Research

Cybersecurity room with monitoring equipment and displays.
 

Research

Research with real-world impact

RIT cybersecurity researchers are conducting cutting-edge, award-winning research, sponsored by groups like the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. Through partnerships with industry and government, we are developing novel solutions and tackling the toughest problems in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. 

Students in the cybersecurity lab, full of computers and large monitors.

Meet some of our research community in our new video! You can also learn more about our Researchers by Area.

Our research initiatives bring together students and faculty from a variety of disciplines to drive real societal and economic impact. In addition, our commitment to undergraduate research means that these initiatives help to educate the next generation of cybersecurity professionals while they design and develop the technologies and systems needed to secure our future.

The Institute’s research agenda is powered by more than two dozen faculty across multiple colleges at RIT informing cybersecurity research with perspectives from engineering, psychology, public policy, and more.

Machine Learning, AI for Social Impact, Natural Language Processing, Computational Social Science

 

Daniel Krutz headshot
Daniel Krutz
Associate Professor
Department of Software Engineering
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
dxkvse@rit.edu
585-475-2896
Self-adaptive systems, decision-support systems, and computing education

 

Andy Meneely headshot
Andy Meneely
Associate Professor
Department of Software Engineering
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Undergraduate Program Director
andy.meneely@rit.edu
585-475-7829
Empirical software engineering using machine learning and data mining, software security, collaborative software development, metrics and measurement

 

Yin Pan headshot
Yin Pan
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
yin.pan@rit.edu
Adversarial machine learning in image recognition and in intelligent malware detection using memory forensics, solid-state drive forensics challenges

 

Security, Machine Learning, Knowledge Graphs, Explainability, Semantic Technology, Autonomous Vehicles, Large Scale Networks.

 

Leon Reznik headshot
Leon Reznik
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
lrvcs@rit.edu
585-475-7210
Security and data quality evaluation; intelligent systems and sensor networks design, machine learning and neural networks techniques, Big Data analysis

 

Matthew Wright headshot
Matthew Wright
Endowed Professor and Department Chair
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
matthew.wright@rit.edu
585-475-5432
Adversarial machine learning as applied to traffic analysis, deepfake detection and generation, and image manipulation.
Shanchieh Yang headshot
Shanchieh Yang
Professor
Department of Computer Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Director of Research, ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
jay.yang@rit.edu
585-475-6434
Machine learning, attack modeling, and simulation systems to provide predictive analysis of cyber attacks, enabling anticipatory or proactive cyber defense

 

 

Privacy, program analysis, software compliance, and machine learning

 

Weijie Zhao headshot
Weijie Zhao
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
wjzvcs@rit.edu
585-475-2118

 

Fawad Ahmad headshot
Fawad Ahmad
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
fawad@cs.rit.edu

 

 

Data integrity and privacy in Edge Computing Systems and 5G infrastructure

 

 

Yidan Hu headshot
Yidan Hu
Assistant Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
yidan.hu@rit.edu
Data privacy, and network and distributed system security

 

Minseok Kwon headshot
Minseok Kwon
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
mxkvcs@rit.edu
585-475-4524
Packet forwarding, SDN, Container networking, Datacenter networks, Network security, Filter technologies, Distributed systems, and IoT

 

Sumita Mishra headshot
Sumita Mishra
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Graduate Program Director, Cybersecurity
sumita.mishra@rit.edu
585-475-4475
Critical infrastructure protection, including smart grid security and privacy, communications in the future electric grid, anonymity, and resilience metrics

 

Tae Oh headshot
Tae Oh
Professor
School of Information
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Director
thoics@rit.edu
585-475-7642
Vehicular Area Networks, data acquisition and analytics, mobile device security, Internet of Things (IoT) security, sensor networks and assistive technology (Smart Cane)

 

Wireless systems and communications (PHY-layer) security, connected vehicle and IoT trust management

 

Matthew Wright headshot
Matthew Wright
Endowed Professor and Department Chair
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
matthew.wright@rit.edu
585-475-5432
Adversarial machine learning; anonymity on the Internet (mainly Tor) and traffic analysis; usable security and privacy (e.g. phishing, passwords)

 

Shanchieh Yang headshot
Shanchieh Yang
Professor
Department of Computer Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Director of Research, ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
jay.yang@rit.edu
585-475-6434
Machine learning, attack modeling, and simulation systems to provide predictive analysis of cyber attacks, enabling anticipatory or proactive cyber defense
Billy Brumley headshot
Billy Brumley
Professor
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Department of Cybersecurity
Kevin O'Sullivan Endowed Professor in Cybersecurity
bbbics@rit.edu

 

Embedded Device Security; Network and System Security; Applied Cryptography; Privacy.

 

Hardware Trojans, Machine Learning and Nature-inspired solutions to hardware security and trust

 

 

Sunwoong Kim headshot
Sunwoong Kim
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
sskeme@rit.edu
585-475-2442

 

Cryptographic engineering, secure communication technologies, reconfigurable computing, high performance computing, hardware-software systems

 

Sumita Mishra headshot
Sumita Mishra
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Graduate Program Director, Cybersecurity
sumita.mishra@rit.edu
585-475-4475
Critical Infrastructure Protection; smart grid security and privacy; anonymous communications; resilience metrics

 

Cryptography, Combinatorial Computing

 

Abstract algebra, network science, and machine learning with applications in information processing and cybersecurity

 

Ersin Uzun headshot
Ersin Uzun
Katherine Johnson Endowed Executive Director
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Professor
ersin.uzun@rit.edu
585-475-5142
Usable Security/Privacy, Applied Cryptography, and IoT/Networking Security

 

Alireza Vahid headshot
Alireza Vahid
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Gleason Endowed Professor
arveme@rit.edu
585-475-2313

 

 

Hardware-oriented security
Ivona Bezakova headshot
Ivona Bezakova
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
ixbvcs@rit.edu
585-475-4526

 

Security competitions for education, covert communications, IoT/SCADA security

 

Daniel Krutz headshot
Daniel Krutz
Associate Professor
Department of Software Engineering
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
dxkvse@rit.edu
585-475-2896
Teaching secure software development, outreach to women/girls in cybersecurity

 

Sumita Mishra headshot
Sumita Mishra
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Graduate Program Director, Cybersecurity
sumita.mishra@rit.edu
585-475-4475
Gamification in cybersecurity education, critical infrastructure, graduate education

 

Yin Pan headshot
Yin Pan
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
yin.pan@rit.edu
Gamification in cybersecurity education, Ph.D. training and education, information security audits

 

Security competitions for education, penetration testing

 

Leon Reznik headshot
Leon Reznik
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
lrvcs@rit.edu
585-475-7210
Data quality and security, automated quiz generation

 

Carlos R. Rivero headshot
Carlos R. Rivero
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
crrvcs@rit.edu
585-475-2979
Computer-aided program comprehension, instructor analytics, K-12 outreach

 

Bo Yuan headshot
Bo Yuan
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
bo.yuan@rit.edu
585-475-4468
CyberCorps Scholarships for Service (SFS); Department Chair of Computing Security; cyber analytics
Rob Olson headshot
Rob Olson
Senior Lecturer
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
rboics@rit.edu
585-475-2735
Penetration testing, web and mobile application security, and privacy

 

Justin Pelletier headshot
Justin Pelletier
Director of the GCI Cyber Range and Training Center
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
jxpics@rit.edu
585-475-2533

 

 

 

Human factors in complex and dynamic systems, mental workload, and human error and reliability

 

David Schwartz headshot
David Schwartz
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
david.i.schwartz@rit.edu
585-475-2763

 

Ersin Uzun headshot
Ersin Uzun
Katherine Johnson Endowed Executive Director
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Professor
ersin.uzun@rit.edu
585-475-5142
Usable Security/Privacy, Applied Cryptography, and IoT/Networking Security

 

Matthew Wright headshot
Matthew Wright
Endowed Professor and Department Chair
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
matthew.wright@rit.edu
585-475-5432
Phishing and clickbait in social media, deception, password alternatives

 

Shanchieh Yang headshot
Shanchieh Yang
Professor
Department of Computer Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Director of Research, ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
jay.yang@rit.edu
585-475-6434
Modeling attackers to provide predictive analysis of cyber attacks, deployment of predictive analytics

 

Researchers by Area

Our research initiatives bring together students and faculty from a variety of disciplines to drive real societal and economic impact. In addition, our commitment to undergraduate research means that these initiatives help to educate the next generation of cybersecurity professionals while they design and develop the technologies and systems needed to secure our future.

The Institute’s research agenda is powered by more than two dozen faculty across multiple colleges at RIT informing cybersecurity research with perspectives from engineering, psychology, public policy, and more.

Machine learning; Natural language processing; AI for social impact; Computational social science
Artificial intelligence; Vision-language intelligence
Yin Pan headshot
Yin Pan
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
yin.pan@rit.edu
Digital forensics; Malware detection; Adversarial machine learning
Wireless security and communications; Connected vehicle security; Network and IoT security
CyberThreat intelligence, Autonomous vehicles, Healthcare analytics
Leon Reznik headshot
Leon Reznik
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
lrvcs@rit.edu
585-475-7210
Artificial intelligence; Intelligent data analytics; Intelligent intrustion detection in cyber-physical systems; Cognitive sensor networks and systems
Carlos R. Rivero headshot
Carlos R. Rivero
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
crrvcs@rit.edu
585-475-2979
Graph databases; Information intergration; Program comprehension
Matthew Wright headshot
Matthew Wright
Endowed Professor and Department Chair
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
matthew.wright@rit.edu
585-475-5432
Adversarial machine learning; Cyber analytics; Deepfake detection; Distributed systems; Usable security
Shanchieh Yang headshot
Shanchieh Yang
Professor
Department of Computer Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Director of Research, ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
jay.yang@rit.edu
585-475-6434
Machine learning; Artificial intelligence; Statististical modeling; Simulation for predictive cyber intelligence
Bo Yuan headshot
Bo Yuan
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
bo.yuan@rit.edu
585-475-4468
Computational intelligence; Malware; Machine learning
Weijie Zhao headshot
Weijie Zhao
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
wjzvcs@rit.edu
585-475-2118
Scalable machine learning systems; Approximate nearest neighbor search; Security in machine learning; Scientific data processing; Database systems.
Fawad Ahmad headshot
Fawad Ahmad
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
fawad@cs.rit.edu
Autonomous driving; Computer vision; Digital twins; Network and IoT security; Robotics
Billy Brumley headshot
Billy Brumley
Professor
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Department of Cybersecurity
Kevin O'Sullivan Endowed Professor in Cybersecurity
bbbics@rit.edu
Cryptogtaphy engineering; Side-channel analysis; System security
Yidan Hu headshot
Yidan Hu
Assistant Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
yidan.hu@rit.edu
Data privacy; Network and IoT security
Sunwoong Kim headshot
Sunwoong Kim
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
sskeme@rit.edu
585-475-2442
Cryptographic hardware; Embedded systems
Daniel Krutz headshot
Daniel Krutz
Associate Professor
Department of Software Engineering
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
dxkvse@rit.edu
585-475-2896
Self adaptive systems, Decision support systems, Mobile security and software engineering education.
Reconfigurable computing; Hardware and hardware-software systems; Cryptographic engineering; High-performance computing
Andy Meneely headshot
Andy Meneely
Associate Professor
Department of Software Engineering
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Undergraduate Program Director
andy.meneely@rit.edu
585-475-7829
Artificial intelligence; Engineering secure software; Data science; Human factors in software engineering; Mining software repositories
Applied cryptography; Computer networking; Embedded systems; Security and privacy
Rob Olson headshot
Rob Olson
Senior Lecturer
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
rboics@rit.edu
585-475-2735
Penetration testing; Web and mobile application security; Privacy
Naveen Sharma headshot
Naveen Sharma
Associate Dean Fac Affairs and Industry Engagement
Dean’s Office
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
nxsvse@rit.edu
585-475-2472
Data science
Software engineering; Software testing; Information flow analysis
Hardware security; Electronic design automation
Zachary Butler headshot
Zachary Butler
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
zxbvcs@rit.edu
585-475-6155
Cooperative autonomous systems; Computer science education
Destination marketing; Tourist behavior; Customer experience design
Justin Pelletier headshot
Justin Pelletier
Director of the GCI Cyber Range and Training Center
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
jxpics@rit.edu
585-475-2533
Threat intelligence; Cyber wargaming; Resilience games
Technology, security, and public policy
Human factors in complex and dynamic systems; Human performance measurement and modeling; Mental workload; Decision making; Human error and reliability
David Schwartz headshot
David Schwartz
Director of the School of Interactive Games and Media
School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
david.i.schwartz@rit.edu
585-475-2763
Gamification of cybersecurity; Resilience games and critical infrastructure; Geogames; Digital twins; Physically-based animation
Ersin Uzun headshot
Ersin Uzun
Katherine Johnson Endowed Executive Director
ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Professor
ersin.uzun@rit.edu
585-475-5142
Usable security and privacy; Applied cryptography; Network and IoT security; Privacy enhancing technologies
Secure software engineering
Thomas Borrelli headshot
Thomas Borrelli
Principal Lecturer
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
tjbcis@rit.edu
585-475-4986
Cryptography, Genetic algorithms, Game theory, Computer science education
Computational social choice; Complexity of logics; Computational complexity; Computer science education.
Combinatorial computing; Graph theory; Design theory; Ramsay numbers
Applications of algebraic structures; Statistical modeling; Network science and computing
Carlos R. Rivero headshot
Carlos R. Rivero
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
crrvcs@rit.edu
585-475-2979
Graph databases; Information intergration; Program comprehension
Alireza Vahid headshot
Alireza Vahid
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Gleason Endowed Professor
arveme@rit.edu
585-475-2313
Network and IoT security
Interconnection architectures for multicore chips; System security
Anonymity; Covert communications; Network and IoT security
Minseok Kwon headshot
Minseok Kwon
Professor
Department of Computer Science
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
mxkvcs@rit.edu
585-475-4524
Network and IoT security; Distributed systems
Sumita Mishra headshot
Sumita Mishra
Professor
Department of Cybersecurity
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Graduate Program Director, Cybersecurity
sumita.mishra@rit.edu
585-475-4475
Smart grid privacy; Cybersecurity education
Tae Oh headshot
Tae Oh
Professor
School of Information
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Director
thoics@rit.edu
585-475-7642
Mobile device security; Vehicular ad-hoc networks; Network and IoT security; Machine learning; Data analytics; Human-computer interaction
Wireless security and communications; Connected vehicle security; Network and IoT security
System security; Computer forensics and incident response; Penetration testing

Research Projects Spotlight

Faculty member holding an antenna.

Secure IoT

Software scanning a movie clip to find clues to deep fakes.

Thwarting Deepfakes

Visualization of a woman touching a globe.

Enhancing Privacy

Youtube clip showing a toy car with captions on screen.

ML for Safety

Meet the Director

Ersin Uzun

Today, ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute researchers are making communication networks, information sources and software development more secure. We are utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to protect our infrastructure, and discovering new frontiers in cybersecurity every day.

Ersin Uzun
Katherine Johnson Endowed Executive Director
585-475-5142