I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). I serve as the director of the Security and Privacy Enhanced Machine Learning Lab (SUPREME Lab), where my group develops privacy-enhanced secure systems with machine learning applications. I am also an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Applied AI Innovation (AAII), NSF IUCRC Center for Intelligent, Distributed, Embedded Applications and Systems (IDEAS) and Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) . My research focuses on the foundations of trustworthy and adversary-resilient AI, spanning security and privacy in online ecosystems, adversarial machine learning, human-centered deception mitigation, federated and distributed learning, and AI-driven cybersecurity for cyber-physical and nuclear instrumentation and control (I&C) systems. My work has been supported by leading federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Cyber Florida, and the Florida Center for Cybersecurity. Notable awards include a $500,000 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) grant for AI-driven cybersecurity in U.S. nuclear plants, a NSF CISE CRII Award under the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program for AI-based defense against sockpuppet attacks in social networks, and a NIST IMEC Award for cybersecurity integration in industrial IoT environments. Previously, I served as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU), and prior to that, at Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest). I was nominated for PennWest’s Scholar of the Year in 2020, SIU’s University-Level Early Career Faculty Excellence Award in 2022 and 2024, and the Rising Star Faculty Award in 2024. In 2025, I was recognized as a UTEP Pioneering Researcher for contributions to trustworthy and adversary-resilient AI and cybersecurity research. I was also awarded UTEP’s 2025 Student Choice High Impact and Innovative Teaching (HIIT) Award, recognizing excellence, exceptional impact, and innovation in teaching.

I have authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications in leading venues such as ACM TSC, PoPETs/PETS, ICWSM, ICLR, HyperText, CIKM, ASONAM, ACM SAC, ICMLA, ACM CHI Journals, ACM WebSci, COMPSAC, IEEE DSC, Nature Scientific Reports, and ANS Transactions. My research has received media attention from many news outlets including prominent national and international outlets such as NBC, CBS, KFOX, KMOV, and Sage Methods. NBC 6 has featured my research as a sweeps prime-time story and Sage Research Methods based on UK has has incorporated my research methodology into academic library resources worldwide, supporting students and early-career researchers. I have received multiple competitive research travel grants and was invited to the Facebook Research headquarters to showcase my work. My paper has won best paper award on multiple occasions. I am an active member of IEEE, member of American Nuclear Society (ANS) and lifetime member of ACM. I serve on the editorial boards and/or review panels for leading journals including ACM Transactions on Social Computing, IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, Nature Scientific Reports, Springer Nature, KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems, Big Data and Cognitive Computing (BDCC), Applied Sciences, International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications and several others in security, privacy, and machine learning. Additionally, I have served on program committees for prominent conferences such as ACM CHI, ASONAM, AAAI ICWSM, ACM SAC, ASIACCS, IEEE COMPSAC, SecureComm, IEEE CICS, NSysS, and ACL’s WOAH/ALW workshops. I have also contributed to the PCs of ICCCI, ICNCC, ITAS, and the Decentralized Deep Learning (DDL) workshop, reflecting broad service across security, privacy, AI/ML, social computing, and networking communities. I have mentored over 40 students, including K-12 high school teachers, undergraduate students, and graduate students in several programs, such as Science without Borders’s Summer Research Program, NSF’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), CAHSI LREU, and NSF’s Research Experience for Teachers (RET).