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 secure and privacy-enhancing systems with machine learning applications. I am also an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Applied AI Innovation (AAII), the NSF IUCRC Center for Intelligent, Distributed, Embedded Applications and Systems (IDEAS), and the 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, research organizations, and industry partners, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Cyber Florida (Florida Center for Cybersecurity), and IBM Quantum–IIDAI. Selected externally funded projects and awards include a $500,000 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) grant for AI-driven cybersecurity in U.S. nuclear power plants, an NSF CRII Award under the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program for AI-based defenses against sockpuppet attacks in online social networks, a NIST IMEC project for cybersecurity integration in industrial IoT and smart manufacturing environments, and an IBM Quantum–IIDAI grant for developing AI-driven and quantum-enhanced operator-learning methods to accelerate complex scientific computations. 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 2026, 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 130 peer-reviewed publications in venues including npj Artificial Intelligence, ACM Transactions on Social Computing (TSC), PoPETs/PETS, ICWSM, ICLR, AAAI Symposium, ACM Hypertext, CIKM, ASONAM, ACM SAC, ICMLA, ACM CHI, ACM WebSci, IEEE COMPSAC, IEEE DSC, Scientific Reports, and Transactions of the American Nuclear Society. My research has received substantial scholarly citations and media attention from prominent national, regional, and international outlets, including NBC, CBS/KMOV, ABC/KVIA, KFOX, KTSM, Yahoo News, MSN, The Southern Illinoisan, El Paso Inc., Dhaka Tribune, El Heraldo de Juárez, and El Diario de El Paso. NBC 6 featured my research in a prime-time television segment. In addition, UK-based SAGE Research Methods incorporated my research methodology into academic library resources used to support students and early-career researchers worldwide. I have received multiple competitive research travel grants and was invited to the Facebook Research headquarters to showcase my work. My research has received multiple best-paper recognitions. I am an active member of IEEE, a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and a lifetime member of ACM. I serve on editorial boards and/or as a reviewer for leading journals including IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security, ACM Transactions on Social Computing, ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, and Scientific Reports, among others spanning security, privacy, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Additionally, I have served on program committees and/or as a reviewer for premier conferences and venues including PoPETs/PETS, USENIX Security, AAAI, NeurIPS, ACM CHI, AAAI ICWSM, ASIACCS, ASONAM, ACM SAC, IEEE COMPSAC, SecureComm, IEEE CICS, NSysS, and ACL’s WOAH/ALW workshops, reflecting broad service across security, privacy, AI/ML, social computing, and networking communities. I have mentored over 40 students, teachers, and early-career researchers, including K–12 teachers, undergraduate students, and graduate students through programs such as the Science without Borders Summer Research Program, NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), CAHSI LREU, and NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET).