Xueqiang (Brandon) Wang is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he is affiliated with the Cyber Security and Privacy Cluster. He leads the Security and PRIvacy for smarT systems (SPIRIT) lab, focusing on technical solutions for security and privacy threats in real-world systems. Education Ph.D. in Computer Science, Indiana University Bloomington (2021) Master’s in Computer Science, IIE CAS (2015) Bachelor’s in Computer Science, USTC (2012) Research Interests Security and privacy compliance for software supply chains Mobile and IoT systems security Cybercrime analysis Vulnerability discovery and exploitation Automated security analysis and data-driven mitigation strategies Labs & Teams Lead the SPIRIT Lab at UCF, specializing in security and privacy for smart systems.
Riham AlTawy is an Associate Professor and MTIS Program Director at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria. She previously held positions as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo and an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholar at Concordia University. Her research focuses on IoT security, blockchain consensus mechanisms, lightweight cryptographic primitives, and privacy-preserving protocols. She leads the IoTSec group, which develops application-specific cryptographic solutions for IoT authentication and privacy challenges. Education includes postdoctoral training at the Communication Security (ComSec) group (University of Waterloo) and doctoral studies at Concordia University. Her work has led to publications in top venues such as IEEE Transactions and CANS conferences. She actively seeks PhD research assistants and postdoctoral fellows in cryptographic research. Key research areas include authentication protocols for edge computing, privacy in cross-domain systems, and lightweight algorithms for constrained devices. Her group emphasizes practical solutions for real-world IoT security challenges.
Vinod Vaikuntanathan is the Ford Foundation Professor of Engineering in the MIT EECS department and a principal investigator at MIT CSAIL. He holds a BTech from IIT Madras (2003), and SM/PhD degrees from MIT (2005/2009). His research focuses on cryptography, particularly fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), lattice-based cryptography, and quantum-resistant systems. He co-founded Duality Technologies as Chief Cryptographer. **Education:** BTech in Computer Science (2003), Indian Institute of Technology Madras SM in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (2005), MIT PhD in Computer Science (2009), MIT **Research Interests:** His work spans FHE (enabling computations on encrypted data), lattice-based cryptography (post-quantum security), and intersections with quantum computing, machine learning, and privacy. He explores applications in secure computation, algorithm design, and cryptographic protocols. **Awards:** Recipient of the Gödel Prize (2022), Simons Investigator (2023), and MacVicar Faculty Fellow (2024). His work on FHE and lattice algorithms has earned widespread acclaim in cryptography and theoretical computer science. **Teaching & Mentorship:** Advanced cryptography courses at MIT (e.g., 6.5630, 6.876J) Advised PhD students (e.g., Sergey Gorbunov, Tianren Liu) and postdocs (e.g., Nir Bitansky, Mark Zhandry) now leading positions in academia and industry **Collaborations:** Organizer of the Charles River Crypto Day and MIT Cryptography Seminar Principal investigator on grants from NSF, DARPA, and Microsoft
Soumaya Cherkaoui is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering and Software Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal. Previously, she served as a Full Professor at Université de Sherbrooke and held industrial roles as an aerospace project manager. Her research integrates artificial intelligence with telecommunications, focusing on quantum computing, frugal edge intelligence, and applications in connected vehicles and IoT. Current Position: Full Professor, Polytechnique Montréal Prior Academic Role: Full Professor, Université de Sherbrooke Industry Experience: Aerospace Project Manager Research Interests: Convergence of AI and communications, quantum computing for networking, frugal intelligence at the edge, and applications in autonomous vehicles, industrial IoT, and smart grids. She leads government and industry-funded projects, including a $6 million quantum initiative in 2025. Recent Publication Trends: Her 2025–2024 work emphasizes quantum-enhanced anomaly detection (via QGANs), Open RAN slicing with quantum optimization, and reinforcement learning for secure cognitive radio networks. Topics span 5G/6G, vehicular networks, and zero-trust architectures. Scientific Awards: IEEE Communication Society Distinguished Lecturer (2020) ACM Mirela Notare Award (2023) IEEE Bio-Inspired Computing STC Leadership Award (2023) N2Women: Stars in Networking and Communications (2023) Best Paper Awards at IEEE ICC 2017, IEEE LCN 2021, ICCSPA 2024 Advising and Grants: Supervised 3 Master's students in 2024, with research on quantum GANs and federated learning for vehicular networks. Secured grants like the $6 million quantum project (2025) and participated in CFI-QC government funding (2022). Editorial and Leadership: Served as Associate Editor for IEEE, Wiley, and Elsevier journals. Chaired conferences like IEEE LCN 2019 and IEEE ICC2025, and held leadership roles in IEEE Communications Society committees.
Gennie Gebhart is the Managing Director of Technology at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), overseeing Engineering & Design, Public Interest Technology, and Technical Operations teams. She concurrently serves as an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington's Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Her leadership spans both applied technology development and academic research in digital rights. Education: Gebhart holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington Information School. Prior to EFF, she was a Henry Luce Scholar conducting work in Laos and Thailand. Research Focus: Her work centers on consumer privacy and security ecosystems, with specialized investigations into: Behavioral tracking infrastructures and data broker networks Policy frameworks for digital platforms and content governance Encryption technologies for communications (e.g., secure messaging) Open knowledge systems and equitable information access Honors: Recognitions include the competitive Henry Luce Scholars Program fellowship, supporting immersive professional work in Southeast Asia. Professional Engagement: She contributes to academic communities through program committee roles for computer security research conferences, bridging industry and scholarly discourse on emerging threats.
Dr. Mohammad Iftekhar Husain is a Professor and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Computer Science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). He serves as the Inaugural Director of the PolySec Cyber Lab, a federally funded center for cyber security and forensics education, research, and outreach (~$2.5M in grants), and directs the university's Virtual Reality Lab. His career spans over a decade of leadership in cyber security program development, extramural funding, and academic governance. Education: B.S., Computer Science, Yamagata University (Japan) M.S. & Ph.D., Computer Science and Engineering, SUNY-Buffalo Dr. Husain's research focuses on data privacy in social networks, neurophysiological cyber security solutions, and blockchain applications. He has secured $18.4M in principal investigator grants, including NSF SFS, EAGER, and REU Site projects, and trained students placed in top institutions like UC campuses, MIT Lincoln Lab, and government agencies such as NSA and DHS. His work on brainwave authentication earned a US patent (USPTO 10,198,566) and media coverage in Time Magazine and PC Magazine . Scientific Awards: 2016 College of Science Distinguished Teaching Award Early Promotion and Tenure (2016) 2020 Faculty Learning Community for Leadership Pipeline Development Cohort As academic leader, he founded the Cal-Bridge CS Ph.D. pathway program for underrepresented students, chairs the CPP Academic Senate Academic Programs committee, and led university IT initiatives including Cyber Security Cluster Hiring and High-Performance Computing Lab development.
Florina Almenares Mendoza is an Associate Professor at the Telematics Engineering Department of Carlos III University of Madrid , where she also serves as the Director of the University Master's Degree in Cybersecurity. Her research focuses on addressing security challenges in emerging technologies such as IoT, post-quantum cryptography, and privacy-preserving systems. Email: florina.almenares@uc3m.es Contact: 916246234 Location: 4.0.F06 - Quevedo Towers (Leganés) Research Interests Florina's work spans cybersecurity , Internet of Things (IoT) , and post-quantum cryptography , with a focus on scalable authentication, quantum-resistant protocols, and privacy. She explores machine learning applications for security, federated identity management , and smart grid security frameworks. Recent Publications Her recent research includes papers on DNSSEC soft delegation, hybrid quantum security for TLS/IPsec, PUF-based authentication in IoT, and blockchain-enabled auditability. These studies emphasize IoT security , quantum-resistant algorithms , and privacy-enhancing technologies .
Ross Koppel is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology with expertise in healthcare information technology, medication errors, and ethics in social research. His work explores the intersection of technology and societal impacts, focusing on data governance, clinical workflows, and human factors in health IT systems. Research Interests Context-sensitive understanding of medication errors Societal implications of clinical data sharing Ethical challenges in AI and informatics Healthcare cost analysis Scientific Awards Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (FACMI)
Farinaz Koushanfar is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego (UCSD) . She holds the Siavouche Nemat-Nasser Endowed Chair and serves as Founding Co-Director of the Center for Machine-Intelligence, Computing and Security . Her affiliations include NSF Trust-Hub (Co-PI) and NSF TILOS AI Institute . She also serves on the Editorial Board of The Proceedings of the IEEE . Research Focus: Prof. Koushanfar leads research in secure and efficient computing , including robust/safe AI , hardware/system security , AI-based optimization , and cryptographically secure privacy-preserving computing . Her work pioneered logic obfuscation/locking for chip security, automated co-design of AI systems , watermarking/tracing of deep learning models , and physical proofs of provenance . She explores co-design with cryptographic constructs for privacy preservation and manages nonlinearities in ciphertext domains. Article Trends: Recent publications show expertise in neural watermarking (deepfakes, media authentication), zero-knowledge proof frameworks , Trojan attack defenses in ML models, secure federated learning , and hardware acceleration of cryptographic protocols . Her work combines machine learning , cryptography , and physical design security across 2022-2025 publications. Scientific Awards: Fellow of ACM Fellow of IEEE Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow of Kavli Foundation of NAS Inducted to NAI 2024 Fellows Advising & Leadership: She has advised multiple PhD students who became faculty at top universities (e.g., Stanford, Purdue). She chairs conferences like ACM WiSec 2024 and co-led the NSF SaTC decadal review. Her lab ( ACES Lab ) produces award-winning graduates like Bita Rouhani (DAC Under-40 Innovators) and Shehzeen Hussain (UCSD Best Dissertation Award).
Professor Vlad Mykhnenko is Professor of Geography and Political Economy in the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education, and a Research Fellow in Sustainable Urban Development at St. Peter's College, Oxford. He serves as Academic Director for Social Sciences at Oxford Lifelong Learning and has been with the Department since January 2017, initially taking up an Associate Professorship in Sustainable Urban Development. His academic career spans multiple institutions including the University of Birmingham, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the University of Nottingham, the University of Glasgow, and the Central European University. Professor Mykhnenko's educational background includes: PhD in Political Economy from Darwin College, the University of Cambridge (2005) MA in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University (1999) MA (1998) and BA (1996) in International Relations from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv As an economic geographer specializing in geographical political economy, Professor Mykhnenko challenges conventional wisdom about urban and regional development. His research initially focused on transition economies of Eastern Europe (particularly Polish Upper Silesia and the Ukrainian Donbas) before expanding to cities and regions worldwide. He has produced over 140 research outputs and secured £16 million in external research funding, with £2 million as Principal Investigator. His current research initiatives focus on green steel - rebuilding Ukraine's iron and steel sector post-war without fossil fuels - and sustainable urban development in Kazakhstan. His publication record demonstrates significant scholarly impact across diverse areas including urban shrinkage, post-war reconstruction, geopolitical analysis, and future trends in technology and governance. The breadth of his research interests spans from analyzing spatial economic patterns in African cities to examining the implications of the metaverse for future business practices. Professor Mykhnenko has substantial policy impact, with research quoted in at least 79 policy documents by 49 organizations across 21 countries. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals, with 30% directly attributed to SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. He has advised governments, intergovernmental organizations, and multinational enterprises, including serving on a UN expert group to shape the New Urban Agenda and providing expert evidence to the UK House of Commons on Ukraine's recovery. In early 2025, he was appointed a commissioner for the Lancet Commission on Ukraine. Professor Mykhnenko has taught over 3,100 students across various institutions and currently contributes to Oxford's MSc in Sustainable Urban Development program. He has supervised numerous doctoral students and received recognition for his teaching excellence, including Fellow of the Higher Education Academy status and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice. His commitment to research-led teaching has resulted in innovative pedagogical approaches documented in peer-reviewed academic publications.
Bryce Westlake is an Associate Professor in the Department of Justice Studies within the College of Social Sciences at San Jose State University. He is a leading researcher in digital forensics and child sexual abuse material detection, with significant contributions to both forensic science education and alternative sexuality studies. Education: Ph.D. in Criminology from Simon Fraser University (2015) Master's degree in Criminology from Simon Fraser University Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology (double major) from University of British Columbia Dr. Westlake's research spans two primary areas with significant societal impact. In digital forensics, he focuses on developing automated tools to detect, collect, analyze, and match child sexual abuse material disseminated online. His work involves international collaboration with researchers, law enforcement agencies, and government partnerships to create more effective detection systems. In his secondary research area, he explores alternative sexuality, particularly BDSM communities, conducting multi-phasic, kink-positive studies examining health and safety within these communities. His research aims to destigmatize participation through a deeper understanding of the social and emotional enrichment practitioners receive from activities. His recent publications demonstrate a clear trend toward increasingly sophisticated technical approaches to combating child sexual exploitation while simultaneously advancing understanding of alternative sexual practices. The technical publications focus on biometric identification, file structure analysis, and ethical web scraping methods, while his BDSM-related work emphasizes community safety, education pathways, and mental health benefits. This dual focus positions him uniquely at the intersection of technology, law enforcement, and human sexuality research. Scientific Awards: The Storytellers Award (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) - April 2014 Canadian Graduate Scholarship (Social Science and Humanities Research Council) - May 2012 Dr. Westlake has been heavily involved in developing the forensic science program at SJSU, creating six undergraduate courses, revising two graduate courses, and introducing one graduate course. In Fall 2020, he created and implemented a new concentration in digital evidence (computer forensics) for forensic science majors - one of the first in-person digital forensic bachelor of science degrees in the United States meeting FEPAC standards. He has developed and directs the Silicon Valley Digital Forensics Laboratory, which began accepting students for internships in Fall 2024. He was awarded a three-year $497,948 grant from the National Science Foundation in 2023 to study 'Training digital forensics examiners through hands-on education investigating live criminal investigations.' Through the Silicon Valley Digital Forensics Laboratory and partnerships with criminal justice agencies (district attorneys offices, law enforcement agencies, etc.), Dr. Westlake provides students with training and practical experience conducting digital forensic investigations from start (evidence collection) to finish (report writing and testimony). He also co-hosted the first annual Child Sexual Abuse Reduction Research Network workshop in Adelaide Australia in December 2023.
Geoffroy Couteau is a CNRS research scientist at IRIF (Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale), Université Paris Cité, where he conducts research in theoretical and applied cryptography. He obtained his PhD from École Normale Supérieure de Paris in 2017 under the supervision of David Pointcheval and Hoeteck Wee, followed by a postdoctoral position at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) from 2017 to 2019. His primary research interests include secure multiparty computation, zero-knowledge proofs, and the theoretical foundations of cryptography, with a particular emphasis on pseudorandom correlation generators and efficiency improvements in cryptographic protocols. He has made significant contributions to fine-grained cryptography, non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs, and post-quantum secure computation. The recent publications reflect a strong trend toward foundational advances in secure computation, with increasing focus on efficiency, practicality, and connections to complexity theory and learning theory. His work often bridges theoretical hardness assumptions with practical protocol design. ERC Starting Grant (2023) for project OBELiSC (Overcoming Barriers and Efficiency Limitations in Secure Computation) Geoffroy Couteau has advised numerous PhD and master’s students, including Dung Bui, Clément Ducros, Eliana Carozza, and Ulysse Léchine. He has also hosted many visiting students and postdocs, fostering a vibrant research group. He has served on the program committees of major conferences such as EUROCRYPT, CRYPTO, TCC, and PKC. He is currently leading research in cryptography at IRIF and is involved in postdoctoral hiring for projects in advanced cryptographic primitives. He maintains a research blog and resource collection for students, including LaTeX templates, a probability cheat sheet, and curated answers to common cryptography questions.
Indranil Bose is a Distinguished Professor and Head of the Area of Excellence in AI, Data Science, and Business at NEOMA Business School, with a Ph.D. in Management from Purdue University. He specializes in business analytics, big data, and digital transformation, leveraging expertise from prior roles at IIM Calcutta, University of Hong Kong, University of Florida, and UT Arlington. Education: Ph.D. in Management (Purdue University, 1997) M.S. (Purdue University) M.S. (University of Iowa) B.Tech (IIT Kharagpur) Research Focus: His work spans predictive analytics, social media impact on business, innovation management, cybersecurity, fintech, and AI ethics. Key themes include consumer behavior in digital ecosystems, AI-driven decision systems, and ethical implications of emerging technologies. Publication Trends: Recent articles emphasize AI ethics, digital misinformation, and predictive modeling in finance/healthcare, reflecting a focus on societal impacts of technology. Methodologies include deep learning, sentiment analysis, and causal inference. Awards & Recognition: Winner, EFMD 2017 Case Competition Ranked 29th globally for Information Systems research productivity (2005–2014) Editorial Leadership: Senior Editor for Decision Support Systems and Pacific Asia Journal of the AIS ; Associate Editor for Information & Management , Journal of the AIS , and Communications of the AIS .
Yan Solihin is a Professor and Director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Faculty Cluster at the University of Central Florida. He holds the Charles N. Millican Professorship in Computer Science and serves as a leader in the College of Engineering. Ph.D. in Computer Science – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Bachelor’s in Computer Science – Bandung Institute of Technology Bachelor’s in Mathematics – Indonesia Open University Master’s in Computer Engineering – Nanyang Technological University His research focuses on computer architecture , cybersecurity , and memory systems , particularly in areas like: Secure Execution Environment Trustworthy cloud and enclaves Side-channel analysis (microarchitecture, timing, caches) Memory encryption and integrity verification Persistent memory systems He has significantly influenced technologies such as Intel’s Cache Allocation Technology and Secure Guard eXtension’s Memory Encryption Engine. Scientific Awards : 2023 HPCA Test of Time Award 2004 NSF CAREER Award 2005 & 2010 IBM Faculty Partnership Awards IEEE Fellow (2017) ACM Distinguished Speaker (2019-2022) Multiple Hall of Fame and Best Paper recognitions At UCF, Solihin expanded the Cyber Security and Privacy Cluster, developed a master’s program in cybersecurity, and established an NSF-funded scholarship program for cybersecurity students.
Sebastian Stich is a tenured faculty member at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security , where he leads research in Trustworthy Information Processing . He has been a tenure-track faculty since 2021 and was promoted to tenured professor in 2025. He is also a member of the European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) . Education: PhD in Computer Science, ETH Zurich (2010–2014) MSc and BSc in Mathematics, ETH Zurich (2005–2010) Research Scientist, EPFL (2016–2021) Research at CORE/ICTEAM, UCLouvain (2014–2016) His research centers on optimization for machine learning , with a focus on federated, decentralized, and distributed learning . He investigates methods for communication efficiency , adaptive stochastic optimization , privacy-preserving training , and generalization theory . His work bridges theoretical guarantees with practical scalability. His recent publications (2023–2025) consistently address gradient compression , error feedback , local updates , and decentralized consensus , demonstrating a strong trend toward making distributed learning more efficient, robust, and scalable—especially under heterogeneous data and limited bandwidth. Scientific Awards: ERC Consolidator Grant 2024 (CollectiveMinds) Google Research Scholar Award (2023) Meta Privacy-Enhancing Technologies Research Award (2022) Sebastian Stich actively advises PhD students and postdocs, including Anton Rodomanov , Xiaowen Jiang , and Yuan Gao . He has secured competitive grants such as the ERC CollectiveMinds project, supporting collaborative research on scalable federated learning. He teaches advanced courses at Saarland University and serves as an area chair for NeurIPS, ICML, and ICLR. He leads a research group at CISPA focused on trustworthy and efficient machine learning systems , contributing to both foundational theory and real-world applications in privacy and security.
