Faculty & Staff

I am interested in computer networking and security. Given the significance of the Internet in our economy and society, I am interested in improvements and studies that can have a real-world impact. My recent work has focused on how to make both enterprise and residential networks more secure. In my research work, I am exploring ways to change the traditional computer network communication model using techniques such as software-defined networking and network function virtualization. I am interested in exploring future directions in computing from a systems, networking, and security ...

Dr. Jun Dai is currently an Associate Professor in Department of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research interests mainly lie in the intersections of network and distributed system, AI, and cybersecurity, with recent focus on intrusion detection, vulnerability analysis, secure programming, and cybersecurity education. Dr. Dai has published papers in prestigious academic venues, such as IEEE TIFS, ACM SIGMOD, and ACM SIGCSE. He is the Workshop Chair of ACM CCS 2023, and has been a reviewer for top journals like TIFS, TDSC, TVT, and TMC. His projects are mainly ...

Before joining the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Fatemeh was a Post Doctoral Associate at the University of Florida (from 2018-2020) and at the Telecom Innovation Laboratories/Technical University of Berlin (from 2017-2018). She defended her dissertation with the title "On the Learnability of Physically Unclonable Functions" at the Technical University of Berlin, with an overall grade of "distinction" (= summa cum laude). For her dissertation, she was awarded the BIMoS Ph.D. Award 2018 and nominated by the Technical ...

Bill Martin's goal is to find mathematical research projects that lie between beautiful and powerful mathematical theory, on the one hand, and pressing technological applications, on the other. This effort requires one to keep abreast of both mathematical developments and applications in computer science and engineering. Professor Martin's mathematical research is in the area of algebraic combinatorics, where tools from linear and abstract algebra are applied to problems in discrete math. An association scheme is a collection of graphs, which give rise to a highly structured matrix algebra ...

Koksal Mus’ research and teaching interests focus on Cybersecurity and Cryptography and extend to hardware programming in computer engineering. He is passionate about helping students grasp theoretical subjects and implementing them through hands-on projects in a student-centered classroom by using deep pedagogy. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and expertise with undergrads and grads on various levels in his classes. Prof. Mus also conducts research on standardization of Quantum Computer Resistant Security by building the cybersecurity standards of the future and recently got published in ...

My research interests are in hardware security related topics, a field that gained enormous traction over the past two decades. I work on challenges in cryptographic engineering, and on making systems secure and tamper resistant. My students have built numerous demonstrators which has driven my research in attacks and countermeasures against faults and side-channel analysis. In addition to research in tamper-resistant design, I also work on the conception, design and implementation of efficient realizations of secure hardware and software. I love teaching, too! I like to ponder how to explain ...

Dr. Xiaoyan (Sherry) Sun received her Ph.D. degree in Information Sciences and Technology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2016 with emphasis on cybersecurity. Her advisor is Dr. Peng Liu. Her research interests lie in cybersecurity, including enterprise-level network security and digital forensics, AI related security, advanced persistent threat detection, IoT security and moving target defense, etc. She is also passionate about education in cybersecurity and digital forensics. Her work in cybersecurity research and education has been supported by National Science Foundation (NSF), ...

I received my PhD in ECE from Oregon State University in December 1998 and worked briefly as a member of the research faculty at OSU's Information Security Laboratory. In 2000 I joined WPI as an assistant professor. My research interests include applied cryptography and cybersecurity;  For personal website please visit https://sunar.org  

I joined Worcester Polytechnic Institute in July 2020 as an assistant research professor. Before joining WPI, I was an assistant research professor at Florida Institute for Cybersecurity (FICS) Research at University of Florida. I received my Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering in 2017 from the working group SECT, a collaboration of the Technical University of Berlin and Deutsche Telekom Innovation Laboratories in Germany. My field of research mainly includes non-invasive and semi-invasive side-channel analysis, Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs), machine learning, FPGA security, ...

My research focuses on systems security and performance.  Consequently, my projects often lie at the intersection of software and hardware. Some of my projects include developing compiler-based defenses for embedded microcontrollers, providing security and privacy for deep learning, and reverse-engineering the behavior of proprietary GPU microarchitectures to improve system performance. 

My research has primarily focused on Internet application performance and measurement with more recent work examining issues related to Internet privacy. This work has led to a number of research publications and presentations as well as visibility in venues such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and NPR Science Friday. WPI is a great place for me to be a faculty member as I have the opportunity to teach and advise top-quality students as well as pursue interesting directions of research. Teaching students in systems and networking courses provides the opportunity to expose ...

Beckley came to WPI in 2018 to assist Professor Craig Shue in administering the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program (SFS). Funded by the National Science Foundation, SFS awards federal scholarships to cybersecurity students pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees at WPI. Beckley manages outreach, selection, administration, and evaluation for SFS, with particular emphasis on advising and supporting the students in WPI’s SFS cohort. Her role also includes outreach and administration for the DoD CySP scholarship, awarded to cybersecurity students by the U.S. Department of Defense. Prior ...