Qing Cao

Qing 'Charles' Cao is an Associate Professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, part of the Tickle College of Engineering. His research focuses on AI-driven Cyber-Physical Systems, Networking, and Cyber Security, with applications in IoT, Edge Computing, and Smart Agriculture. He holds a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MS from the University of Virginia, and a BS from Fudan University, China.

Education:

• PhD in Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008
• MS in Computer Science, University of Virginia, 2005
• BS in Computer Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 2002

Research Interests: His work emphasizes interdisciplinary solutions at the intersection of AI, networking, and security. Key areas include:
- Blockchain-based security mechanisms for edge devices
- LLM applications in public policy and climate decision-making
- IoT-driven precision agriculture and livestock health monitoring
- Probabilistic error reasoning and fault tolerance in distributed systems

Grants & Awards: No awards explicitly listed, but his research has been supported by grants in areas like smart agriculture and edge computing infrastructure.

Advising & Labs: While specific advisees are not listed, his research group focuses on collaborative projects involving students in cybersecurity, IoT, and AI systems. He has contributed to lab initiatives related to environmental computing and distributed sensor networks.

Professional Activities: Active in conferences like AAAI, IEEE IPCCC, and ACM/IEEE Edge Computing Symposiums, presenting on topics ranging from LLM-assisted governance to secure edge architectures.