Experience
Academic positions, research, and education.
Assistant Professor
San Jose State University
Director of the Security and AI Lab (SAIL). Developed CS 228, Biometric Security with AI, now a specialty course requirement in the MS in Computer Science, and coordinate the Fundamental AI certificate. Chair of the Specialty Course Committee (AY 2025-26) and co-chair of the Program Admissions and Curriculum Committee for the BS in Computer Science and Linguistics and the MS in Computational Linguistics (from Aug 2026). Director of the Cyber-AI Summer Camp for high school students (2025 and 2026).
Assistant Professor
California State University, Fresno
Established and led the Cyber-Security Infrastructure (CySIn) Lab. Developed three new courses in cybersecurity and biometric security. Contributed to federally funded cybersecurity workforce development initiatives (NTIA, NSF).
Postdoctoral Researcher
Syracuse University
Systems Security and Machine Learning Lab. Designed and implemented ML/AI algorithms for security and biometrics. Guided PhD student research and wrote proposals for federal grants.
Graduate Fellow / Research Assistant
Syracuse University (DARPA and NSF funded)
Worked on the VIC3TORS project (subcontract from Assured Information Security, Inc.) and FBI-funded video analytics research. NSF REU Graduate Student Mentor (Summer 2016).
Assistant Professor
SJB Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India
Taught Object Oriented Programming, Computer Networks, and Cloud Computing. Served as Placement Coordinator and Alumni Coordinator.
Academic Background
- Ph.D. Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Syracuse University (2015 to 2020)
- M.Tech. Computer Science and Engineering, VTU, India (2011 to 2013)
- B.E. Computer Science, VTU, India (2007 to 2011)
Research Grants
San Jose State University
WITH-Cyber: Cybersecurity and AI Workforce Training
State of California, $1M, 3 years (Oct 2023 to Jun 2026). Role: Senior Personnel
SJSU RSCA Seed Grant: Cross-Device Invariant Features for Robust User Authentication
$7.5K, 2 years. Role: PI
EE Summer 2026 Multidisciplinary Grants Academy (with J. Zhao)
$5K, 2026. Role: Faculty participant
California State University, Fresno
SOFT START: Cybersecurity Workforce Education Collaborative
NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), ~$2.5M. Role: Co-PI
NSF USHER: Undergraduate Scholar Education and Research
NSF, ~$1.5M. Role: Co-PI
Syracuse University (Key Personnel)
NSF SaTC: Spoof-Resistant Smartphone Authentication Using Cooperating Wearables
DARPA VIC3TORS (via Assured Information Security, Inc.)
FBI Biometric Center of Excellence (via West Virginia University)
Honors and Awards
Winner, ASCEND Competition, Department of War Cyber Academic Engagement Office
May 2026
Best Presented Paper, 2026 IEEE World AI IoT Congress (AIIoT)
May 2026
Invited Talk, "In the Intersection of Biometric Security and AI: An Overview," NSF REU Program, University of Wyoming
Jul 2026
University Faculty RSCA Assigned Time Award, SJSU
2026 to 2027
Google Cloud Research Credits Award
2026 to 2027
SJSU RSCA Mentor-Mentee Fellowship
2026 to 2027
University Grants Academy Award, SJSU
Spring 2026
Best Presented Paper, 6th IEEE AI-IoT World Congress, Seattle
May 2025
Scholarly and Creative Activity Award, CSM, CSU Fresno
Dec 2021
Syracuse University Graduate Fellowship Award (4 years)
Aug 2015
Professional Service
Reviewer and Program Committee
- NSF Grant Reviewer
- Program committee: ICML 2026, IEEE CAI 2026, IEEE CogMI 2026, IEEE SVCC 2026
- IEEE Trans. on Information Forensics and Security
- IEEE MultiMedia
- ACM Digital Threats: Research and Practice
- IEEE Trans. on Computational Social Systems
- CCF Trans. on Pervasive Computing and Interaction
- ACM SIG-CHI
- Applied Soft Computing
- European Conference on Artificial Intelligence
- ECIS 2025
- IEEE CAI 2025
- IEEE CogMI 2025
Certifications
- Certificate in Effective Teaching Practice (ACUE, ACE), 2024
- AI Tools for Teaching and Learning (CSU Chancellor's Office), 2024