys (arXiv‘24, accepted to Applied Network Science). You can read more below or on Google Scholar.
A * indicates that the work has been accepted, but yet unpublished.
2024
Appl. Netw. Sci.*
Network Analysis of U.S. Non-Fatal Opioid-Involved Overdose Journeys, 2018-2023
L. H. McCabe, N. Masuda, S. Casillas, N. Danneman, A. Alic, and R. Law
We present a nation-wide network analysis of non-fatal opioid-involved overdose journeys in the United States. Leveraging a unique proprietary dataset of Emergency Medical Services incidents, we construct a journey-to-overdose geospatial network capturing nearly half a million opioid-involved overdose events spanning 2018-2023. We analyze the structure and sociological profile of the nodes, which are counties or their equivalents, characterize the distribution of overdose journey lengths, and investigate changes in the journey network between 2018 and 2023. Our findings include that authority and hub nodes identified by the HITS algorithm tend to be located in urban areas and involved in overdose journeys with particularly long geographical distances.
@article{mccabe2024overdosenetworks,title={Network Analysis of U.S. Non-Fatal Opioid-Involved Overdose Journeys, 2018-2023},author={McCabe, L. H. and Masuda, N. and Casillas, S. and Danneman, N. and Alic, A. and Law, R.},journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.03924},year={2024},}
EMNLP*
Prompts have evil twins
R. Melamed, L. H. McCabe, T. Wakhare, Y. Kim, H. H. Huang, and E. Boix-Adsera
Carefully-designed prompts are key to inducing desired behavior in Large Language Models (LLMs). As a result, much human labor is dedicated to engineering prompts that tailor LLMs to specific use-cases, raising the question of whether this process can be automated. In this work, we propose an automatic prompt optimization framework, PROPANE, which requires no user intervention and solves the inverse problem of finding a prompt that induces semantically similar outputs to a fixed set of examples. We further demonstrate that PROPANE can be used to (a) improve existing prompts, and (b) discover semantically obfuscated prompts that transfer between models.
@article{melamed2023propane,title={Prompts have evil twins},author={Melamed, R. and McCabe, L. H. and Wakhare, T. and Kim, Y. and Huang, H. H. and Boix-Adsera, E.},journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.07064},year={2024},}
CISS
Nonparametric Estimation and Comparison of Distance Distributions from Censored Data
L. H. McCabe
In 2024 58th Annual Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS) , 2024
@inproceedings{mccabe2024nonparametric,title={Nonparametric Estimation and Comparison of Distance Distributions from Censored Data},author={McCabe, L. H.},booktitle={2024 58th Annual Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS)},pages={1--6},year={2024},organization={IEEE},}
2023
Preprint
Modeling the Operational Feasibility of Synfuel from Seawater
S. D. Brown, S. M Whittle, L. H. McCabe, B. M. Horio, C. D. Johnson, and M. L. Anderson
Effective deterrence requires confidence in robust naval replenishment capabilities, in order to maintain extended physical presence and support sustained military operations. While many authors have focused on vulcanizing penetration, projection, and defensive capacity, a compelling synergy arises from synthetic fuel generation, which may be conducted near point-of-need. In this work, we consider a modeling and simulation-driven approach to estimating the logistical and operational impacts of marine and aviation fuel from alternative sources. Toward this end, we present the Fuel Replenishment and Logistics Simulation (FuelSim), a novel agent-based fuel paradigm assessment application designed to be lightweight, flexible, and integrable with large-scale systems analyses.
@article{Brown2023morspreprint,title={Modeling the Operational Feasibility of Synfuel from Seawater},url={osf.io/3auyv},doi={10.31219/osf.io/3auyv},journal={OSF Preprints},author={Brown, S. D. and Whittle, S. M and McCabe, L. H. and Horio, B. M. and Johnson, C. D. and Anderson, M. L.},year={2023},}
2022
JOSS
cosasi: Graph Diffusion Source Inference in Python
cosasi (COntagion Simulation And Source Inference) is, to the author’s knowledge, the first extensible open-source framework for graph diffusion source inference that allows users to: perform and evaluate source localization using standard techniques from literature, contribute innovative algorithms to a growing core library, and benchmark new techniques against a battery of comparable schemes. The software is currently used within the Logistics Management Institute. Additional development continues, and we welcome contribution from the broader academic and industrial communities.
@article{McCabe2022joss,doi={10.21105/joss.04894},url={https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.04894},year={2022},publisher={The Open Journal},volume={7},number={80},pages={4894},author={McCabe, L. H.},title={cosasi: Graph Diffusion Source Inference in Python},journal={Journal of Open Source Software},}
I/ITSEC
Modeling Fuel Replenishment Logistics and Impacts of Alternative Synthetic Fuels
B. Horio, S. Brown, C. Johnson, S. Whittle, M. Anderson, and L. H. McCabe
In Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) , 2022
A critical factor for deterrence and any protracted conflict, is the ability to resupply our forces to maintain extended physical presence, which includes an ability to sustain naval air operations in remote areas. Successfully doing so must also minimize dependency on long-distance transport of fuel across oceans and be resilient to disruption of our fuel supply chain and operation of our fuel distribution facilities. This is a nontrivial logistics challenge as fuel replenishment logistics operate within a highly dynamic and interconnected system of combatants, auxiliaries, and fuel supply points, each with specific processes and behaviors that define how they interact with each other. Current logistics for replenishment of conventional aviation fuel have hard constraints that limit scale (e.g., limited fuel tanker resources) and subject to risk of potential cascading impacts due to disruption at strategic fuel supply points (e.g., calls for the Red Hill facility to halt operations due to groundwater contamination concerns). Toward these risks, ongoing research into alternative fuel sources for sustainable aviation fuel—following the motto, produce it when and where you need it—have increasing importance to national security. Advancing technology for scalable and mobile production of synthetic aviation fuel from alternative sources, such as seawater, promises to redefine naval replenishment logistics. While engineering challenges to make these technologies fully scalable are making progress, the operational feasibility of the adapted logistics must be fully understood. In this paper, we examine the system through a complexity lens and use agent-based simulation to develop an experiment platform to evaluate operational and environmental impacts over a range of scenarios. We propose this approach as useful for establishing relevant baselines, quantifying operational feasibility, providing guidance for the engineering teams, and ultimately characterizing the value proposition of synthetic aviation fuel for naval logistics. Finally, we discuss possible applications (e.g., wargaming).
@inproceedings{horio2022iitsec,title={Modeling Fuel Replenishment Logistics and Impacts of Alternative Synthetic Fuels},author={Horio, B. and Brown, S. and Johnson, C. and Whittle, S. and Anderson, M. and McCabe, L. H.},booktitle={Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC)},year={2022},organization={NTSA},}
PMLR
The Second NeurIPS Tournament of Reconnaissance Blind Chess
G. Perrotta, R. W. Gardner, C. Lowman, M. Taufeeque, N. Tongia, S. Kalyanakrishnan, and 7 more authors
In Proceedings of Machine Learning Research , 2022
Reconnaissance Blind Chess is an imperfect-information variant of chess with significant private information that challenges state-of-the-art algorithms. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and several organizing partners held the second NeurIPS machine Reconnaissance Blind Chess competition in 2021. 18 bots competed in 9,180 games, revealing a dominant champion with 91% wins. The top four bots in the tournament matched or exceeded the performance of the inaugural tournament’s winner. However, none of the algorithms converge to an optimal, unexploitable strategy or appear to have addressed the core research challenges associated with Reconnaissance Blind Chess.
@inproceedings{perrotta2022second,title={The Second NeurIPS Tournament of Reconnaissance Blind Chess},author={Perrotta, G. and Gardner, R. W. and Lowman, C. and Taufeeque, M. and Tongia, N. and Kalyanakrishnan, S. and Clark, G. and Wang, K. and Rothberg, E. and Garrison, B. P. and Prithviraj, D. and Canavan, C. and McCabe, L. H.},booktitle={Proceedings of Machine Learning Research},pages={53--65},year={2022},organization={PMLR},}
2017
Nature BME
Surveillance nanotechnology for multi-organ cancer metastases
H. Kantamneni, M. Zevon, M. J. Donzanti, X. Zhao, Y. Sheng, S. R. Barkund, and 5 more authors
The identification and molecular profiling of early metastases remains a major challenge in cancer diagnostics and therapy. Most in vivo imaging methods fail to detect small cancerous lesions, a problem that is compounded by the distinct physical and biological barriers associated with different metastatic niches. Here, we show that intravenously injected rare-earth-doped albumin-encapsulated nanoparticles emitting short-wave infrared light (SWIR) can detect targeted metastatic lesions in vivo, allowing for the longitudinal tracking of multi-organ metastases. In a murine model of human breast cancer, the nanoprobes enabled whole-body SWIR detection of adrenal-gland microlesions and bone lesions that were undetectable via contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging as early as three and five weeks post-inoculation, respectively. Whole-body SWIR imaging of nanoprobes functionalized to differentially target distinct metastatic sites and administered to a biomimetic murine model of human breast cancer resolved multi-organ metastases that showed varied molecular profiles in the lungs, adrenal glands and bones. Real-time surveillance of lesions in multiple organs should facilitate pre- and post-therapy monitoring in preclinical settings.
@article{kantamneni2017surveillance,title={Surveillance nanotechnology for multi-organ cancer metastases},author={Kantamneni, H. and Zevon, M. and Donzanti, M. J. and Zhao, X. and Sheng, Y. and Barkund, S. R. and McCabe, L. H. and Banach-Petrosky, W. and Higgins, L. M. and Ganesan, S. and others},journal={Nature Biomedical Engineering},volume={1},number={12},pages={993--1003},year={2017},publisher={Nature Publishing Group},}
2016
WBC
Modulating stem cell-substrate interactions and differentiation by controlling substrate topography via microphase separation
V. Arvind, S. Vega, L. H. McCabe, P. V. Moghe, S. N. Murthy, and J. Kohn
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2016
@article{varun_sebastian_lucas_prabhas_sanjeeva_joachim_2016,title={Modulating stem cell-substrate interactions and differentiation by controlling substrate topography via microphase separation},author={Arvind, V. and Vega, S. and McCabe, L. H. and Moghe, P. V. and Murthy, S. N. and Kohn, J.},journal={Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology},volume={4},year={2016},doi={10.3389/conf.fbioe.2016.01.02444},}
