COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING C O L L E G E
O F
E N G I N E E R I N G
ANNUAL REPORT 2022-2023
ANNUAL REPORT
1
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR This year marks a significant milestone for the University of South Florida (USF). We proudly became the first public university in Florida to be invited to join the Association of American Universities (AAU) in nearly four decades. USF is one of only two institutions from the State University System of Florida to hold this prestigious AAU membership. Despite being among the youngest institutions to be inducted, our swift ascent to the AAU is a testament to our dedication to excellence. The Computer Science and Engineering department at USF, the second-largest department on campus, has substantially contributed to this achievement. With a robust student body of over 3,000, our efforts are further underscored by the Academic Analytics Scholarly Research Index (AAD 2021). By this measure, which evaluates grants, articles, conferences, awards, and citations, the USF CSE department holds a commendable mid-tier rank among all Computer Science departments in AAU universities, both public and private. The timing of our AAU induction is right, considering the rising tech sector in the Tampa Bay region. Over the past five years, we’ve witnessed a 30% increase in tech job growth, and projections suggest an addition of more than 3,700 jobs by 2027. Forbes has recognized Tampa as Florida’s technological nexus, accounting for over a quarter of the state’s tech employment. With 405 Bachelor’s, 68 Master’s, and 11 Ph.D. graduates in computer science, computer engineering, information technology, and cybersecurity in the academic year 2022-23, USF is poised to continue supplying top-tier tech professionals to the region’s expanding tech enterprises. Our undergraduate program, the Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity, recently underwent an ABET review and now stands as our third ABET-accredited degree. With an enrollment exceeding 675 students, this program is seeing rapid growth. In a significant stride for our department and local high schools, we secured a $1.39 million grant (PI: Sriram Chellappan) from the Florida Department of Education to enhance our cybersecurity capabilities. Furthermore, a $3.7 million NSF CyberCorps Scholarship grant (PI: Srinivas Katkoori) will amplify our commitment to cybersecurity education. Research, too, has been a hallmark of our achievements this year. Our department’s annual research expenditure for 2021-22 reached $4.6 milion, maintaining last year’s figure and marking 75% increase over the past five years. Our faculty members are executing $18 million in active awards for impactful research initiatives funded by esteemed bodies like the NSF, IARPA, US Army, DoD, NIH, NIST, and more. Dr. Tempestt Neal’s NSF CAREER award stands out among our faculty’s accolades. Additionally, a generous $1.5 million donation from The Rapid7 Cybersecurity Foundation will establish the Cyber Threat Intelligence Lab, furthering our mission of cultivating future cybersecurity leaders. CSE Professor Simon Ou and researchers from Rapid7 secured another $1.5 million in external funding
2
USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
from the National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research to augment this donation. We’re thrilled to welcome ten accomplished faculty members this Fall: five in tenure-track positions, three in instructional roles, and two as professors of practice. Our newly appointed Provost, Prashant Mohapatra, a computer scientist, joins us from UC Davis, further enriching our department. Our dedication to broadening participation in computing is unwavering. A grant from Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, in collaboration with the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University, has been instrumental in implementing evidence-based strategies to attract and retain more women in computer science. The results are evident, with our recent graduating class in computer science boasting 28.7% women, up from 18% two years ago. USF CSE’s online initiatives are flourishing. The Pathway to Computing graduate certificate program, a precursor to our Master of Science in Computer Science, has grown from 8 to 30 students within a year. Our newly introduced online graduate AI certificate is already showing promising results. These highlights encapsulate our department’s progress and achievements over the past year. I encourage you to delve deeper into our comprehensive report for a detailed exploration of our endeavors. Sincerely,
Sudeep Sarkar | Distinguished University Professor and Chair
RANKINGS COMPUTING STUDENTS AT USF (FALL 2022) Computer Science and Engineering (ENG) 64%
School of Information (CAS) 14%
Computer Science (BS, MS, PhD)
Information Science (BS)
Computer Engineering (BS, MS, PhD) Cybersecurity (BS) Information Technology (BS) Total Students: 2926
Cybersecurity Intelligence and Information Security (MS)
School of Information Systems and Management (MUMA) 22% Business Analytics and Information Systems (BS, MS)
Undergraduate: 2619
Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (BS)
Graduate: 307
Figure 1: Three units in separate colleges teach different computing-related degrees to 4559 students. Computer Science and Engineering teach nearly 3000 students, roughly 64% of all computing students at USF (as of Fall 2022). ANNUAL REPORT
3
RANKINGS % WOMEN IN GRADUATES IN BS COMPUTER SCIENCE 35% 30%
28.7%
25% 20% 15%
15.4%
10%
14.9%
15.7%
17.9%
17.9%
18-19
19-20
20-21
18.8%
5%
16-17
17-18
21-22
22-23
Figure 2: A grant from Melinda Gates Pivotal Ventures via the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University funded evidence-based approaches to attract and retain more women in computer science. The project started in Fall 2020. We saw the impact in AY 2022-23 with a graduating class of 28.7% women graduates in computer science.
It’s with great pride that we share with you that based on objective measures of grants, awards, publications, citations, and books - normalized by the number of faculty - we are performing in the top 15% (rank 40) of 260 CS units at private and public universities. This remarkable achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our faculty members, who have strived to produce highquality research and publications that contribute to the field of computer science. Consistently ranked in the top 15% (rank 40) of all CS units at private and public universities is no small feat. It indicates that our faculty members are among the best and brightest in computer science. This outstanding performance reflects our commitment to academic excellence and our unwavering determination to push our discipline’s knowledge boundaries. According to the Academic Analytics Scholarly Research Index (using default weights for grants, articles, conferences, awards, and citations) (AAD 2021): •
USF CSE is in the top 15% (rank 40) of 260 Computer Science units in public and private universities.
•
USF CSE ranks middle among all CS departments at AAU universities (public and private).
•
USF CSE is among the top 10 departments at the University of South Florida based on percentile in respective disciplines.
•
Peer-ranked departments include the University of Florida, Duke University, the University of California at Davis, and the University of Texas at Austin.
The 2024 US News ranked the USF Computer Engineering program at 42 (up from 55) and the Computer Science program at 65 (up from 66) among U.S. public universities. (US News ranking of departments is solely based on subjective perceptions and is not evidence-based.)
4
USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
USF CSE RESEARCH PERFORMANCE ACADEMIC ANALYTICS (AAD 2021) 100% 90%
89%
80% 70% 60%
75%
69%
72%
15.7% 62%
50% 40%
17.9%
30% 20% 10%
Articles / Faculty
Awards / Faculty
Cites / Faculty
Conf Proc / Faculty
Federal Grants / Faculty
FACULTY PROFILE Artificial Intelligence
Cybersecurity
Machine learning; Data mining; Robotics; Natural language processing; Computer vision; Reasoning systems; Fairness and explainability; Affective computing
Computing Hardware and Sensors VLSI design; AI accelerators; Testing and verification; Bio-implantable devices; Computational imaging; Mobile wireless sensing; Cyber-physical systems
Networks and Systems
Network security; Wireless security; Applied cryptography; Runtime security; Intrusion detection systems; Human aspects of cybersecurity; Differential privacy; Hardware security
Human-Centered Computing Smart health systems; Humancomputer interaction; Braincomputer interfaces; Human performance; Socio-technical systems; Human-centered authentication; Human-robot interaction; Augmented reality; Social networks
Green networks; Wireless networks; Mobile systems and communications; Database systems; Multimedia systems; Distributed systems ANNUAL REPORT
5
FACULTY PROFILE Great faculty members make for great departments. USF CSE has 34 tenure-stream faculty and 14 full-time instructional faculty members. We have one NAI, four IEEE, four AAAS, three IAPR, three AIMBE Fellows, 11 NSF CAREER award recipients, and three Distinguished University Professors. Our faculty members value research, teaching, and service. Many faculty members are part of editorial boards of top technical publications. Multiple faculty members have been awarded Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching awards from the university. As reported to ASEE, the annual research expenditure for 2021-22 was $4.6 million. Research expenditures have more than doubled over the past five years, with almost the same number of T/TT faculty members. Faculty members and students are performing on $18 million in active external research grants, making discoveries and innovations in Artificial intelligence, Cybersecurity, Computing hardware and sensors, Human-centered computing, and Networks and systems. Our faculty members are very involved with service to professional societies (such as IEEE and ACM) and the community. Some major grants received this year include:
6
•
NSF CAREER award to Tempsett Neal;
•
New NSF Grant: CyberCorps Scholarship NSF, $3,700,000, 01/01/2023-12/31/2027.
•
New State Grant: Expanding pipeline of Cyber/IT $1,390,000, 08/01/2022-07/31/2023
•
New DoD Contract: U.S. Army /KRI Northeastern, $5,000,000, 01/15/2022-01/14/2027.
•
A $1.5 million investment by The Rapid7 Cybersecurity Foundation will fund the joint endeavor, providing hands-on learning opportunities to the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
CSE UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS
At the undergraduate level, CSE offers four-degree programs:
•
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (ABET accredited)
•
Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity (ABET accredited)
•
Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering (ABET accredited)
•
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.
Figure 3 shows the profile of the growth in the four programs. With 3084 students (2607 UG, 477 Grad), the second-largest department at USF in terms of students is slightly lower than Chemistry and larger than many colleges. CSE students comprise 46% of the College of Engineering. We awarded 405 BS degrees in AY 2022-23 (Figure 4). As we can see, our computer science and cybersecurity programs are growing, while the information technology program is declining. The computer engineering program has been stable over the years. Our graduates are in top companies in the Tampa Bay region and nationwide, including CAE, Raymond James, JP Morgan, Johnson and Johnson, Reliaquest, Citibank, Raytheon, G.M., Google, IBM, Twitter, and Intel.
UNDERGRADUATE HEADCOUNT
Figure 3: Undergraduate student numbers in the four-degree programs at USF CSE over the years.
3000
2500
2000
396
456
571
334
308
182 1500
1000
500
434
557
642
344
357
382
336
758
821
935
1049
Fall 2017
Fall 2018
Fall 2019
Fall 2020
651
686
264
250
320
275
1384
1396
Fall 2022
Fall 2023*
324
1144
0
BS Computer Science
BS Computer Engineering
Fall 2021
BS Information Technology
BS Cybersecurity ANNUAL REPORT
7
CSE UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS BACHELORS DEGREES AWARDED 450 400 350
72
13
117
18
300
123
250
117
89
200
27
150
45
105
117
134
AY 2015-16
AY 2016-17
AY 2017-18
40 65
66 50
44
92
65
43
140
134
141
AY 2018-19
AY 2019-20
AY 2020-21
100 50
BS Computer Science
BS Computer Engineering
BS Information Technology
78
59
52
52
181
177
AY 2021-22
AY 2022-23
BS Cybersecurity
Figure 4: Undergraduate student numbers in the four-degree programs at USF CSE over the years.
CSE GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS We currently have three graduate degree programs. •
Master of Science in Computer Science,
•
Computer Engineering, and
•
Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering.
As of Fall 2023, we have 381 Master’s students and 96 Ph.D. students pursuing their dreams. In AY 2022-23, students graduated with 68 M.S. and 11 Ph.D. degrees. Figure 5 and Figure 6 show the profile of the headcount and degree awards for the graduate programs. This year, we see a significant increase in the MS Computer Science program due to the expanding MSCS initiative. The PhD and the MS in Computer Science have been stable over time. We see a drop in MS in Information Technology, which is expected as it was terminated due to insufficient faculty resources and a lack of diminishing interest among students compared to the other programs in the department. We are in the teach-out mode for MSIT.
8
USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
GRADUATE HEADCOUNT 500 450
96 400
4 31
350 300
95
250 200 150 100 50
86
97
36 14
34 14
100 31 18
26 11
68
89
67
Fall 2018
Fall 2019
Fall 2020
73 Fall 2017
116
MS Computer Science
MS Computer Engineering
96
13 23
23 18
176
346
93
Fall 2021
MS Information Technology
Fall 2022
Fall 2023*
PhD Computer Science and Engineering
Figure 5: CSE graduate student headcount over time.
GRADUATE DEGREES AWARDED 120
100
20 5 8
80
12
12 11
60
21 11
7 40
20
20
10 3 8
65
AY 2016-17
7
MS Computer Science
AY 2017-18
13
8
10
7
8 59
30
45
AY 2018-19
AY 2019-20
MS Computer Engineering
8
9
50
30
AY 2015-16
12
11
14
53 41
AY 2020-21
MS Information Technology
AY 2021-22
AY 2022-23
MS Cybersecurity
Figure 6: CSE graduate degrees awarded over time.
ANNUAL REPORT
9
2022-23 PH.D. GRADUATES AND PLACEMENT NAME
ADVISOR(S)
PLACEMENT
Tao Hou
Y. Liu
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor I Texas State University I San Marcos, TX
Md Adnan Zaman
R. Karam
Graphics Hardware Engineer I Intel Corporation I Clara, CA
Pablo Scleidorovich
A. Weitzenfeld
Data Scientist I Edgility I Tampa, FL
Kaoutar Ben Ahmed
L. Hall
Teaching Assistant Professor I School of Computing I Florida International University I Miami, FL
Md Sirajus Salekin
Y. Sun,
Applied Scientist I Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc. I Atlanta, GA
D. Goldgof Fred Mubang
L. Hall
Data Scientist I Experian I San Diego, CA I Remote Work
Palak Dave
D. Goldgof
Postdoctoral Research Fellow I Moffitt Cancer Center I Tampa, FL
Omkar Dokur
S. Katkoori
Software Engineer CUTR
Sarah Garcia
M. Andujar
U.S. Army Soldier Center Simulation and Training Technology Center I Orlando, FL
Shen Lu
L. Piegl
Founder & CEO - Soft Challenge LLC
Brooks Olney
R. Karam
Hardware Security Researcher I MIT Lincoln Laboratory I Lexington, MA
10 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
NEW FACULTY MEMBERS Prasant Mohapatra has been the Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs for the University of South Florida since March 2023. Before joining USF in 2023, Dr. Mohapatra was the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California, Davis. He was also a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science. He served as the Dean and Vice-Provost of Graduate Studies at the University of California, Davis, from 2016 to 2018. He served as an Associate Chancellor from 2014 to 2016 and the Interim Vice-Provost and CIO of UC Davis from 2013 to 2014. He was the Department Chair of Computer Science from 2007 to 2013 and held the Tim Bucher Family Endowed Chair Professorship during that period. Dr. Mohapatra has been on the faculty of Iowa State University and Michigan State University. He also held Visiting Scientist positions at Intel Corporation, Panasonic Technologies, Institute of Infocomm Research (I2R), Singapore, and National ICT Australia (NICTA). He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Padova, Italy and Yonsei University, and KAIST, South Korea. Dr. Mohapatra was the editor-in-chief of the “IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.” He has served on the editorial board of the “IEEE Transactions on Computers,” “IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing,” “IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems,” ACM WINET, and Ad Hoc Networks. He has served as the Program Chair and the General Chair and has been on the program/ organizational committees of several international conferences. He has been a Guest Editor for IEEE Network, “IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing,” “IEEE Communications,” “IEEE Wireless Communications,” and “IEEE Computer.” Dr. Mohapatra received his doctoral degree from Penn State University in 1993 and an Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award in 2008. He also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. Dr. Mohapatra received an Outstanding Research Faculty Award from the College of Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received the HP Labs Innovation awards in 2011, 2012, and 2013. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of AAAS. Dr. Mohapatra’s research interests are wireless networks, mobile communications, cybersecurity, and Internet protocols. He has published over 400 papers in reputed conferences and journals. Dr. Mohapatra’s research has been funded through grants totaling about $15 million from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Army Research Labs, Intel Corporation, Siemens, Panasonic Technologies, Hewlett Packard, Raytheon, ARM Research, and EMC Corporation.
ANNUAL REPORT
11
Raiyan Abdul Baten joined as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Fall of 2023. He received his PhD and MS degrees as well as postdoctoral training at the University of Rochester under the supervision of Professor Ehsan Hoque. His doctoral thesis focused on understanding the creative idea-generation performances of humans in temporal social networks. He received his BSc degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. He was a research intern at Snap Inc. (Computational Social Science group) and Samsung R&D Institute (Solution Lab). Dr. Baten is broadly interested in the research areas of network science, human-computer interaction, machine learning/deep learning, computational social science, affective computing, natural language processing, and graph data mining. His research focuses on building technology to enhance humans’ soft skills and collective performances. He brings methods and materials from computer science, social science, psychology, network science, and cognitive science together.
Zhao Han joined as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Fall of 2023. Before USF, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Han holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UMass Lowell, advised by AAAI Fellow Dr. Holly Yanco. Previously, he received his MS and BS degrees in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba in Canada. His research lies broadly in human-robot interaction (HRI), robotics, AI, and augmented reality (AR). He focuses on designing, developing, and evaluating novel robotic systems and experiences for embodied robots to be more capable and understandable while interacting and collaborating with humans. Dr. Han received the best long-paper award at INLG 2022, the best late-breaking report third prize at HRI 2022, and a best late-breaking report nominee at HRI 2023. Previously, he had led teams to win first place in the Panasonic Prototype 3D LiDAR Challenge and second place in the FetchIt Mobile Manipulation Challenge at ICRA 2019. Dr. Zhao Han is a Publications Chair of HRI 2024, a Program Committee (PC) member of HRI 2023, and a General Co-Chair of the 2022 AI-HRI symposium. He has also co-organized multiple workshops and chaired paper sessions.
12 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Yili Ren joined as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Fall of 2023. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science at Florida State University. Before that, he received his M.S. degree from the School of Electronics and Information Engineering at Beihang University. His research interest focuses on mobile computing with an emphasis on integrating the sensing capabilities of wireless and mobile devices to build new classes of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart home applications, enable novel technologies for human-computer interaction (HCI), as well as improve smart home and IoT security. His work has been published in prestigious conferences and journals such as USENIX Security, ACM SenSys, ACM UbiComp, ACM ACSAC, and IEEE IoT.
John M. Templeton joined as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Fall of 2023. He completed his Ph.D. under Professor Christian Poellabauer from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. His principal research and expertise lie in the cross‑sectional area of computer science and engineering focused on smart health systems, human factored design, IoT, mobile computing, and machine learning applications in healthcare. His doctoral and postdoctoral research has resulted in the design and development of neurocognitive digital health systems for neurodegenerative diseases via crowdsensing, mobile sensing, and streaming data analytics for the evaluation of digital features in disease classification, staging, and symptom-specific intervention protocols.
Ning Wang joined as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Fall of 2023. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2023. Before that, she completed her BE in Telecommunications and ME in Electronics and Telecommunications from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China, in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Dr. Wang’s primary research interest is Trustworthy AI, specifically focusing on interdisciplinary AI and Security studies. Her work encompasses two main areas: employing machine learning to develop innovative security solutions (AI for security), and enhancing the security and privacy of machine learning systems against vulnerabilities (security of AI). She has contributed to esteemed conferences and journals in networking and security, including ACSAC, ASIACCS, INFOCOM, and TDSC.
ANNUAL REPORT
13
Taseef Rahman joined as an assistant professor of instruction in Fall 2023. He received his PhD from the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University in 2023 and his Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Islamic University of Technology (Dhaka, Bangladesh) in 2016. He has experience teaching courses on Python and computer systems programming. Besides teaching, he has also authored five peer-reviewed publications in renowned journals/conferences on the broader topic of Deep Learning, specializing in Bioinformatics.
Mauricio Pamplona Segundo is now an associate professor of instruction starting Fall 2023. He received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (2004-2007), master’s degree in Informatics (2008-2010), and doctoral degree in Computer Science (2010-2013) from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil. While completing the doctorate, he was a visiting research scholar at the University of South Florida (USF). His doctoral thesis on 3D face recognition received the third-best thesis award at the Brazilian Computer Society Conference in 2014. He was also a research fellow at the UNESCO, where he worked on the digital reconstruction of statues from a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site to support preservation and restoration efforts. From 2014 to 2020, he was a professor at the Department of Computer Science at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Brazil. He created an advanced study group in algorithms and data structures that helped students succeed in the main programming competitions (e.g., ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest and International Olympiad in Informatics). In 2020, he joined USF as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI+X). His work on estimating the impact of COVID-19 on air traffic through satellite imagery received recognition from the European Space Agency.
Hye Seon Yi joined the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Florida Tampa as an assistant professor of instruction in 2023. She received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of South Florida in 2023, M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University in NYC in 2007, and BS in Computer Science from Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea in 1998.
14 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
William Gauvin is a Professor of Practice in the department starting Fall 2023. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts. He is a Technical Director within the Symantec Enterprise Division of Broadcom. At Broadcom, he is a member of the Cyber Security Services/Global Government Engineering (CSS/GGE) group, where he works as an architect, designing advanced malware detection and analysis tools using machine learning. He has 39 years of experience within the industry, specifically in networks and security, having personally been involved in designing and developing three firewalls: the AltaVista Firewall, Raptor Firewall, and Symantec Gateway Security Firewall/UTM. In addition, he has worked on several other securityrelated technologies, such as a version of Norton Antivirus for the Small Mobile Environment / Portable Electronic Device, an advanced version of Data Loss Protection filtering and detection, a secure file reputation system, and Symantec Insight for Malware Researchers (a malware analysis tool). He is highly involved in Cyber Threat Information Sharing (CTIS), for which he acted as a member of the group that defined the protocols and language (STIX/TAXII) used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to allow government and industries to share cyber threat intelligence. He is also a member of a group actively participating in the response to the Execute Order (EO) 14028 to provide recommendations on securing the software supply chain. He has been issued 27 patents on security technologies.
Richard Rauscher is a Professor of Practice starting Fall 2023. He earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Penn State University in State College, PA, and is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). With over 35 years of industry experience spanning healthcare, life sciences, economics, and e-commerce, he has held various executive roles, including Chief Information Officer at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, MI, Information Security Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL, Executive Director of IT at Boston University in Boston, MA, and Director of Research Informatics at Penn State University in Hershey, PA. Dr. Rauscher is an expert in IT operations and has expertise in bioinformatics and medical informatics. On a national level, he notably contributed to the CCHIT standard for clinical research as a member of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT), the NCI’s cancer biomedical informatics grid (caBIG), a framework for the use of Vanderbilt University’s REDCap software that is 21CFR11 compliant and the national Patient-centered Clinical Research Network (PCORInet). Dr. Rauscher first joined USF in 1993 as a network and systems architect. During this period, he published the university’s first primary website, made significant advancements in information security, and taught his first course. He later moved
Continued ANNUAL REPORT
15
to the rapidly-growing Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, where he led the architecture of Moffitt’s systems for eight years, pioneering various technologies such as secure data collection for clinical trials over the emerging World Wide Web. Throughout his career, Dr. Rauscher has specialized in networking, operating systems, and cybersecurity. In addition to these areas, he possesses expertise in bioinformatics and healthcare informatics. He has recently become interested in quantum computing and its potential application in simulating metabolic networks to reduce the cost and time involved in discovering novel therapeutics to fight cancer.
BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN COMPUTING (BPC) Mandated by funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), and also demanded by the industry hiring our students, the department has a robust Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC). This initiative is funded by external sources such as funding agencies, industry, donations, and the government. State E&G funds are not used. The specific sources of funding include: •
A three-year, $579,737 grant from Melinda Gates Pivotal Ventures via the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University for funding evidence-based approaches to attract and retain more women computer science, information technology, and cybersecurity students.
•
A $5 million grant from NSF to FIU, UCF, and USF to form the Florida IT Graduation Attainment Pathways (Flit-GAP) program to recruit, retain, and guide to success 150 academically talented students with financial need in computing who may also be from underrepresented groups.
•
A $3.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will establish the Cybersecurity Research and Education for Service in Government, which will enable USF to recruit, mentor, and provide scholarships to at least 28 graduate and undergraduate students who are US citizens and prepare them to serve as cybersecurity professionals in the federal government.
•
Donation of $30K from Amazon Pay for students from underrepresented groups in computing.
•
Industry funding to the Computing Partners Program for BPC activities.
•
Donations and gifts to establish scholarships to broaden participation:
https://www.usf.edu/engineering/cse/csescholarships.aspx
16 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
FALL 2022 CSE (FEMALE)
FALL 2022 CSE (MALE) Race - NR 3% Two or More Race 4%
Hispanic 22%
Two or More Race 4%
Hispanic 23%
White 29%
White 43%
Black 9%
Black 7%
Asian 37%
Asian 21%
THE BPC CORE TEAM
ANNUAL REPORT
17
INNOVATIVE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS PATHWAY TO COMPUTING AT GRADUATE LEVEL USF CSE is a member (with signed MOU) of the MSCS Pathways to Computing Consortium, a national consortium with the mission of designing and implementing programs that enable individuals from diverse academic backgrounds to obtain a Master of Science in computing
https://tinyurl.com/bdfh8etp
disciplines and to pursue a career in tech. Consortium members
join efforts in outreach and fundraising, providing scholarship opportunities to eligible students. Inspired by the effort of peer organizations, USF CSE now offers a fully online Pathway to Computing graduate certificate program as a bridge to the Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS) at USF. This program also provides a pathway to a computing career for college graduates with a degree in non-computing disciplines who want a new skill set that they can immediately use professionally. Certificate graduates are well-positioned to transition their careers to computing and earn an advanced academic credential in computing. Qualified students who complete the online certificate program gain priority entry into USF’s MSCS program, with no GRE required. This is a self-funded program built with USF Innovative Education. The first cohort of 8 students are now students in the MSCS program. In Fall 2023, 30 new students started the certificate program.
GRADUATE AI CERTIFICATE This program is an ideal fit for recent graduates seeking a competitive edge in an emerging sector of the tech field, professionals in non-computing disciplines (such as in engineering or science) who want to upskill
https://tinyurl.com/4d2jtjwy
or transition into an AI role, and individuals seeking a pathway to USF’s Master of Science in Data Intelligence. It consists of four fully online asynchronous courses (12 credits), online synchronous testing, and office hours. This is a self-funded program built with USF Innovative Education.
18 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
INTERDISCIPLINARY DEGREE PROGRAMS In addition to the programs we lead, we participate actively in academic programs led by other departments across the campus.
PHD IN BIG DATA ANALYTICS The Muma College of Business offers the PhD in Big Data Analytics as an interdisciplinary STEM PhD program focusing on systems and technologies for processing data and information. The PhD in Big Data Analytics is built on an interdisciplinary infrastructure that draws from expertise across USF. Students entering the program will take core courses during the first two years of study. These core courses span several colleges and include mathematics and statistics, computer science and engineering, industrial and management systems engineering, psychology, public health, and business. In addition to core courses, students will also have the ability to take elective courses depending on their specific areas of interest. This program currently has five students.
MS IN CYBERSECURITY The Departments of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, and Industrial and Management Systems Engineering jointly offer a non-thesis option for the degree of Master of Science in Cybersecurity (MSCYS). This program started in the Fall of 2022 and currently has 24 students.
UNDERGRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN CRYPTOGRAPHY This interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate program in Cryptography is aimed at students majoring in either Mathematics or Computer Science. This program includes courses in Mathematics and Computer Science, including newly created courses on the applications of quantum computing to cryptography. This program provides a comprehensive set of courses about the various aspects of cryptography taught at USF. To complete the program, the students must complete four courses (12 credits) from a list of recognized courses.
MS IN DATA INTELLIGENCE With help from USF Innovative Education, we are participating in an Industrial and Management Systems Engineering led MS in Data Intelligence degree program. It launched in the Fall of 2023 and will be a cost-recovery program.
ANNUAL REPORT
19
EXTERNAL FUNDING FOR RESEARCH As reported to ASEE, the annual research expenditure for 2021-22 was $4.5 million. Research expenditures have more than doubled over the years, consistently increasing from $1.8 million to $4.6 million since 2015-16 (Figure 3). Over this period, tenure track faculty increased by just four from 24 to 28. While teaching beyond maximum capacity, the departmental faculty members have also been operating at maximum capacity in research.
RESEARCH EXPENDITURES $7,000,000
Total Research Expenditures
$6,000,000 $5,000,000 $4,000,000 $3,000,000 $2,000,000 $1,000,000 $0 2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
Figure 7: The plot shows the variation of research expenditures for each department in the college of engineering. CSE has increased consistently from $1.8 million to $4.6 million since 2015-16. Chemical
Civil
Computer
Electrical
Industrial
Mechanical
Medical
Active External Grants (FY 2022-23) Carney, R. (PI); Chellappan, Sriram; Bowser, A; Low,
Fisk, N. (PI); Chellappan, Sriram; Sarkar, Sudeep, AI-
R., Surveillance and Control of Mosquito-Borne
Cybersecurity: Faking It: Facilitating Public Awareness
Diseases through Automated Species Identification
of Cybersecurity Issues in AI, NSF, $300,000,
and Spatiotemporal Modeling, NSF, $932,000,
7/15/2021 - 06/30/2024.
10/01/2020 - 9/30/2024. Christensen, Kenneth (PI), Florida Information Chellappan, Sriram (PI); Christensen, Ken; Batson,
Technology Graduation Attainment Pathways, NSF,
Bernard; Pazos-Revilla, Marbin; Sarkar, Sudeep,
$1,421,774, 07/01/2021 - 06/30/2026.
Expanding the pipeline of Cyber/IT workforce in the Tampa Bay area, Florida Department of Education and
Gaspar, Alessio, Coevolutionary Peer Instruction, NSF,
Cyber Florida, $1,390,000, 08/01/2022 - 07/31/2023
$377,012, 07/01/2020 - 06/30/2024.
20 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Mouton, P. (SRC PI); Goldgof, Dmitry (PI); Hall,
Mozaffari Kermani, Mehran, Investigating Active Side-
Lawrence, STTR Phase II: Microscope-based
Channel Attacks and Developing Countermeasures for
Technology for Automatic Brain Cell Counts Using
Standardization of Lightweight Cryptography, NIST,
Unbiased Methods, NSF+ Florida High Tech Corridor,
$500,000, 04/01/2020 - 04/01/2024.
$899,292, 9/1/2019 - 8/31/2023. Mozaffari Kermani, Mehran, Countermeasures Karam, Robert (USF PI), The UroMonitor: Innovative
Against Side-Channel Attacks Targeting Hardware and
Technology to Improve Management of Bladder
Embedded System Implementations of Post-Quantum
Dysfunction, NIH/CCF, $111,783, 09/01/2021 -
Cryptographic Algorithms, NSF, $316,000, 10/1/2018
08/31/2023.
- 9/30/2024.
Karam, Robert (PI); Katkoori, Srinivas; Mozaffari-
Neal, Tempestt (PI), CAREER: Inclusive Cybersecurity
Kermani, Mehran, Improving Student Learning through
Through the Lens of Accessible Identity and Access
Competitive Embedded System Security Challenges,
Management, NSF, $607,272, 07/01/2023
NSF, $499,145, 05/01/2020 - 04/30/2024.
-06/30/2028.
Karam, Robert (PI); Katkoori, Srinivas; Zheng, Hao,
Neal, Tempestt (PI); Canavan, Shaun; Anthony, L.;
Project HaHa: Hands-on Hardware Security Education,
Ruiz, J., Toward Age-Aware Continuous Authentication
Florida Department of Education and Cyber Florida,
on Personal Computing Devices, NSF, $533,292,
$209,825, 08/01/2022 - 07/31/2023
04/01/2021 - 03/31/2024.
Katkoori, Srinivas (PI); Manish Agrawal, M.; Ghani, N.;
Neal, Tempestt (PI), McKnight Fellowship, Florida
Javidi, G. Ou, X. CyberCorps Scholarship for Service:
Education Foundation, $15,000, 5/1/22 - 4/30/23.
Cybersecurity Research and Education for Service in Government (CREST), NSF, $3,700,000, 01/01/2023
Neal, Tempsett (PI), Speedlane Social Media
- 12/31/2027.
Micromoments, Fanatics Apparel LLC, $25,000, 8/23/21 - 7/31/23.
Takshi, A. (PI), Sagar P., and Katkoori, Srinivas, Cellulose Based Flexible Solid-State High Power and
Thomas, S. (PI); Neal, Tempestt; Negro, A., Early
High Energy Supercapacitor, MDA (SBIR subcontract
Detection of Disease Outbreaks using Self-Organizing
from PolyMaterials Inc), $273,555, 12/1/2020 -
Patterns – COVID-19, NSF, $200,000, 05/07/2020 -
1/26/2023.
08/31/2024.
Licato, John (PI), EAGER: Grounding Natural Language
Kosyluk, K. (PI); Neal, Tempestt; Salzer, M.; Corrigan,
Inference in Cognitive Processes, NSF,
P., Up To Me: Erasing the Stigma of Mental Illness
$149,570, 5/1/23 - 4/30/24.
on College Campuses, NIH/NIDILRR, $600,000, 09/01/2021 - 08/31/2024.
Lin, P.S. (PI), Ligatti, Jay; Li, Xiaopeng; Barbeau, Sean; Kourtellis, Achilleas, Identify Sources and Risks on
Ou, Xinming (Simon) (PI), Mixed Methods Research
Cybersecurity for Connected Vehicle Infrastructures,
on Expert Cyber Training Using a Mock SOC, ONR,
FDOT, $240,989, 5/18/2020 - 8/23/2023.
$754,720, 1/1/23 - 12/31/25.
Liu, Yao (PI), Zhuo L., Creating Content Verification
Sarkar, Sudeep (PI), Licato, John, Das, Tapas, Testing
Tools to Protect Document Integrity, NSF, $500,000,
& Evaluation for Soldier-Device Teaming Compatibility,
10/1/2020 - 9/30/2024.
Vulnerability, and Durability in Emergent Situations, U.S. Army DEVCOM Data & Analysis Center (DAC)/ KRI Northeastern, $5,000,000, 01/15/2022 01/14/2027. ANNUAL REPORT
21
Sarkar, Sudeep (PI), Distant Observation Enhancement
Sun, Yu (PI); Goldgof, D.; Huang, Y., An AI-based
and Recognition System (DOERS), Intelligence
multimodal approach to predict Pain in postnatal care
Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)/Kitware,
scenarios, USF-subcontract from SRC Biosciences,
$687,752, 10/01/2021 - 05/30/2025.
(NIH/STTR/R41, Mouton, P.), $179,988, 8/10/2022 7/31/2023.
Sarkar, Sudeep (PI); Christensen, Ken; Wang, Jing, Broadening Participation in Computing, NU Center
Tu, Yicheng, Data Management Molecular Simulations
for Inclusive Computing, Pivotal Ventures, $579,737,
– A Throughput-Oriented Approach, NIH-RO1 (NIGMS),
8/24/2020 - 8/23/2024.
$1,149,236, 9/22/2021 - 8/31/2025.
Sarkar, Sudeep (PI); Sanberg, P.; Fountain, M.;
Weitzenfeld, Alfredo, Experimental and Robotics
Mullarkey, M., I-Corps Sites + Type II: USF: Catalyzing
Investigations of Multi-Scale Spatial Memory
Research Translation, NSF, $319,646 + $160,000,
Consolidation of Complex Environments, NSF
04/01/2015 - 04/30/2024.
$494,420, 9/1/2017 - 9/30/2024.
Sarkar, Sudeep; Srivastava, A. (FSU); Aakur, S. (OSU),
Yavuz, Attila A., CAREER: Lightweight and Fast
Understanding Events from Streaming Video – Joint
Authentication for Internet of Things, NSF, $500,000,
Deep and Graph Representations, Commonsense Priors,
08/01/2017 - 12/31/2023.
and Predictive Learning. NSF, $1,005,543, 10/1/2020 - 9/30/2024.
Yavuz, Attila A., Trustworthy Digital Forensics for Heterogeneous Internet of Things, Cisco Research
Dubey, R. (PI); Sarkar, Sudeep; Reed, K.; Alqasemi,
Award, $99,998, 10/19/20 - 01/-1/24.
R., Achieving Autonomy by Learning from SensorAssisted Control in a Wheelchair-Based Human-Robot
Zhang, Z. (Utah State), Zheng, Hao (USF), Winstead,
Collaborative System, NSF, $576,383, 09/01/2018 -
C. (U Utah), An Efficient Framework for the Stochastic
08/31/2024.
Verification of Computation and Communication Systems Using Emerging Technologies, NSF,
Sun, Yu (PI), Goldgof, D., Thao H., Denise M., Yangxin
$985,274, 07/15/19-0 - 7/14/24.
H., A Multimodal Approach for Monitoring Prolonged Acute Pain in Neonates, NIH R21, $400,567, 7/16/2020 - 6/30/2023.
PATENTS 2022-23 US-11631280-B2, System and method for multimodal spatiotemporal pain assessment, Peter Randolph Mouton, Sammie Lee Elkins, Md Sirajus Salekin, Dmitry Goldgof, Yu Sun, Thao Ho, Ghadh Alzamzmi 4/18/23 https://patents.google.com/patent/US11631280B2/en
US-11501113-B2, Leveraging smart-phone cameras and image processing techniques to classify mosquito genus and species, Sriram Chellappan, Pratool Bharti, Mona Minakshi, Willie McClinton, Jamshidbek Mirzakhalov, 11/15/22 https://patents.google.com/patent/US11501113B2/en
22 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
US-11526960-B2, GPU-based data join, Yicheng Tu, Ran Rui, 12/13/22. https://patents.google.com/patent/US11526960B2/en
US-11573797-B2, Computing 2-body statistics on graphics processing units (GPUs), Yicheng Tu, Napath Pitaksirianan, 2/7/23 https://patents.google.com/patent/US11573797B2/en
US-11537755-B1, SR flip-flop based physical unclonable functions for hardware security, Srinivas Katkoori, Rohith Prasad Challa, Sheikh Ariful Islam, 12/27/22 https://patents.google.com/patent/US11537755B1/en
US-11451538-B2, Methods and systems of authenticating of personal communications, Sriram Chellappan, Balaji Padmanabhan, Tanvir Hossain Bhuiyan, Arup Kanti Dey, Shaminur Rahman, 9/20/22 https://patents.google.com/patent/US11451538B2/en
US-11588645-B1, Systems and methods for compromise resilient and compact authentication for digital forensics, Attila A. Yavuz, 2/21/23 https://patents.google.com/patent/US11588645B1/en
FACULTY IN THE NEWS PROFESSOR SRIRAM CHELLAPPAN’S RESEARCH FEATURED ON THE NSF WEBSITE SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/244e8tea
With funding from NSF, Sriram Chellappan (Computer Science and Engineering) and Ryan Carney (Integrative Biology) created the Global Mosquito Observations Dashboard to surveil mosquito-borne diseases with automated mosquito identification. The dashboard uses data from other apps that use citizen scientists to capture photos of mosquitoes. The approach offers international data at scale without the associated prohibitive expense and logistics.
ANNUAL REPORT
23
USF RESEARCHERS WORK TO CLOSE THE GAP IN SECURITY TO HELP PROVE IT’S YOU BEHIND A DEVICE NOVEMBER 11, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/y4n798be
Apps often have you press a button or enter a code on your phone to log in. But, a couple of the University of South Florida professors are working to close a gap in security to prove it’s you behind the device and not an imposter. Sriram Chellappan, Computer Science and Engineering, developed technology to use your voice to prove you are where you say you are and create a digital alibi. His reasons sprung from the need for justice. He partnered with USF business professor Balaji Padmanabhan to create the “Here I Am” app.
A NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT WILL HELP USF RECRUIT STUDENTS TO FIGHT CYBERCRIME JANUARY, 27, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/3w98ptfa NSF has awarded the USF the largest grant it has ever received for its cybersecurity program – helping prepare students for in-demand, high-paying jobs in the federal government and other public institutions. Led by Srinivas Katkoori, an associate professor of computer science and engineering, the $3.7 million grant will establish the Cybersecurity Research and Education for Service in Government, or CREST, program, which will enable USF to recruit, mentor and provide scholarships to at least 28 graduate and undergraduate students and prepare them to serve as cybersecurity professionals in the federal government.
24 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
USF FACULTY MEMBERS ENCOURAGE COLLEAGUES TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES OF AI ACROSS FEBRUARY 23, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/bdeestvz
In a series of seminars and workshops, the University of South Florida faculty is addressing the myriad effects artificial intelligence technologies, such as ChatGPT, will have on research and teaching in higher education. Through their conversations, faculty members have come away encouraging their peers to consider incorporating the new technology into their lives in and out of the classroom. John Licato, an assistant professor in the USF Department of Computer Science and Engineering, aims to quash overreactions and underreactions. “I want to pull people away from the two extremes,” said Licato, who hosted a seminar titled “ChatGPT, Cheating, and Chaos: What All Educators Need to Know, and What’s Next” at the USF Institute for Artificial Intelligence + X.
RAPID7 AND USF PARTNER TO ESTABLISH THE RAPID7 CYBER THREAT INTELLIGENCE LAB FEBRUARY 13, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/44eyhpur
As part of a shared mission to create a safer digital world, Rapid7, Inc. (NASDAQ: RPD), a leader in cloud risk and threat detection, is partnering with the University of South Florida (USF) to create a cyber threat intelligence laboratory that will support interdisciplinary research efforts by faculty experts and students from four colleges and myriad disciplines. The Rapid7 Cyber Threat Intelligence Lab at USF is funded by a $1.5 million investment from the Boston-based company’s charitable arm, The Rapid7 Cybersecurity Foundation. This joint endeavor will catalyze new collaborative research efforts in cyber threat detection and support an inclusive approach to diverse talent development in cybersecurity. It will also provide USF students the opportunity for hands-on learning and cybersecurity skills development as well as real-world experience tracking global threat actors. Faculty in Computer Science and Engineering will play a lead role in the laboratory. Already, CSE Professor Simon Ou and researchers from Rapid7 have secured external funding from the National Science Foundation to augment this donation. ANNUAL REPORT
25
PROFESSOR TEMPESTT RECEIVES AN NSF CAREER AWARD FEBRUARY 27, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/496zwmwv
Tempestt Neal, Assistant Professor in USF CSE, received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for her project, “Inclusive Cybersecurity Through the Lens of Accessible Identity and Access Management (I-CLAIM).” The NSF’s CAREER award is one of the most prestigious and competitive awards for early-career researchers with exceptional potential in research and teaching. The award includes a five-year grant of $607,272 to increase the cybersecurity awareness of individuals identifying as members of racial and ethnic groups historically excluded in Science and Engineering (S&E). Such underrepresentation could lead to reduced opportunities in S&E in which cybersecurity skills are developed. Thus, I-CLAIM focuses on cybersecurity awareness concerning the appropriate use and management of identity credentials for user authentication.
USF LAUNCHING AI CERTIFICATE PROGRAM FOR FALL SEMESTER JUNE 16, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/2p88pkt3
Starting in the fall semester of 2023, the University of South Florida now offers an Artificial Intelligence Certificate. “As people become aware of it, know what’s inside it, what is possible, what are the limitations, what it can do, I think we can better use it,” said Distinguished University Professor Sudeep Sarkar, who is Chair of Computer Science and Engineering at USF. The new graduate certificate program will help students seeking a competitive edge in the emerging tech field. “Unleashing human potential,” Sarkar explained. “That’s realistically the goal that AI should go towards, not the scary scenarios where they control us.” The Institute for Artificial Intelligence is taking control and will offer an introductory course and others in deep mining, deep learning and computer vision.
26 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
DR. ANKUR MALI PUBLISHES A PAPER IN NATURE COMMUNICATIONS JUNE 26, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/4spkvnmj
Computer Science and Engineering assistant professor Dr. Mali has published a paper in Nature Communications titled “Using a physics-informed neural network and fault zone acoustic monitoring to predict lab earthquakes” (reference: Nat Commun 14, 3693 (2023). The paper describes a machine learning based method for predicting laboratory earthquakes using micro-failure events and temporal evolution of fault zone elastic properties.
USF RESEARCHERS URGE USE OF GLOBAL DASHBOARD IN LIGHT OF RECENT MALARIA CASES JULY 18, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/bdzzjw9r
There are seven confirmed cases of Malaria reported in Sarasota County, researchers at the University of South Florida are urging health officials to use a global dashboard. Ryan Carney, assistant professor of integrative biology, and Sriram Chellappan, professor of computer science and engineering, developed mosquitodashboard.org, which utilizes data provided by ordinary citizens and artificial intelligence to identify the location and species of disease-carrying mosquitoes. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the public dashboard serves as an aggregation of data from multiple smartphone apps, including NASA’s GLOBE Observer, iNaturalist and Mosquito Alert, where people are encouraged to be “citizen scientists” and upload photos of any mosquitoes that they find. The data from each app is displayed on the dashboard, which features an interactive map that allows users to analyze mosquitoes near them and around the world.
ANNUAL REPORT
27
PROFESSOR HALL AND PROFESSOR LICATO INTERVIEWED BY ABC NEWS ABOUT AI LEGISLATION JULY 21, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/35kh33rs Distinguished University Professor Hall and Assistant Professor Licato were interviewed online by ABC News about the need for legislation concerning Artificial Intelligence.
PROFESSOR LICATO INTERVIEWED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF HUMAN-LIKE AI MINDS AUGUST 8, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/45fss68f
Artificial Intelligence may become the most disruptive technology produced by the famously disruptive Computing industry. However, deep learning raises some deep concerns. Is consciousness merely computational? Are hardware constraints the only difference between large language models and mankind? Is the popularly known Turing Test a sufficient measurement of AI? Is there a consensus on what it means to be human? CSE Assistant Professor Licato touched on these and other questions in a recent podcast interview with Meghan McCarty Carino on Marketplace, a public media outlet covering a range of topics.
28 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
ALESSIO GASPAR WINS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING OUTSTANDING TEACHING AWARD AUGUST 16, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/57v8d797
Associate Professor Alessio Gaspar received the 2023 USF College of Engineering’s Outstanding Teaching Award for his lengthy service and innovative teaching methodologies.
RAPID7 AND USF COLLABORATE ON CYBER TRAINING INITIATIVE WITH $1.5 MILLION GRANT FROM OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH AND NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SEPTEMBER 7, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/5fuht8xy
Rapid7, Inc. (NASDAQ: RPD), a leader in cloud risk and threat detection, today announced that the company’s proprietary threat data is powering a new research initiative investigating a better way to train cyber operators for maximum readiness. In partnership with the University of South Florida (USF), this effort will be boosted by over $1.5M funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition to providing incident data and intelligence collected from Rapid7’s global honeypot network, Rapid7 is dedicating personnel to facilitate the research effort and will play an instrumental role in helping USF researchers understand how the data and intelligence traces the path of real-world scenarios as they are analyzed in a security operations center (SOC). The USF PI of this effort Prof. Simon Ou from Computer Science and Engineering.
ANNUAL REPORT
29
STUDENT POINTS OF PRIDE CSE STUDENT RECOGNIZED FOR INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP ON “25 UNDER 25” LIST SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/bm7vt97r
Tampa Bay Inno featured Sebastian Rivera as a young entrepreneurial trendsetter making their mark in the Tampa Bay area in their list of “25 under 25. Sebastian is the founder of JsonPDF, a SaaS developer tool startup. While freelancing for a company, he has always had a business mindset and found a way to streamline creating PDFs to render them more quickly for developers. He is a member of the USF Student Innovation Incubator. Located at the USF Research Park, under the USF CONNECT program, the incubator assists students in any stage of business development.
CSE GRADUATES AUSMITA SARKER (PHD, 2022) AND RUCHITHA CHINTHALA (MS, 2022) GET TWO OF THE FOUR 2022 USF OUTSTANDING THESIS AND DISSERTATION AWARDS OCTOBER 13, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/yrt9kprm Ausmita Sarker, advised by Professor Mehran Mozaffari Kermani, wrote her PhD dissertation on “Secure Hardware Constructions for Fault Detection of Lattice-based Post-quantum Cryptosystems,” and Ruchitha Chinthala, co-advised by Professor Srinivas Katkoori (CSE) and Carmen S. Rodriguez (Nursing), wrote her MS thesis on “An Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) Approach for Remote Assessment of Head and Neck Cancer Patients.”
CSE PHD STUDENT IS AWARDED THE BEST DISSERTATION AWARD AT AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. JANUARY 17, 2023
https://tinyurl.com/2p9mbs26
CSE PhD student Saandeep Aathreya Sidhapur Lakshminarayan, an advisee of Dr. Shaun Canavan, was awarded the Best Doctoral Consortium Application Award at the IEEE International Conference on Face and Gesture, 2023, for his dissertation (in progress) entitled Towards Explainable Affective Computing using Efficient and Tractable Representation Learning.
30 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
HACKJAM FALL ‘22 OCTOBER 9, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/586c3d38 200+ USF Computer Science and Computer Engineering Students competed in a 12-hour Hack-AThon called “HackJam.” It introduced first-time hackers to practical coding knowledge in a competitive environment. HackJam was hosted by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) in collaboration with SCP, ACM, Girls Who Code, WiCSE, MECH, and IEEE-CS.
CSE WHITEHATTERS WINS 2ND PLACE AT AVIATION INFORMATION SHARING AND ANALYSIS CENTER’S CTF NOVEMBER 2, 2023 CSE student club -- Whitehatters -- took home a 2nd place win and a $1,500 prize pool from the Aviation Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s CTF! The A-ISAC cyber competition, facilitated by educators from the EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University at Arizona, pitted budding cybersecurity students against the challenge of resolving a scenario in which a global aviation network had been compromised. USF’s Whitehatters sent two teams to compete in this competition; the first team consisted of Logan Wansboro, Jack Wansboro, and Waseem Albaba. A second was composed of Ishana Maharaj, Christopher Greenland, Elias Peters. Others participating were: UCF, Florida Tech, UT, and FSU. Dr. Marbin Pazos-Revilla and Dr. Xingmin (Simon) Ou are their mentors.
ANNUAL REPORT
31
CSE PHD STUDENTS ARE RANKED IN THE INTERNATIONAL HARDWARE SECURITY CONFERENCE FEBRUARY 10, 2023 https://helloctf.org/22/
Team IRL (comprised of USF CSE Ph.D. candidates Brooks Olney and Farhath Zareen, advised by Dr. Robert Karam) won 4th place at an international hardware security competition called HeLLoCTF, https://helloctf.org/22/. This comes with $2,000 in prize money. This was our second year participating in the competition. We were finalists last year as well but did not place. The team developed a tool for analyzing obfuscated netlists using high-performance graph analysis and Boolean satisfiability in Python. We demonstrated how this tool could aid in the de-obfuscation of locked digital circuits. Results will appear in a future joint publication with the other finalists.
TWO CSE PHD STUDENTS ARE AWARDED USF DISSERTATION COMPLETION FELLOWSHIP FEBRUARY 24, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/259ak3px
CSE PhD students Shakil Mahmud (advisee of Dr. Robert Karam) and Md Rubel Ahmed (advisee of Dr. Hao Zheng) were selected by a university-level faculty committee to receive a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Office of Graduate Studies at the University of South Florida for the Summer semester of 2023. This award represents recognition of their academic abilities and is intended to assist you during their graduate studies. This award will provide a $9,000 stipend for Summer 2023 and up to 9 hours of graduate-level tuition, as well as fees and health insurance for the Fall semester.
32 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
USF CSE STUDENTS WIN FIRST PLACE IN ICPC SOUTHEAST DIVISION 2 MARCH 3, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/4eamtssp Visiting Assistant Professor Mauricio Pamplona Segundo led students from the USF Society of Competitive Programmers in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Division 2 regional phase on February 25th, 2023, in Charleston, South Carolina, to first and third-place wins. The Gold medalists team was Khanh Quoc Duong, Mirshokhid Okilbekov, and Yernar Sadybekov. The Broze medalist team was Chau Le, Justin Michael Delgado, and Shrabon Kumar Das. The Computing Partners Program funded the travel to the event.
KEVIN DENNIS WINS THE STUDENT BEST PAPER AWARD AT IEEE TPS MARCH 3, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/mzdhn4vf
Professor Ligatti and his student Kevin Dennis collaborated with researchers from MIT. The resulting work won the Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Trust, Privacy and Security in Intelligent Systems, and Applications (IEEE TPS). ANNUAL REPORT
33
GIRLS WHO CODE WINS 2 AWARDS AT SPRING 2023 ENGINEERING BANQUET MAY 17, 2023 Computer Science and Engineering senior Richa Kakar accepted two awards on behalf of the student organization Girls Who Code (GWC) at the engineering banquet held by E-Council in the Marshall Center. The student organization received the “Award for Exceptional Workshops” and the “Award for Advancement in Up-and-Coming Organizations.” GWC’s membership grew this year, helping women in STEM develop professionally through events with three CPP companies - Amazon, CAE, and JP Morgan and Chase.
CSE GRADUATES RECOGNIZED IN SPRING 2023 GRADUATION APRIL 21, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/2byn27jt
USF conferred more than 7,100 degrees in spring commencement ceremonies. Two outstanding graduates (to a total of 12) were from CSE. The outstanding graduates from CSE are Comfort Anyanwu, Bachelor of Science in computer engineering and Sarah M. Garcia, Doctorate in computer science and engineering. Anyanwu’s internship at ConnectWise in Tampa transitioned seamlessly into a full-time role as a software developer. Garcia continues her research in the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center in Orlando.
34 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
CSE CONGRATULATES ITS SPRING 2023 OUTSTANDING GRADUATES JUNE 22, 2023 https://tinyurl.com/2ums86y4
In the College of Engineering Induction to the Profession Ceremony in both fall and spring semesters, CSE recognizes a graduate from each of its four undergraduate degree programs with outstanding academic accomplishments. For spring 2023, the outstanding graduates were John Meeks (computer science), Comfort Anyanwu (computer engineering), Kayley Burinski (cybersecurity), and Patric Damiens (information technology).
2023 CSE GRADUATE STUDENT MEET AND GREET AUGUST 17, 2023 Over 140 new CSE graduate Students met with CSE Faculty at the annual Graduate Student Meet and Greet in the Hall of Flags. Students got to hear each faculty member present their current research interests and had an opportunity to discuss the department over pizza.
ANNUAL REPORT
35
INDUSTRY PARTNERS Throughout the year, our department has continued to produce highly qualified Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) graduates who have been successful in securing positions at various companies in the Tampa Bay area, as well as leading high-tech companies outside the region, such as Amazon, Facebook, Intel, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and many others. We offer many connection opportunities with students for free: such as sharing internship or job opportunities with students, resume matching through online database (Handshake), and job advertisements and participation in job fairs through USF Career Services. We have established a stronger connection with the industry through our participation in two modes: (i) by being an active member of the External Advisory Board (EAB), and (ii) as a valued member of the Computing Partners Program (CPP). This collaboration has allowed us to stay informed about industry trends and changes, which has helped us to tailor our curriculum to meet the evolving needs of the industry.
EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD The objective of the EAB is to draw upon the wisdom and experience of selected leaders from industry and academia. The EAB assists the department by providing expert opinions to improve the department’s external and internal rankings and accreditation through continuous improvement. They •
Provide professional advice to the Department Chair and faculty on matters that may affect the Department faculty, staff, students, graduates, and external stakeholders.
•
Serve as a liaison with the business and professional community.
•
Foster support for the work of the CSE Department, either through direct encouragement or indirectly through developing support through the community.
•
Support the development and growth of the department and play an active role in fundraising.
•
Assist in mentoring undergraduate and graduate students as the occasion arises.
•
Participate in the review of Program Educational Objectives to support ABET accreditation. Participate in ABET accreditation evaluation visits as appropriate.
The current industrial advisory board consists of 1.
Dave Allen (Chair of Advisory Board), Senior Vice President and CTO, Raymond James Financial
2. Maha Sallam, PhD (Vice Chair of Advisory Board), Founder and President, VuEssence 3. Meryen Berrada, Senior Director of Engineering, Nielsen 4. Alan Brannan, Director of Engineering, CAE 5.
Kevin Bowyer, Professor and Ex Chair, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Notre Dame University
36 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
6. Asha Calderon, Senior Manager, Johnson & Johnson Technology Services 7.
Sidney Fernandes, Vice President and CIO, University of South Florida
8. Brad Lawrence, ISD Global Engineering and Architecture Architect, Microsoft 9. Gary Leavens, Professor and Ex Chair, Department of Computer Science, University of Central Florida 10. Ayush Parashar, VP of Engineering, Boomi 11. Jeremy L. Rasmussen, CTO Abacode 12. Raj Samani, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist, Rapid7 13. Ryan Schmiedl, Managing Director, Global Head of Payments, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
COMPUTING PARTNERS PROGRAM The CSE Computing Partners Program continues to allow industries to cultivate strong relationships with CSE students and faculty. By partnering with us through the Computing Partners Program, industry members take advantage of an enhanced level of engagement with CSE students and faculty through two tiers of engagement. Community service non-profit organizations have free membership. Funds raised through the Computing Partners Program are used to support educational initiatives and activities of CSE students, as well as the costs associated with administering the program. Examples of expenses supported include scholarships, travel, academic conferences, competitions, educational events, relevant seminar series, tutoring, student program ambassadors, summer programs, and student recruiting. We are grateful for the support of our current members, whose logos are shown below. We look forward to expanding our partnerships in the coming years and developing additional levels of engagement in discussions with our generous donors.
ANNUAL REPORT
37
CORPORATE PARTNERS OF USF TAKE A LOOK AT STUDENTS’ RESUMES OCTOBER 26, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/2xtb2mpa On October 26th, over one hundred USF Computer Science and Engineering Students had a chance to meet with Industry Leaders. This Semester’s Resume Review was hosted with our CPP Companies in the beautiful IDRB Discovery Expo Hall. The CPP Companies that participated were Amazon Pay, CAE, JPMorgan & Chase, and Raymond James.
THE COMPUTING PARTNERS PROGRAM (CPP) ENABLES STUDENTS TO ATTEND NATIONAL CONFERENCES SEPTEMBER 10, 2022
https://tinyurl.com/52mtxen2
Funding from the CPP has enabled nearly 50 students to attend three top conferences, DEFCON, TAPIA, and Grace Hopper. They connected with future employers, heard from the best in the industry and academia, and learned about the latest technology. Eight students from the CSE Whitehatters Computer Security Club attended the Defcon 30 Cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Twenty CSE students attended the TAPIA conference in Washington, DC. The Tapia conference is the premier venue to acknowledge, promote and celebrate diversity in computing. Grace Hopper Celebration is the world’s largest gathering of women technologists. 12 CSE students, mainly from the Women in CSE (WiCSE), attended the 2022 edition in Orlando, Florida.
38 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
LET'S TALK: BY JP MORGAN AND CHASE CO., A CPP MEMBER SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/3t7evjk6 Nearly 200 students attended the event introducing the Software Engineering Program (SEP) used by JP Morgan and Chase Co. to hire students and interns. JPMC is a member of the Computer Partners Program (CPP). Girls who code, a CSE student organization, organized the event with the support of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) support.
CSE COMPUTING PARTNERS REVIEW STUDENT RESUMES MARCH 23, 2023 Over seventy USF Computer Science and Engineering Students had their resumes reviewed by Tech Industry Leaders and Recruiters from Computing Partners Program member companies.
ANNUAL REPORT
39
CSE WEEK OF WELCOME WAS A BLAST! AUGUST 30, 2023 CSE celebrated its annual Week of Welcome event for undergraduate students new to USF with over 200 students attending the event. CSE student organizations demoed their projects and invited students to their meetings. CSE student organizations at WoW included WICSE, Whitehatters, SCP, Robobulls, IEEE-CS, GameDev, and ACM. Students who checked-out a minimum of four student organizations got free pizza and a T-shirt, in addition to getting to talk with faculty and graduate students about whether CSE was right for them. This event was made possible with funding from the Computing Partners Program.
OUTSTANDING ALUMNI CSE ALUMNUS IS NSBE HOUSTON CHAPTER YOUNG ENGINEER OF THE YEAR JUNE 22, 2023 Qua Thomas, a CSE alumnus, was featured in an employee spotlight by the Fortune 500 oil company, Chevron. Qua graduated with a Masters in Information Technology in 2020 and with a BS in Computer Science in 2019.
40 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
OUTSTANDING ALUMNI CSE ALUMNA GHADA ALZAMZMI (PHD, 2019) WAS
ALUMNA RECEIVES HONORABLE MENTION
AWARDED THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
FROM CSGS
(NLM) BOARD OF REGENTS AWARD.
FEBRUARY 10, 2023
SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/5n9a7d8j CSE Alumna Ghada Alzamzmi (PhD, 2019) was awarded The Regents Award for Scholarship or Technical Achievement at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Board of Regents meeting. Dr. Alzamzmi received this year’s award for outstanding efforts in developing an end-toend echocardiography artificial intelligence system for cardiac disease detection. Dr. Alzamzmi is a
https://tinyurl.com/ydknt5pk Dr. Srinivas Katkoori’s student, Ms. Ruchitha Chinthala, a recent MS graduate of USF CSE, received an honorable mention for her thesis at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS). Ms. Chinthala’s thesis was nominated on behalf of USF to the Math, Physical Sciences, and Engineering category for her thesis, “Exploring the Use of Machine Learning in Cybersecurity.”
Research Fellow with the Computational Health Research Branch, Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, in the NLM Intramural Research Program. Her PhD advisors were Professor
NITESH CHAWLA, PHD WAS NAMED A FELLOW
Rangachar Kasturi and Professor Dmitry Goldgof.
OF THE ACM February 10, 2023
MERYEM BERRADA,
Nitesh Chawla, PhD, a USF CSE Alumnus and researcher in the field of
DIRECTOR OF
machine learning, has been
ENGINEERING, RECEIVES
named a Fellow of the
THE OUTSTANDING YOUNG
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for
ALUMNI AWARD.
contributions in the study
APRIL 2023
of imbalanced data, graphs,
CSE Alumna (BS Computer Engineering, 2013 and MS Computer Science, 2015) received the 2023 Outstanding Young Alumni Award from USF’s College of Engineering. She is the senior director of enginee ring for Nielsen. While at USF, she wrote her MS thesis under the supervision of Prof. Yicheng Tu on “DCMS: A data analytics and management system for molecular simulation,” which was published in the Journal of Big
and interdisciplinary innovations. Prof. Larry Hall was his PhD advisor. The ACM Fellowship is a highly prestigious honor and is awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of computing. He is one of only 57 individuals who were named ACM Fellows in 2022, and he joins an elite group of researchers who have been recognized for their outstanding work. Dr. Nitesh Chawla is currently a professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame.
ANNUAL REPORT
41
CSE STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS WOMEN IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (WICSE) Gathers female students who are majoring, or interested in, any engineeringrelated field to provide support, career guidance, and relevant opportunities. https://tinyurl.com/29fr62a3
President: Felicia Drysdale Advisor: Jing Wang
WHITEHATTERS COMPUTER SECURITY CLUB (WCSC) A club for students passionate about computer security to learn more about reverse engineering, computer forensics, web hacking, and more! The club competes in various national competitions, including CSAW, Raymond James CTF, and the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (SECCDC). https://tinyurl.com/356m4tx7
President: Jacob Hammargren Advisor: Marbin Pazos Revilla
SOCIETY OF COMPETITIVE PROGRAMMERS (SCP) Provides resources and mentoring to assist CSE students participating in hack-a-thon and other programming competitions. https://tinyurl.com/c6bhuuzx
President: Chloe Berry Advisor: Mauricio Pamplona Segundo
ROBOBULLS For students who have an interest or passion for robotics. USF RoboBulls students have participated in national and international competitions, such as RoboCup. These competitions provide a common testing ground for different research laboratories where scientific advances can be studied and evaluated under real-time conditions. http://usfrobobulls.org/
President: Sahil Gazula Advisor: Alfredo Weitzenfeld
42 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS COMPUTER SOCIETY (IEEE - CS) The computing professional’s single, unmatched source for technology information, inspiration, and collaboration. https://bullsconnect.usf.edu/ieeecs/home/
President: Mykyta (Nick) Nechaiev Advisor: Robert Karam GIRLS WHO CODE COLLEGE LOOPS On-campus organization offering monthly challenges focusing on honing computer science skills and engaging women to take action, collaborate and create with one another. It is a supportive network, plus exclusive opportunities to meet with industry professionals & Girls Who Code corporate partners. https://girlswhocode.com/
President: An Pham Advisor: Schinnel Small GAMEDEV CLUB The USF GameDev Club (GDC) acts as a meeting ground for USF students interested in creating video games. https://tinyurl.com/ypy95tdm
President: Justin Delgado Advisor: Jing Wang BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE (BCI) CLUB Encourages and attracts individuals to the world of engineering, specifically brain drone racing. https://www.neurosymbiosis.com/
President: Alvaro Lazaro Aguilar Advisor: Marvin Andujar ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY (ACM) Provides CSE students with social, professional, and technical opportunities for career development. https://tinyurl.com/274n4x35
President: Chriag Singh Advisor: Ken Christensen ANNUAL REPORT
43
CSE LEADERSHIP •
Sudeep Sarkar, Chair
•
Dmitry Goldgof, Vice-Chair o Jing Wang, Program Coordinator for Foundational Courses
•
Schinnel Small, Director of Broadening Participation in Computing
•
Ken Christensen, Associate Chair of Undergraduate Affairs o William Hendrix III, Program Coordinator for CS/CpE o Jim Anderson, Program Coordinator for IT/CyS
•
Alfredo Weitzenfeld, Associate Chair of Graduate Affairs o Jay Ligatti, Director of Graduate Admissions o Mehran Mozaffari Kermani, Assoc. Director of MS Cybersecurity (EE-led)
•
Marbin Pazos-Revilla, Director of CSE Infrastructure
UG ADVISING •
John Morgan, Undergraduate Advisor
•
Marjorie Fontalvo, Undergraduate Advisor
•
Stacey Sepulveda, Success Coach and Academic Advisor
STAFF •
Laura Owczarek, Academic Services Administrator
•
Mayra Morfin, Graduate Program Advisor
•
Triana Hampton, Graduate Program Specialist
•
Terri Fox, Certificate Programs Coordinator (Innovative Ed)
•
Allyson Norton, Academic Program Specialist
•
Elijah Malaby, Systems Administrator
Please support USF CSE students and faculty. Your generosity makes great things possible!
44 USF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING