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Students

Three students sitting listening to a professor speak.

The Cyber Security Education Club (CSEC) is a student-run organization at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Members and leaders of the club are currently pursuing studies in computer engineering or electrical engineering.

Student Fellowships

Fall 2025

  • Minal Ali, CSIS PhD, Lance Fiondella, Resilience of Machine learning Enabled Autonomous Systems
  • Goktug Ekinci, EAS-CSIS PhD, Gokhan Kul, Dual-Ledger: A Ledger-Verified Security Layer for Storage Systems
  • William Kelley, EAS-CSIS PhD, Gokhan Kul, Teaching Side-Channel Attacks through ISA Programming
  • Mengjie Jia, EAS-CSIS PhD, Jiawei Yuan, Robust UAV Object Tracking in Adversarial Environment
  • Lauren Milne, MLDS PhD, Lance Fiondella, Resilience Modeling using Logistic Curves
  • Noah Oikarinen, PhD, Liudong Xing and Lance Fiondella, Collusion Tolerance in Voting-Bases Systems Considering Imperfect Spot Checking
  • Junxing Ren, PhD, Liudong Xing, Mission reliability of UAV swarm system with random failure cascading time
  • Yi Rong, EAS-CSIS PhD, Jiawei Yuan, Jailbreaking LLM-driven Robot Control
  • Fateme Salboukh, MLDS PhD, Lance Fiondella, Time-varying Covariate Modeling for Cyber Resilience
  • Ajmal Abbas, CIS MS, Gavin Fay, A Multi-Modal Pre-Training for Code Stylometry-Augmented Vulnerability Detection
  • Andrew Bajumpaa, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Privacy-Preserving Computer Memory Organizer
  • Margaret Battersby, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Signal Manipulation Detection through UAV Sensor Data
  • Raquel Ana Bush, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Non-Invasive Fairness Drift Monitor for Machine Learning Models using Conformance Constraints
  • Jaswanth ChithuSudharsan, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Teaching Encryption Key Estimation via Side-Channel Attack Games
  • Misha Kurtz, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Dynamic Evaluation of Software Behavior Against Cyber Attacks
  • Gavin Mantica, MSCPE, Hong Liu, Study of Model Poisoning in Federated Learning Applications
  • Rishit Velabhai Prajapati, MSCPE, Hong Liu, Secure Federated Learning Against Data Poison Attack: Aggregator-Level Neuron Masking with Oracle-Labeled Clients
  • Mayank Raj, DS MS, Gokhan Kul, MITRE ATT&CK-based Attack Chain Prediction for Risk Assessment
  • Vishnu Selvaraj, CIS MS, Gavin Fay, A Multi-Modal Pre-Training for Code Stylometry-Augmented Vulnerability Detection
  • Saima Ahmed Suhi, MSME, Md Habibor Rahman, A Decision-Support Framework for Understanding and Prioritizing Human-Induced Vulnerabilities in Smart Manufacturing Systems
  • Shreyash Tiwari, DS MS, Gokhan Kul, DQN-IDS: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Open Set-Enabled Intrusion Detection
  • Henry Thompson, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Model Evaluation for Radio-Frequency Signal Modulation Classifiers in the Existence of Novel Samples
  • Adam Trott, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Model Evaluation for Radio-Frequency Signal Modulation Classifiers in the Existence of Novel Samples
  • Sam Vorn, CIS MS, Gokhan Kul, Automated Dataset Anonymization and Privacy Protection
  • Ryan Callaghan, CS Undergraduate, Jiawei Yuan, Analysis of LLM Ability to Identify Software Vulnerabilities

Summer 2025

  • Mengje Jia, CIS PhD, Jiawei Yuan, Robust UAV Object Tracking in Adversarial Environment.
  • Sneh Pillai, CIS MS, Long Jiao, Enhancing Security in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) through Neuron Attribution-Based Countermeasures

Spring 2025

  • Yi Rong, CIS PhD, Jiawei Yuan, Jailbreaking LLM-controlled UAVs.
  • Ayush Tiwari, CIS MS, Long Jiao, In-Context Learning for Policy-Aware Language Models.
  • Charles Montes, CPE PhD, Ruolin Zhou, Unsupervised Prototype Learning for RF Signal Modulation Classification.
  • Tara Seyed Aghazadeh, CPE MS, Ruolin Zhou, Adaptive Incremental Learning Assessment.
  • Sneh Pillai, CIS MS, Long Jiao, Security of LLM RAG Systems.
  • Guixiang Lyu, CPE PhD, Liudong Xing, Reliability and Performance Analysis for Mitigating Overloading Risks in Storage Area Networks.

Fall 2024

  • Ayush Tiwari, CIS MS, Long Jiao, In-Context Learning for Policy-Aware Language Models.
  • Pranshu Acharya, CIS MS, Long Jiao, In-Context Learning for Policy-Aware Language Models.

Summer 2024

  • Nicholas Costagliola, CIS MS, Gökhan Kul, Empirical Evaluation of GAN-based Oversampling to Improve Data Imbalance for OSR-Based IDS. 
  • Goktug Ekinci, EAS-CSIS PhD, Gökhan Kul, Mitigating Model Poisoning Attacks on OSR-Based NIDS. 
  • Ayush Tiwari, CIS MS, Long Jiao, In-Context Learning for Policy-Aware Language Models. 
  • Pranshu Acharya, CIS MS, Long Jiao, In-Context Learning for Policy-Aware Language Models. 

Spring 2024

  • Karen da Mata, CPE PhD, Lance Fiondella, A Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning Model for Optimizing Nonstationary Policies within DevSecOps Practices. 
  • Noah Oikarinen, CPE MS, Lance Fiondella, Bayesian Reward Learning Terrain Preference Modeling under Adversarial Attacks. 
  • Neela Rahimi, CIS PhD, Ming Shao, Advancing Cybersecurity with Multimodal Continual Learning. 

Summer 2023

  • Neela Rahimi, CIS PhD, Ming Shao, Advancing Cybersecurity with Multimodal Continual Learning.
  • Cedric Leonardo, CPE, MS, Hong Liu, Comparative Experiments on Security in Bridge Health Monitoring (BHM): Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and Wireless Sensing with Drone (WSD).
  • Christian Taylor, CPE BS, Lance Fiondella, An Agent-Based Model to assist nonviolent actions.
  • Christopher Detremont, ECE, MS, Hong Liu, Comparative Experiments on Security in Bridge Health Monitoring (BHM): Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and Wireless Sensing with Drone (WSD).
  • Karen da Mata, CPE MS, Lance Fiondella, Predictive Resilience of a Machine Learning Algorithm under Cyber Attacks.

Spring 2023

  • Chencheng Zhou, CPE PhD, Liudong Xing, Dependability and Resilience for Blockchain-Based Systems. 

Fall 2022

  • David Cedrone, CIS BS, Gökhan Kul, Label Generation for Intrusion Activity on Networks.
  • Pahalavan Dheivanayahi, CIS MS, Gökhan Kul, Output and hidden-layer naming in supervised-learning based-on input data labels.
  • Mengjie Jia, CIS MS, Jiawei Yuan, Enhancing Anomaly Detection and Recovery in UAV Systems.
  • Chencheng Zhou, CPE PhD, Liudong Xing, Defense Strategies for Selfish Mining Attack on Bitcoin System.

Summer 2022

  • Bryce Afonso, CPE BS, Hong Liu, Efficient and Secure Data Collection with Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of Transportation Infrastructure.
  • Riley McMorrow, ELE BS, Lance Fiondella, Secure Robotics Engineering.
  • Demi Muyuela, CPS BS, Shakhnoza Kayumova, Exploring Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity

in K-12 STEM Education.

Summer 2022

Spring 2022

  • Sushovan Bhadra, ECE MS, Lance Fiondella, Dependability Modeling of Modern Software Practices
  • Chencheng Zhou, ECE PhD, Liudong Xing, Dependability and Resilience for Blockchain-Based Systems.

Fall 2021

Summer 2021

  • Chidera Biringa, CIS PhD, Gökhan Kul, Source Code Analysis: A Comparative Study of Feature Creation Methods for Cybersecurity Applications.
  • Charles Montes, ECE PhD, Ruolin Zhou, Implementation of Incremental Learning in Python-Keras as General Model Structure.
  • Todd Morehouse, ECE PhD, Ruolin Zhou, An Adaptive Incremental Learning based Deep Learning Demodulator for Wireless Communications.
  • Ashok Raja, CIS PhD, Jiawei Yuan, Securing UAV Autonomous Operations against Perception Attacks.

Spring 2020

  • Tabitha Breault, MNE BS, Banafsheh Seyed-Aghazadeh and Gokhan Kul, Cyber Resilient Harbor Seal Vibrissae Model with Advanced Threat Detection Technology that responds to Hydrodynamic Stimuli.
  • Brendan Thibault, ECE BS, Lance Fiondella, Quantitative Analysis of the Robustness of Machine Learning Models against Different Attack Types and Modalities.
  • Marcel Viera, ECE BS, Lance Fiondella, A Framework for Machine Learning Resilience Engineering.

Fall 2020

  • Jacob Aubertine, ECE MS, Lance Fiondella, Stable and Efficient Numerical Methods for Covariate Software Reliability Models.
  • Chidera Biringa, CIS MS, Gökhan Kul, An Assessment of Cybersecurity Vulnerability on Service Agreements Using Machine Learning.
  • Gandharva Dhanekula, CIS BS, Gökhan Kul, Measuring Phishing Email Effectiveness in Emergency Situations.
  • Zakaria Faddi, ECE BS, Lance Fiondella, A Quantitative Model of Incremental Deployment to Support Performance, Availability, and Security Tradeoff Assessment within DevSecOps Practices.
  • Ashok Raja, CIS PhD, Jiawei Yuan, Rethinking the Security and Privacy Threats from Drones.
  • Julia Sorrentino, ECE BS, Lance Fiondella, Quantitative Modeling and Statistical Assessment of DevSecOps Tool Chains.