Director of ACyD Lab
Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman
Assistant Professor in the Dept of KFCSIS (ECE Affiliation)
PhD/MS Students
Alvi Ataur Khalil
PhD Student
Khalil joined the lab in Fall 2020. His primary research areas include intelligent system design and blockchain security.
Muneeba Asif
PhD Student
Asif has joined the lab in Fall 2021. Her research focuses on power electronics and critical infrastructure security.
Maurice Ngouen
PhD Student
Ngouen has joined the lab in Spring 2022. His research focuses on the security of smart devices and IoT systems.
Mohammad Zakaria Haider
PhD Student
Zakaria joined the lab in Fall 2023. His primary research area is smart grid security.
Alejandro Almeida
PhD Student
Almeida joined the lab in the Spring of 2023. He researches various security problems in cyber-physical systems, particularly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) security. He completed his MS in Fall 2023. Alejandro’s thesis title was “Side Channel-Driven Intrusion Detection System for Mission Critical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.” He is now pursuing his PhD.
Jean Tonday Rodriguez
PhD Student
Tonday joined the lab in the Fall of 2023. He researches cybersecurity problems in various critical infrastructures.
Natalia Valencia
PhD. Student
Natalia Valencia joined ACyD lab in Spring 2025 currently in her first year of PhD. Her research interest are the application of Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare sector.
Dipan Sadekeen
Phd. Student
Dipan joined the ACyD laboratory in the Spring 2025. His primary working research is on Power System Security.
Ahsan Waseem
MS Student
Waseem joined the lab in Spring 2025s. He has experience researching innovative solutions in image processing, renewable energy, and IoT applications. He has worked extensively in satellite technology, blockchain-enabled microgrids, cyber-physical systems, and UAV security. Currently, he is working on power grid security.
David Perry
MS Student
Perry joined the lab in Fall 2023. His research area is smart grid security.
Mohammad Kumail Kazmi
Undergraduate Researcher
Kazmi joined the lab in Summer 2023. He explores embedded systems security.
Undergraduate Students
Faculty Collaborators
Sumit Paudyal, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Md Tauhidur Rahman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Website: https://scholars.fiu.edu/display/person-rahman-md-tauhidur
Kemal Akkaya, Ph.D.
Professor
Website: http://web.eng.fiu.edu/kakkaya/
Selcuk Uluagac, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Website: http://web.eng.fiu.edu/selcuk/
Graduated PhD/MS Students
Mohamadsaleh Jafari
PhD Student
Dissertation Title: Impact-based Analytics of Cascaded False Data Injection Attacks on Smart Grids
Graduated: Spring 2022
First Appointment after Graduation: Senior Engineer, California ISO
Rahat Masum
M.S., Department of Computer Science at Tennessee Tech University [Graduated in Spring 2019]
Thesis Title: Continuous Surveillance Design for Critical Smart Grid Infrastructure using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Graduated: Spring 2019 [Remotely Supervised by Dr. Rahman]
First Appointment after Graduation: Software Engineer, Infosys
Nur Imtiazul Haque
PhD Student
Haque joined the lab in Fall 2019. In this research, he primarily focuses on the security and dependability of healthcare and transportation systems. Haque recently graduated in the Summer of 2024.
A H M Jakaria
Ph.D., Department of Computer Science at Tennessee Tech University
Dissertation Title: Formal Techniques for Automated Design of Adaptive Networked Systems based on Security and Resiliency Requirements
Graduated: Spring 2020 [Remotely Supervised by Dr. Rahman]
First Appointment after Graduation: Senior Scientist, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Alvaro Alva Chavez
MS Student
Alva joined the lab in Fall 2021 as an undergraduate student. Currently, he is pursuing an MS degree. He researches the application of artificial intelligence to solve constraint satisfaction problems.
Md Hasan Shahriar
MS Student
Thesis Title: Deception Defense against Stealthy Attacks in Power Grids
Graduated: Fall 2020
First Appointment after Graduation: TBD
Ernesto Alva Chavez
Undergraduate Researcher
Alva joined the lab in Summer 2023. He explores machine learning-driven security analysis of cyber-physical systems.
Christopher Paladines
Undergraduate Researcher
Christopher joined the lab in the Spring of 2024.
Past Undergraduate Students
Gianluca Bacigalupo
Undergraduate Researcher
Bacigalupo was in the lab from Summer 2020 to Fall 2021. He explored various controls, security issues, and simulation tools in smart buildings.
Annabella Christopher
Undergraduate Researcher
Duration: Spring 2022 to Fall 2022
Research Area: UAV hardware security
Alexander Byrne
Undergraduate Researcher
Byrne worked in the lab from Summer 2020 to Summer 2021, as an REU scholar. His primary research domain was collaborative unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Eloy Beaucejour
Undergraduate Researcher
Beaucejour joined the lab in Fall 2020 as an HOURS Scholar and worked here till he graduated in Fall 2021. He studied various control systems in smart buildings and their security.
Nicolas Contreras
Undergraduate Researcher
Contreras worked on smart building-related topics and testbed implementation.
Kiran Brahmatewari
Undergraduate Researcher
Brahmatewari joined the lab in the Fall of 2023. She studies post-quantum security.
Past Visiting Researchers
Mohammad Hossein Manshaei
Visiting Faculty
Manshaei was a visiting faculty at the ACyD Lab from January 2019 to May 2020. He is an Associate Professor at the Isfahan University of Technology.
Website: http://www.manshaei.org/
Other Alumni
- Samara Ruiz Sandoval (FIU OURS Scholar; Undergraduate Researcher; Spring 2020 – Summer 2020)
[Continuing her undergraduate study at Florida International University, FL] - Nuria Pacheco (NSF REU Scholar; Undergraduate Researcher; Summer 2019)
[Continuing her undergraduate study at Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico] - Anquan Gamble (NSF REU Scholar; Undergraduate Researcher; Summer 2019)
[Continuing his undergraduate study at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC]
Important Links:
Potential venues the team may publish their works:
- List of Conferences
- List of Journals: TBD