Lab Director
Dr. Ahmed B. T. Sherif
Associate Professor, Tenured, School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering
Dr. Sherif leads SPEN Lab research in cybersecurity, privacy-preserving AI, autonomous vehicles, e-health, smart grids, drones, and emerging networks.
SPEN Lab currently includes more than 25 undergraduate students and 8 Ph.D. students working on AI and cybersecurity-related research problems.
25+Undergraduate Researchers
8Ph.D. Students
9Research Areas
Current Ph.D. Students Chaired
- Sajim Ahmed (Ph.D.), TBD (2026 - Present)
- Isaac Sarfo Larbi (Ph.D.), TBD (2026 - Present)
- Fahad Abdulrahman Alowayqil (Ph.D.), TBD (2026 - Present)
- Muhammad Zain Chaudhary (Ph.D.), Security and Privacy of Route Planning in Electrical Vehicles Charging (2025 - Present)
- Muhammad Zohaib Chaudhary (Ph.D.), Security and Privacy of Charging Coordination in Electrical Vehicles Charging (2025 - Present)
- Todd Kilbourne (Ph.D.), Towards Security and Privacy of Aviation Systems (2023 - Present)
- Razan Alsulieman (Ph.D.), AI-based Detection Systems of Drunk Drivers for Traffic Safety (2023 - Present)
Current Undergraduate Honors Thesis Students
- Sarah Mirza, TBD (2026 - Present)
- Viktoriia Lavrentiv, TBD (2026 - Present)
- Samir Bhattarai, Hardware Implementation for IoD Security and Privacy (2025 - Present)
- Sajim Ahmed, Secure and AI-based E-health applications (2024 - Present)
Recent Graduates and Alumni
- Eduardo Antonio Hernandez Escobar (Master), Security and Privacy of the Internet of Drones (2023 - 2025, graduated and pursuing Ph.D.)
- Richard Swilly (Master), AI-based Drunk Driver Detection (2023 - 2025, graduated)
- Ujunwa Madububa Mbachu (Ph.D., graduated), Secure and Privacy-Aware Traffic Control Applications (2022 - 2025)
- Partha Sengupta (Ph.D., graduated), Secure and Privacy-Preservation Application for Drones in Agriculture Monitoring (2022 - 2025)
- Muhammad Hataba (Ph.D., graduated), Software Protection Mechanisms for Autonomous Vehicular Cloud Computing (2019 - 2022)
- Md Benozir Hossain, AI-based Agricultural Monitoring Scheme (2024 - 2025, graduated)
- Tim Leonhardt, AI-based Intrusion Detection Methods for Smart Vehicles (2023 - 2025, graduated)
- Muhammad Zain, Secure and Privacy-Preservation Authentication Scheme for UAVs (2023 - 2024, graduated and joined the lab as a Ph.D. student)
- Alexander Haastrup, Secure and Privacy-aware Parking System for Autonomous Vehicles (Dec. 2020 - 2023, graduated)