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I am a Full Professor of the department of Computer Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Broadly, I work in the areas of computer and network security, and applied cryptography. My particular focus is on fundamental, transformative, inter-disciplinary and game changing research, which can go beyond the traditional confines of academic domain and make a positive impact to the lives of end users hopefully relatively quickly.

My students and I run the SPIES — Security and Privacy In Emerging computing and networking Systems — research lab. I have a major emphasis on workforce development, especially in areas related to cyber-security. In this line, I am the principal investigator and director of the UAB CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, funded by NSF, and have been serving as the Co-Director of UAB’s M.S. program in Cyber-Security (former incarnation: Computer Forensics and Security Management (CFSM)).  I also co-lead UAB’s Center for Cyber Security, which is an NSA/DHS National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research (CAE-R).

My research has been externally supported by NSF (multiple grants and multiple programs, including SaTC, CICI and SFS), NIJ/DoJ, Google (2 Faculty Research Awards), Comcast, Cisco, Microsoft Research, Intel, Nokia, and Research in Motion.

I obtained my Ph.D. in Information and Computer Science from UC Irvine. I hold an M.S. in Computer Science from UC Santa Barbara, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computing from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. Before joining UAB, I was on the faculty of the department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Polytechnic School of Engineering, New York University.

Note for Students:I am always looking for exceptionally bright prospective PhD/MS/BS students to join my research group. If interested, please contact me with your CV.

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