Mission: AI/intelligent systems applications -- specifically, machine and deep learning/artificial neural networks (ANNs) -- as well as modeling and simulation (discrete-event, agent-based, and system dynamics) across a broad range of disciplines.

Graduate Students (Research Lab)

Doctoral Students (Ph.D.)

I supervise (or have supervised/co-supervised) the following current and previous doctoral students:

Current (listed alpha by last name)

Ziba Behtouei (Ph.D. Student, Computer Science)

Research interests: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Skin Cancer Detection, Medical Image Analysis.

"My current research focuses on the application of machine learning and deep learning techniques in dermatology, particularly for the early detection of skin cancer. I am interested in developing intelligent systems that analyze skin images to assist in the diagnosis of conditions such as melanoma. My goal is to improve diagnostic accuracy and support dermatologists in identifying skin diseases at earlier, more treatable stages."

Mahshid Benchari (Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Engineering)

Research interests: ML/AI, Deep Learning, Image Processing, Medical Image Processing.

"My current research focuses on leveraging machine learning and AI techniques for image processing and medical image processing applications. I am particularly interested in developing innovative methods to improve segmentation, classification, and detection in medical imaging, with an emphasis on enhancing accuracy and robustness."

Shruti Luhach (Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science)

"My research focuses on enhancing stroke prediction using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), with a primary emphasis on evaluating the accuracy and precision of predictive models. I aim to identify the most reliable algorithms for early stroke risk detection."

Previous (listed chronologically/alpha by last name)

Dr. Sayani Sarkar (Ph.D., Computer Engineering, May 2021) **Co-supervised with Dr. Ashok Kumar

Assistant Professor of Computer Science - Bellarmine University (Louisville, Kentucky)

Dissertation: Intelligent energy-efficient drones : path planning, real-time monitoring and decision-making

Research interests: Intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) path design, modeling, and analysis using deep learning algorithms

Dr. Bhaskar Ghosh (Ph.D., Computer Science, December 2021)

Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science - Arkansas Tech University (Russellville, Arkansas)

Dissertation: A performance enhancing accuracy prediction system and adaptive batch sizing algorithm for generative adversarial networks

Research interests: Artificial intelligence, computer vision, generative adversarial networks (GANs), machine learning (ML)

Dr. Shivanjali Khare (Ph.D., Computer Science, December 2021)

Assistant Professor of Computer Science - University of New Haven (New Haven, Connecticut)

Dissertation: Efficient and enhanced lightweight hybrid cryptosystem for class-0 IoT data security using elliptic curve cryptography and speck

Research interests: Internet of Things (IoT) data security, hybrid cryptography, wireless sensor technologies, big data sharing, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) for cybersecurity

Dr. Sai Ranganath Mikkilineni (Ph.D., Computer Science, May 2023)

Assistant Professor, College of Business - Delaware State University (Dover, Delaware)

Dissertation: Performance and implications of the deep predictive-coding neural network (PredNet) for the task of contiguous future frame prediction in videos

Research interests: Predictive coding, video classification, deep learning, future frame prediction

Master's Students (M.S.)

I supervise (or have supervised/co-supervised) the following current and previous master's students:

Current (listed alpha by last name)

Soraya Mokhtari (M.S. Informatics Student - Researcher)

Research interests: Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Medical Image Analysis, Ophthalmic Diseases, Fairness in AI.

"My research is at the intersection of deep learning and healthcare, with a focus on diagnosing eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy from fundus images. I'm particularly interested in making fair and reliable AI systems that generalize well to various demographic groups so that state-of-the-art diagnostics can benefit all patients, not a subset."

Previous (listed chronologically/alpha by last name)

Rachana Banjade (M.S. Informatics 2025 - Thesis)

Thesis: Evaluating LLMs for Document Question Answering

Ayodeji Adeyemo (M.S. Informatics, 2024 - Thesis)

Thesis: Sexing Orcas Using Convolution Neural Networks

Clement Tochukwu Okolo (M.S. Informatics, 2022 - Thesis) 

Thesis: Diabetes prediction using machine learning algorithm

Pinky Sitikhu (M.S. Informatics, 2022 - Thesis) 

Thesis: An unsupervised rule-based approach for aspect term extraction