Cybersecurity Research

Whether you're a prospective student, current major or potential collaborator, this page is your gateway to exploring how UNCP students and faculty are tackling real-world challenges through research in cybersecurity and computer science. Here, you’ll find profiles of our undergraduate research assistants and learn about faculty-led projects in areas such as AI-driven cyber threat intelligence, data privacy, cryptography and secure network systems.

meet our Research Assistants

UNCP cybersecurity research assistants play an active role in faculty-led projects that address modern-day challenges in computing and information security. These undergraduate students gain early exposure to collaborative research in:

Algorithm development
Machine learning & data analytics
Cyber-physical systems security
Mathematical modeling
Software engineering

Research Assistants Computer Science Division	Contact Information
Mushfique Rahman	D.F. Lowry Building
Harry Lamichhane	Oxendine Science Building, hl0017@bravemail.uncp.edu
Rajwardhan Shinde	Oxendine Science Building, rds036@bravemail.uncp.edu
Najmul Hasan	Oxendine Science Building, nh0033@bravemail.uncp.edu
Muhammed Adeniran	Oxendine Science Building, maa031@bravemail.uncp.edu
Shirsendu Mondal	DoIT Student Staff

Research assistants at UNCP receive invaluable experience that goes far beyond the classroom. Students who join our research teams:

Apply classroom knowledge to real-world issues
Gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge tools and software
Work closely with experienced faculty mentors
Build strong resumes for graduate school or cybersecurity careers
Develop problem-solving and project management skills
Contribute to publications, grants and conferences

Interested in joining a research team? Contact your faculty advisor for more info.

Close-up of a student using a Lenovo laptop running a cybersecurity or coding program, with other monitors and keyboards visible in a computer lab setting.

Explore the range of active research topics led by our Computer Science and Cybersecurity faculty:

Bioinformatics, Machine Learning, & Data Analytics

Dr. Haitao Zhao’s research interests focus on Bioinformatics, Machine Learning and Data Analytics. He is interested in developing and applying Machine Learning algorithms to the interdisciplinary fields to mine interesting patterns from data.

Current Project: Rapid thrombogenesis prediction in partnership with Corvid Technologies

Cryptography & Emerging Technologies Security

Dr. Prashanth Reddy's research focuses on cryptography and security of emerging technologies, including vehicular cybersecurity, cyber-physical systems security, digital identities security and AI-driven cyber threat intelligence.

Current Project: AI-driven cyber threat intelligence, lightweight crypto protocols

Databases, Data Mining, & Data Visualization

Dr. Xin Zhang's research interests include Knowledge Discovery in Databases, Complex Medical Data Mining, Web Intelligence, Data Visualization, and Music Information Retrieval. Her research has been published in journals and books including Journal of Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Computer Assisted Mechanics and Engineering Sciences Journal, Fundamenta Informaticae Journal, Intelligent Information Systems, Data Mining and Medical Knowledge Management: Cases and Applications, and Encyclopedia of Data Warehousing and Mining. Her research has been presented at international conferences including IEEE/ICDM/MCD, IEEE CS/MUE, IEEE/WIC/ACM, IEEE GrC, ECML/PKDD/MCD, ISMIS, and RSEISP.

Current Project: NSF-funded geoscience data visualization tool

Self-driving Network Security & CPS Security (IoT-Cloud and IoV)

Dr. Ali Tosun’s research is on systems in general with a focus on network security. He has research experience in databases, multimedia systems, storage systems, networking and security. His current research directions include security of Internet-of-Things devices in IoT-Cloud and IoT-Edge-Cloud models, security of self-driving networks that aims to automate networking tasks and secure edge computing using containers for IoT devices.

Current Project: NSF grant to teach Secure Self-Driving Networks

Privacy and Fairness in Machine Learning

Dr. Selvarajah Mohanarajah's research focuses on Fairness and Privacy in ML Systems, Container-Based Learning Objects, and Fix-and-Play games for teaching first programming language. As ML technologies become more pervasive in society, the need for reliable, secure and unbiased ML models becomes critical. His research explores the interconnections between privacy and fairness in Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. Mohanarajah's research has been published in several journals and conference proceedings such as ACM-SIGCSE, AIED and ITS.

Current Project: DHS-funded privacy and fairness project in machine learning