COECS Annual Report 2022

A Year of Achievements

#22

Best Regional Universities (North)

U.S. News & World Report

#4 Campus Ethnic Diversity (Regional Universities - North)

U.S. News & World Report, 2022

COLLEGE OF DISTINCTION

Recognized as an excellent school for engineering majors in recognition of New York Tech’s engaged students, great teaching, vibrant community, and successful outcomes

#2 IN NEW YORK STATE

#8 IN THE U.S. for Environment, a pillar that measures inclusion, diversity, and international student representation

TOP 15%

Best Colleges, Based on Salary Potential of Graduates

Payscale College Salary Report

#47

Safest College Campuses in America Collegestats.org

LETTER FROM THE DEAN

As the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences (CoECS), it is my pleasure to present the annual report for 2022. This report highlights the many achievements and successes of our faculty, staff, and students, as well as the numerous contributions made by our highly engaged community.

Our college’s motto is “Engineering for Society: Innovating for a Better World,” and much of what I am sharing in this report is inspired by these words. As you read some highlights here, I hope that it will stimulate ideas of collaboration and partnership with us. The world of higher education, and particularly engineering education, can thrive only through collaborative partnerships to create new opportunities for the next generation of creators and innovators.

We have much to celebrate this year. Among our most notable accomplishments are securing a second-year contract with NASA to develop commercial prototypes from their patents, launching the college’s co-op education program for five of our undergraduate programs, and entering an agreement with Fortinet, a leading provider of network security technologies, to give students free access to Fortinet’s Network Security Expert (NSE) Training Institute Certification Program.

Looking forward to the future, we are hiring to increase our full-time faculty by 14 percent. We will continue to improve our academic offerings, with an M.S. in Computer Science and an M.S. in Data Science launching in 2023.

I invite you to visit our website at nyit.edu/engineering to learn more about our college and see why we are a force for innovation in the heart of the New York metropolitan area.

Sincerely,

Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D. Dean, College of Engineering and Computing Sciences New York Institute of Technology

Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders

Our students continued to excel academically in 2022, with many of them earning awards and honors and conducting impactful research. Through enhanced industry collaborations, CoECS strives to prepare our students for the challenging, creative, and technological careers of tomorrow.

Student Highlights

Student Recognitions

• Hayden Diaz Figueroa (B.S. ’23) earned the Department of Defense (DoD) Cyber Scholarship (CySP), becoming the fifth New York Tech student to receive the award.

• Lincoln Dover (B.S. ’23), Robert Maksimowicz (B.S. ’23), and R obert Doxey (B.S. ’21, M.S. ’22) entered the NYSID CREATE Symposium (New York State Industries for the Disabled Creativity, Research, Engagement, and the Arts Transform Everyone). Their innovation to develop a way to standardize the process of cutting and gluing cardboard shipping materials to assist employees who are neurodiverse earned them fourth in the competition—the highest ranking for New York Tech to date.

• Mary Margarette Sanchez (B.S. ’23) earned second place in the undergraduate division in the Sigma Xi Research Showcase for her research on using convolutional neural networks to detect dysplastic cervical precancerous cells in Pap smears.

Professional Experience at Annual Conferences

Students members of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) were invited to attend their organizations’ annual conferences in 2022. In addition to important networking with industry professionals at some of the world’s leading companies, several students came back with internships and full-time work opportunities.

United Engineering Hosts First Hackathon

Spearheaded by members of SWE, the student-led club United Engineering hosted its firstever Hackathon event in April 2022 in which teams were challenged to code with a new programming language they hadn’t used before. Several CoECS faculty served as volunteer mentors and judges, and newly minted Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) President Austin Stietzel hosted a Minecraft mini event during lunchtime.

Programs of Distinction

#49 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (National - no doctorate)

U.S. News & World Report, 2022

#32 Top 50 Undergraduate Computer Science Degrees for International Students College Values Online

Ph.D. Student Research

COMPUTER SCIENCE, PH.D.

Access to Industry Resources

CoECS has launched a holistic effort to provide professional skills training and certification to students, as well as alumni, faculty, and staff through partnerships with top technology organizations:

Red Hat Academy Training

Courses and Certification

Exams: students can gain practical experience and access to free training in Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies.

Zscaler Professional Certifications: students and alumni can sign up, receive training materials, and achieve certification for Zscaler Cloud Professional Internet Access (ZIA) and Cloud Professional Private Access (ZPA), completely free of charge.

Fortinet: New York Tech students have access, free of charge, to Fortinet’s NSE Training Institute Certification Program.

IEEE eLearning Library: offers free access to hundreds of highquality, peer-reviewed online courses in core and emerging technologies, providing faculty and students direct access to learn.

Google Learning Program: students can take courses and obtain Google certificates in Project Management, IT Support, UX Design, Data Analytics, and IT Automation with Python.

#66

Graduate Computer Engineering and Comp Sci Programs in the U.S. (2022) – TFE Times

Coursera: allows students to access online courses and earn valuable certifications as well as up to six credits toward their undergraduate CSCI or IT degree.

OutSystems: this industryleading “low-code” app-building platform provides training, resources, and tools to students.

Wolfram: products like Mathematica, Wolfram Programming Lab, and more available to faculty and students for courses and research projects.

LinkedIn Learning: students, faculty, and staff have free, unlimited, single-sign-on (SSO) access to a library of 17,000+ online courses covering a wide range of supplemental education as well as professional and personal development skills.

#33

Best Schools to Earn Your Cybersecurity Degree Safeatlast

Nicholas Cariello, CPU Power SideChannel Attacks – This project focuses on establishing previously unknown side-channels for covert data exfiltration. Specifically, it considers CPU power states and the resulting CPU frequency and performance. The latter can be sampled remotely, and therefore represents a serious security threat.

Zheng Li, Acceleration Techs for Training Model – This project studies the acceleration techniques for training models. Models are expected to get 200%+ training speedups and improved performance by using acceleration techniques.

Ziqing Yang, Robust Speaker Verification with Emotion and Face Mask Compensation – This study investigates how different emotions and various types of face masks affect the performance of speaker verification and propose new compensation techniques to overcome the emotion variation and muffled speech in speaker verification.

ENGINEERING, PH.D.

Hailun (Helen) Wu, Modeling of Human Decision-Making on Sustainable Commute Mode Choice – This project investigates factors on how people make decisions on their commute mode choice and explores game theory to model this decision-making process and uses publicly available data to validate the model for a more sustainable outcome.

Yihan Xu, Wireless Sensing of Soil Quality – This project develops novel approaches to sense the nutrients and heavy metals in the soil wirelessly. To accomplish this task, softwaredefined radio systems are employed as radar systems and passive devices are embedded inside the soil as sensors.

Maharshi Shah, Quantitative Near-Field Microwave Holographic Imaging – Nearfield holographic imaging is used to identify the shape, and location of the object/defect, within the scanned region. This project makes use of this concept to extract quantitative information like relative permittivity, which is extremely useful in biomedical imaging.

Broadening Our Academic Reach

From strengthening our industry partnerships to providing more career-focused programs to our students, 2022 was a year of growth benefitting the overall student experience.

CoECS Co-op Program Launches, Expands in 2022

In spring of 2022, CoECS launched its first cooperative education (co-op) track for students to gain real-world professional experience through partnerships with a network of industry and business organizations. Currently, the co-op option is available for qualified students in the undergraduate computer science, information technology, mechanical engineering, construction engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and electrical and computer engineering technology programs; additional programs will be added as we build capacity.

Peter Goldsmith, M.B.A., an industry veteran and founder of the Long Island Software & Technology Network (LISTnet), joined New York Tech as co-op coordinator and adjunct assistant professor to lead the program.

COECS CO-OP PARTNERS

Academic Programs

UNDERGRADUATE (B.S.)

Bioengineering

Computer Science

Computer Science - Big Data

Management & Analytics

Computer Science - Network Security

Construction Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Technology

Engineering Management

Information Technology

Information Technology - Information and Network Security

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering - Aerospace

MINOR

Construction Engineering

Energy Science, Technology & Policy

Technology Entrepreneurship

GRADUATE (M.S.)

Bioengineering

Computer Science

Cybersecurity

Data Science

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Energy Management

Mechanical Engineering

DOCTORAL (Ph.D.)

Computer Science

Engineering

CERTIFICATE

(Advanced Certificate)

Energy Technology

Environmental Management

Facilities Management

Infrastructure Security Management

“In keeping with New York Tech’s mission to provide career-oriented professional education and access to opportunity for all qualified students, our co-op offering provides another way to enable students to prepare for the job market while pursuing their undergraduate degrees.”

DEAN BABAK D. BEHESHTI, PH.D.

Academic Highlights

Launch of B.S. in Bioengineering

CoECS launched a new undergraduate program in bioengineering, which has already attracted a large number of students. The program is helping to meet the growing demand for professionals with expertise in this high-demand area.

Introduction of Second Ph.D. Program

In 2022, CoECS began offering a Ph.D. in Engineering; this is the college’s second doctoral program, joining the Ph.D. in Computer Science that launched in 2019. Students in the new Ph.D. program can choose a concentration in the competitive areas of bioengineering, electrical and computer engineering, or mechanical engineering to further hone their studies and cutting-edge research pursuits.

International Exchange Program with Politecnico di Milano

CoECS has entered a second partnership with Politecnico di Milano, one of the most outstanding technical universities in Europe and the largest Italian university in engineering, architecture, and design. With funding from Erasmus+, the European Union’s program to support education, training, youth, and sport in Europe, this partnership sponsors a reciprocal faculty and student exchange program.

Industry Leader Lecture Series Initiated

Hosted by Dean Beheshti, the Industry Leader Lecture Series launched in 2022, offering students and practitioners the chance to hear from and interact with distinguished professionals in the tech industry. The series welcomed speakers from Nokia, ZScaler, Zebra Technologies Co., 127 Energy, Tesla Science Center, PMC Group I, and Gartner to share advice and stories about emerging technologies, career advice, and more. All talks are livestreamed and web-based with some speakers presenting in-person at one of the New York campuses.

2022 Biotechnology Conference

On April 7, CoECS hosted the 2022 Biotechnology Conference: Transforming and Improving the Human Condition. Recognized leaders, top global researchers, medical professionals, and innovators in the healthcare and biotechnology sectors gathered at New York Institute of Technology de Seversky Mansion as well as virtually to talk about the latest innovations and research and how to tap into financial resources to fund a start-up and grow one’s business. The keynote speaker was Chad Bouton, vice president of Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health and CEO of Neuvotion.

2022 New York Tech Energy Conference

On June 8, members of CoECS and the larger New York Tech community explored strategies for adapting to climate change and increasing our world’s sustainability and resilience at the 2022 New York Tech Energy Conference: Climate Adaptation and Resilience. This virtual event featured talks from faculty and industry experts on topics such as adaptability and ecosystem recovery, making workplaces more energy efficient, and the vulnerability of older buildings and infrastructure to today’s climate demands.

“The effects of climate change are already here. We must simultaneously adapt to its serious consequences and work together to minimize future damage to our environment.”

– ROBERT N. AMUNDSEN, PH.D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR/CHAIR OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND CHAIR OF 2022 NEW YORK TECH ENERGY CONFERENCE

WorldClass Faculty, WorldClass Research

At the forefront of our innovation stand our faculty, who continue to be recognized for their research and teaching contributions through awards, accolades, and honors.

Led by Dean Beheshti, the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences (CoECS) faculty of researchers and passionate teacher-scholars educates and inspires the next generation of makers and doers, inventors and innovators, and leaders and entrepreneurs. By instilling a growth mindset in our students, CoECS faculty help them to graduate career-ready and prepared to make the world a better place.

DEPARTMENT

CHAIRPERSONS AND ASSOCIATE DEANS

Dr. Xun Yu

Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Dept. Chair, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Management, Construction Engineering; Long Island Campus

Dr. Frank Lee

Dept. Chair, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Information Technology; Long Island Campus

Dr. Aydin Farajidavar

Dept. Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Bioengineering; Long Island Campus

Dr. Yoshi Saito

Dept. Chair, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Information Technology; New York City Campus

Prof. Lak Amara

Dept. Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering Technology; New York City Campus, Long Island Campus

Dr. Robert Amundsen

Director, Energy Management; Long Island Campus

Dr. Huanying Gu

Associate Dean, Research & Practice

Dr. Remi Charron

Associate Dean, Energy Management; Vancouver Campus

Dr. Tokunbo Makanju

Associate Dean, Cybersecurity

Dr. Steven Billis

Associate Dean, Assessment

LONG ISLAND CAMPUS

Maherukh Akhtar

Teaching Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Kiran Balagani

Associate Professor, Computer Science

Batu Chalise

Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Michael Colef

Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Computer Science

Xueqing Huang Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Azhar Ilyas

Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Tindaro Ioppolo

Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Ayat Jafari Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Computer Science

Ehsan Kamel Assistant Professor, Energy Management

Fang Li

Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Qin Liu

Teaching Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Kirti Mishra Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

David Nadler Research Assistant Professor, BioEngineering

George M. Salayka

Teaching Assistant Professor, Computer Science

James Scire

Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Joseph Seidel

Teaching Assistant Professor, Construction Engineering

Sabiha Wadoo

Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Wei Zeng

Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Tao Zhang Professor, Computer Science

NEW YORK CITY CAMPUS

Kazi Ahmed

Teaching Assistant Professor, Telecomm & Electrical Engineering Technology

Ludmilla Amani

Associate Professor, Telecomm & Electrical Engineering Technology

Reza Khalaj Amineh

Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

N. Sertac Artan

Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Houwei Cao

Associate Professor, Computer Science

Jerry Cheng

Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Cecilia Dong

Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Felix Fischman

Teaching Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Susan Gass

Teaching Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Paolo Gasti

Associate Professor, Computer Science

Wenjia Li

Associate Professor, Computer Science

Richard Meyers

Associate Professor, Telecomm & Electrical Engineering Technology

Lazaros Pavlidis

Associate Professor, Telecomm & Electrical Engineering Technology

Maryam Ravan

Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Anand Santhanakrishnan

Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

M. Wernicki

Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

VANCOUVER CAMPUS

Maryam Raiyat Aliabadi

Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Arman Bonakdarpour

Assistant Professor, Energy Management

Amin Milani Fard

Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Patricia Keen

Associate Professor, Energy Management

Sara Khanchi

Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Tina Shoa Hassani

Lashidani

Assistant Professor, Energy Management

Zhida Li

Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Seyed Masood Razavi

Assistant Professor, Energy Management

Yunlong Shao

Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Stefan Storey

Assistant Professor, Energy Management

Umme Zakia

Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Faculty Active Research and Ongoing Projects

Aydin Farajidavar, Ph.D.

• Reliable Power-Efficient Miniature Bidirectional Telemetric Platforms for Acquiring Biological Signals

• Closed-Loop System for Real-Time Recognition and Inhibition of Nociceptive Signals

• Signal Processing for Analyzing Aps and ECoG to Detect Nociception

• Modeling Biological Systems: The Process of Long- and Short-Term Potentiation in Chronic Pain-Related Phenomenon

Azhar Ilyas, Ph.D.

• Microfluidic Devices for Tagless Identification/Quantification of Diseased Cells

• Nanofabricated and 3-D Printed Materials for Rapid Bone Healing

• Development of Highly Sensitive Novel Biosensors for Molecular Detection

Reza K. Amineh, Ph.D.

• Material Characterization with a Microwave Sensor Array: Application to Water Quality Sensing (Supported by New York Tech’s ISRC)

• Human Motion Tracking with Inductive Sensors: Developing a wearable sensor technology to investigate the effect of virtual reality-based therapy on the hand motion and the related brain functioning of autistic children (Supported by New York Tech’s ISRC)

• Reconfigurable Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces for Efficient Wireless Communication (Supported by CoECS)

Nabi Sertac Artan, Ph.D.

• Adaptive Data Converters

• Wireless Power Transfer to Implantable Devices

Batu Chalise, Ph.D.

• Joint Radar and Communications Systems

• Passive Radar Systems

• Signal Processing and Security for 5G Systems

Ziqian Dong, Ph.D.

• Food, Energy, and Water Nexus

• Signals in the Soil

• Assistive Medical Devices

• Geolocation Project

Maryam Ravan, Ph.D.

• Developing Machine Learning Algorithms to Diagnose Schizophrenia and Predict the Response to Clozapine Therapy (Supported by New York Tech’s ISRC)

• Developing a Machine Learning Approach to Investigate the Brain Connectivity in Autistic Children and the Effect of Six Weeks' Physical and Cognitive Therapy (Supported by New York Tech’s ISRC)

• Developing a Robust Brain Source Localization Technique to Identify Seizure Onset

• Developing Brain-Computer Interface Systems to Control Devices

Anand Santhanakrishnan, Ph.D.

• Role of User Interaction in Information Spread in Social Media

Tindaro Ioppolo, Ph.D.

• Designing and building a hypersonic wind tunnel on a small scale

• Designing and developing a shock tube for underwater explosions

• Designing and building high power pulse forming network

Fang Li, Ph.D.

• A Lab-on-Chip Device for Promoting Stem Cell Maturation

• Signals in the Soil

• Wireless SAW Sensor System for Cryogenic Temperature and Pressure Sensing

James Scire, Ph.D.

• High-Speed Digital Holography of Acoustic Levitation

Ehsan Kamel, Ph.D.

• Physics-Based Building Energy Model (Anna Rubin Hall)

• Multifunctional Sensors in Data-Driven Building Energy Modeling Using Machine Learning Techniques

• Physics-Based Building Energy Model (Smart Energy House)

Houwei Cao, Ph.D.

• Multimodal Learning for Real-World Emotion Recognition

• Data-Driven Approaches to Edge Caching

• Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining in Social Media

• Urban Air Quality Prediction

Paolo Gasti, Ph.D. and Kiran Balagani, Ph.D.

• Leveraging Movement, Posture, and Anthropometric Contexts to Strengthen the Security of Mobile Biometrics (Sponsored by NSF)

• Toward Energy-Efficient PrivacyPreserving Active Authentication of Smartphone Users (Sponsored by NSF)

• HMOG: Hand Movement, Orientation, and Grasp (Sponsored by DARPA)

Huanying Gu, Ph.D.

• Structural and Semantic Methodologies for Enhancing Biomedical Terminologies

• Gait Study of Parkinson’s Disease Subjects

Xueqing Huang, Ph.D.

• Crowdsourced Video Generation and Distribution at Mobile Edge

• Physical Layer Security for IoT Networks

• Intelligent Cell Maturation Monitoring and Promotion System

Wenjia Li, Ph.D.

• Secure and Trustworthy Data Management for Intelligent Transportation System

• Malware Detection for Mobile System Against Adversarial Machine Learning Attacks

Research Facilities

Biomedical Engineering

• Integrated Medical Systems (IMS) Laboratory

• Bio-Nanotechnology and Biomaterials (BNB) Laboratory

• Biological Sciences and Bioengineering (BSB) Laboratory

Electrical & Computer Engineering

• Applied Electromagnetics Research Laboratory

• Circuits, Networks, and System (CNS) Laboratory

• Radar and Communications Laboratory (RadCom)

• Network and Innovation Laboratory

• Biomedical Data Analysis Research Laboratory

• Network Resource and Security Lab (NRSL)

Mechanical Engineering

• Biomechanics Lab Robotics and Human Interface Laboratory

• Thermo-fluid and Instrumentation Research Laboratory

• MicroSensor Laboratory

• Optical Diagnostics Laboratory

Energy Management

• Energy and Green Technologies (EnTech) Laboratory

Computer Science

• Human-Centric Data Analytics Laboratory

• LAMP - Laboratory for Behavioral Authentication, Machine Learning, and Privacy

• Medical Informatics and Data Analytics Laboratory

• Intelligent Mobile Edge (IME) Laboratory

• Mobile Systems and Network Security (MobiSec) Laboratory

Entrepreneurship & Technology Innovation Center (ETIC)

• Student opportunities

• IT and cybersecurity

• Bioengineering and medical devices

• Energy and green technologies

Faculty Funding and Achievements

Recently Awarded

Batu Chalise, Ph.D.

Distributed Radar Sensing and Communications

Supported by: U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)

Active Research

Jerry Cheng, Ph.D. Nation-wide Community-based Mobile Edge Sensing and Computing Testbeds

Supported by: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Houwei Cao, Ph.D. EAGER: An Inference Methodology to Illuminate Nonlinear Neutrino Flavor Transformation for Nuclear Astrophysics

Supported by: National Science Foundation (NSF)

James Scire, Ph.D. Benchtop Instrument for Measuring High Temperature Surface Emissivity

Supported by: Advanced Fuel Research (AFR)

Ehsan Kamel, Ph.D. Developing physics-based building energy models and perform energy audits to improve the energy efficiency of campus buildings as living labs

Supported by: New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA)

Maryam Ravan, Ph.D. Developing EEG Biomarkers to Predict Response to Antidepressant Medications in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Supported by a collaborative grant from McMaster University, Canada

Jerry Cheng, Ph.D. Software Hardware Architecture Co-design for Low-power Heterogeneous Edge Devices

Supported by: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Reza K. Amineh, Ph.D. (PI) & Maryam Raven, Ph.D. (Co-PI) Fast and Robust Nondestructive Testing of Cylindrical Composite Components Based on Microwave Measurements

Supported by: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Ziqian Dong, Ph.D. City-as-Lab Research Coordination Network (RCN): establishing a research coordination network to study food, energy, and water nexus for sustainable and resilient urban development

Supported by: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Fang Li, Ph.D. A Wireless, Thin-Film Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Sensor System for Rocket Propulsion Test Applications

Supported by: NASA Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)

Tindaro Ioppolo, Ph.D.  Characterization of Turbulent, Unsteady Separation Using Photonic Micro-Skin Friction and Wall Pressure Sensors

Supported by: U.S. Army Research Office

Huanying Gu, Ph.D. Implementation of a Comprehensive High-SchoolCollege Partnership and Equity-Based Curriculum in Engineering and Computer Science

Supported by: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Kiran Balagani, Ph.D. (PI) and Paolo Gasti, Ph.D. (Co-PI) Leveraging Movement, Posture, and Anthropometric Contexts to Strengthen the Security of Mobile Biometrics

Supported by: National Science Foundation (NSF)

New Faculty Hires

KAZI J. AHMED, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering

Ph.D.: The City College of New York

Area of Expertise: 5G/6G Technology, Internet of Things (IoT), Communication and Cybersecurity

ZHIDA LI, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Ph.D.: Simon Fraser University

Area of Expertise: Machine Learning Systems for Detecting Network Anomalies, Brain-Computer Interfaces, and Blockchain

KIRTI MISHRA, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Ph.D.: Ohio State University

Areas of Expertise: Human-Robot Collaboration for Exoskeletons, Collaborative Manufacturing, and Semi-Autonomous Vehicles

JOSEPH SEIDEL, Ph.D., P.E., Teaching Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Construction Engineering

Ph.D.: Purdue University

Areas of Expertise: Construction Materials, Surveying, Sustainability, CAD, Site Design, Pavement Design, Engineering Geology, Structural Design

UMME ZAKIA, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Cybersecurity

Ph.D.: Simon Fraser University

Areas of Expertise: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, HumanRobot Collaboration, Communication Networks, Cybersecurity, and VLSI

WEI ZENG, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Ph.D.: University of Cincinnati

Area of Expertise: Computational Solid Mechanics, Biomechanics, and Simulation of Complex Systems

ETIC Bolsters

Innovations

Opening of New York City ETIC

On March 31, the Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC) opened a new location on the New York City campus on the sixth floor of the Edward Guiliano Global Center at 1855 Broadway. Joining the Long Island campus location that opened in 2015, the new ETIC will serve as another hub for cultivating new businesses, products, and fresh ideas in technology, engineering, and applied sciences.

ETIC Extends Contract with NASA

Following a successful first year helping NASA move unrealized intellectual property toward commercialization, ETIC is pleased to extend this partnership into a second year. During 2022, students provided prototyping and production services for four projects: an upper body robotic exoskeleton, an impact and trajectory detection system, a cord tension measurement device called C-Gauge, and HeartBeatID, which is a method to authenticate a person’s identity based on their unique heart rhythm.

“Our students are excited and ready to participate in these projects [with NASA], and our faculty see this as an excellent opportunity to bring real-world practice into the day-today theoretical concepts that our students master.”

DEAN BABAK D. BEHESHTI, PH.D.

Cross-Disciplinary Work Creates Innovations

CoECS faculty and students alike continue to prioritize exciting new opportunities to partner outside their own departments and disciplines to encourage inclusion and explore new ideas:

N. Sertac Artan, Ph.D. , associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is working with Colleen Kirk, D.P.S., associate professor of management and marketing studies at the School of Management, to explore neuromarketing to consumers.

Michael Nizich, Ph.D. , director of ETIC, and Todd Cohen , M.D., professor of clinical studies at the College of Osteopathic Medicine, collaborated on research to determine whether robots could perform simple routine tasks of surgical assistants.

Maryam Ravan, Ph.D. , assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, co-authored a study with Stanford University physicians Robert Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., and Babak Razavi, M.D., Ph.D., as well as Amin Noroozi, a Ph.D. candidate from Staffordshire University, proposing cutting-edge algorithms and techniques that could provide non-invasive solutions for clinicians to more effectively treat neurological and psychiatric conditions.

Undergraduate Research Continues to Thrive

CoECS continues to provide numerous opportunities for undergraduate students to gain technical skills and pursue academic topics of worldwide interest through hands-on research:

Funded by the National Science Foundation, New York Tech’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program completed another successful session in 2022. Ten REU fellows collaborated with CoECS faculty and graduate students to study methods to secure mobile devices and wireless networks.

After two years of virtual engagement, six groups of students in the Undergraduate Research Entrepreneurship Program (UREP) showcased their final presentations on May 10 at an in-person event. With help from faculty mentors, CoECS students researched topics such as mitigation techniques for virtual reality cybersickness and the sustainability of electric vehicle adoption in urban environments.

Our Growing Philanthropic Potential

CoECS Gives Big During 2022 Big Give

New York Tech’s fourth annual Big Give was held March 30–31 and brought in 927 gifts from 868 alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of the university, totaling $355,076—exceeding last year’s total by nearly $15,000. CoECS was proud to be recognized as the school with the most donors during the fundraising drive.

Celebrating the Inaugural Ingenium Awards

On April 27, guests gathered at NYIT de Seversky Mansion to celebrate the accomplishments of fellow alumni and industry partners at CoECS’ first Ingenium Awards ceremony. This annual event honors alumni and friends for their ongoing support of New York Tech and the college, as well as provides a great opportunity to network, celebrate success, and inspire and support our students.

2022 Ingenium Award Recipients

Hall of Fame Alumna: Barbara Porter (B.S. ’00), Chief Operating Officer, Fragrancenet.com

Rising Star: Nicholas Cariello (B.S. ’18, M.S. ’19), Cybersecurity Engineer/Software Developer, IBM Industry Partner of the Year: Zebra Technologies

Special Recognition: Thomas D. Bianculli , SVP, Chief Technology Officer, Zebra Technologies Corp

The College of Engineering & Computing Sciences relies on the generous support of individuals, corporations, and foundations to continue providing the very best in education, facilities, career preparation, and formative experiences for our students—the future technology leaders of tomorrow.

“Being a member of the community and engaging with various constituents is any university’s responsibility. The rich range of technical, professional, and outreach events [like this] is a testament to the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences’ commitment to being a global citizen.”

DEAN BABAK D. BEHESHTI, PH.D., 2022 INGENIUM AWARDS

First

Nada Anid Scholarship Awarded

Adina Tsibulevskiy (B.S. ’23) became the first beneficiary of the Nada Anid Scholarship Fund, established on behalf of Vice President and former CoECS Dean Nada Anid, Ph.D., who passed away in September 2021. On November 10, Tsibulevskiy spoke at an event held to dedicate the Nada Anid, Ph.D., Art Gallery and Student Lounge at the New York City campus.

“As a woman in STEM, it is rare to come across a visible female role model to take inspiration from and learn from,” said Tsibulevskiy. “Dr. Anid really gives me a model and path to look up to and follow. I am motivated to stick with my engineering path and hopefully be another young woman’s role model one day, being open, visible, and encouraging to women about STEM.”

New York Tech Middle School Summer 2022 Maker Academy

Along with the College of Art & Design, CoECS hosted the annual Maker Academy, an in-person technology, engineering, and design summer program for middle school students. Generous support from Voya Foundation made participation in this Maker Academy free for 30 10–13-year-olds. During the weeklong academy held simultaneously on both New York campuses, students engaged in handson workshops designed to teach 3-D modeling and printing, laser cutting/ engraving, Arduino programming, and virtual and augmented reality. As a final project, students built a tech-infused, environmentally friendly, low-impact Smart Car that meets the main objectives set forth by UN Sustainability Goal #7 to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

Women in Computer Science, Engineering and Technology (WiCET) Summer Program

Thorough the generous support of Xilinx, Inc. and its Women in Technology University Grant Program, CoECS offered a free one-week program for middle and high school girls interested in engineering, computer science, and technology. Over the summer, Women in Computer Science, Engineering, and Technology (WiCET) guided students through exploring 3-D modeling and printing, laser cutting, FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and Python programming to build a dynamic vehicle with electronic sensors and self-driving capabilities.

First-Ever STEM Day High School Shadowing Event

On STEM Day, November 8, 2022, CoECS invited prospective high school students with an interest in STEM to visit New York Tech’s Manhattan campus to get a taste of life as a college student. Participants attended a real introductory STEM course, chatted with current New York Tech students, and toured campus. The first-ever STEM Day High School Shadowing Event was well received, and we hope to replicate the event on the Long Island campus and again next year in Manhattan.

New Career Mentoring Program

To help students feel supported in their personal and professional growth, CoECS introduced its first mentoring program. “Career Mentoring for Post-University Success” offers students mentorship within the CoECS community, promoting healthy dialogue and guidance from experienced professionals among our alumni and friends.

Leadership Recognition

CoECS trusts in the indispensable knowledge of professionals and practitioners from industry, academia, and beyond who volunteer their time to help make strategic decisions for the betterment of the college and its community.

(The Board does not provide fiduciary oversight that might make its members liable for the governance and financial oversight of the College; that role is provided by the New York Tech Board of Trustees.)

Robert A. DiFazio, Ph.D.

Chair, D-EAB; President, RZio LLC

David Antar

President of IPVideo Corporation and A+ Technology & Security Solutions, Inc.; CEO of ACG

Soyeb Barot

Vice President, Gartner

Thomas D. Bianculli

Director of EMC Strategy & Portfolio, Zebra Technologies Co.

Chad Bouton

Vice President, Professor, and Director of Neural Bypass and Brain-Computer Interface Laboratory, The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell Health

Matthew W. Daus

Partner, Chair of Transportation, Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP

Steven J. DeCarlo

Director of Utility Services, Colliers Engineering & Design

Mark Hanny

Former Global Vice President, IBM; Principal, Partnering for Growth, LL C

Anil Kapoor President & Chief Executive Officer, SVAM International, Inc.

Larry Karantzios

Sr., Pre-Sales Engineer, East, ZScaler Inc.

John R. Keville

Partner, SheppardMullin

Michael Lantier

Assistant Vice President-Deputy Market Leader, Education, H2M Architects + Engineers

George Likourezos

Partner, Carter, Deluca & Farrell LLP

Mitchell Maiman

Co-founder and Business Strategy Consultant, Intelligent Product Solutions

Jacqueline Mason

VP Enterprise Technology Services/End User Technology, Morgan Stanle y

Kenneth McCauley

Executive Vice President, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.

Barbara Porter

Chief Operating Officer/Chief Technology Officer, Fragrancenet.com Inc.

Sanyogita Shamsunder

Head, Global Edge Networking, Google

Jennifer Thayer, Ph.D.

Senior Consultant, Mottspoint Consulting

Thomas Van Laan

CEO, CloudCalc, Inc.

William Zucker

Sr. VP, Head of Mobile Networks Baseband and System on Chip Development Unit, Nokia Mobile Networks Business Group

The mission of the College of Engineering & Computing Sciences (CoECS) of New York Institute of Technology Dean’s Executive Advisory Board (D-EAB) is to advise the Dean of the College in the planning, advancement and development of the College. Board members provide counsel on educational, research and strategic directions and priorities, resource generation, and mutually beneficial partnerships with industry, alumni, city, state, and federal agencies.

CONTACT US

EMAIL

coecs@nyit.edu

deanofengineering@nyit.edu

CALL

516.686.7985

New York Institute of Technology's six schools and colleges offer undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs in in-demand disciplines including computer science, data science, and cybersecurity; biology, health professions, and medicine; architecture and design; engineering; IT and digital technologies; management; and energy and sustainability. A nonprofit, independent, private, and nonsectarian institute of higher education founded in 1955, it welcomes nearly 8,000 students worldwide. The university has campuses in New York City and Long Island, New York; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as programs around the world. The university's student-centered approach, academic support programs, generous scholarships, and career-oriented programs support its mission to provide all qualified students access to opportunity. Caring, expert faculty and staff provide an outcomes-focused, technology-infused student experience and support research and scholarship that benefit the larger world. More than 112,000 alumni are part of an engaged network of physicians, architects, scientists, engineers, business leaders, digital artists, and healthcare professionals. Together, the university’s community of doers, makers, healers, and innovators empowers graduates to change the world, solve 21st-century challenges, and reinvent the future.