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,
Rajwardhan Shinde
Oxendine Science Building,
Najmul Hasan
Oxendine Science Building,
Muhammed Adeniran
Oxendine Science Building,
Shirsendu Mondal DoIT Student Staff
alt text

Why Become a Research Assistant

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.

Faculty Research

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faculty

headshot of Ali Tosun

Ali Tosun

Allen C. Meadors Endowed Chair in Computer Science


910.775.4389
Haitao Zhao, headshot

Haitao Zhao

Assistant Professor of Computer Science


910.521.6517
faculty placeholder

Selvarajah Mohanarajah

Chair and Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science


910.521.6318
Cynthia Zhang

Xin Zhang

Professor of Computer Science


910.521.6519
All Faculty