Dr. Laxima Niure Kandel is an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach, Florida. She received her Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ in 2020 where she was awarded the outstanding dissertation award for her doctoral work.  Her research interests include  WiFi localization and sensing, UAV security, information security and cybersecurity in general.

Raju Dhakal is a Ph.D. student in the   Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach, Florida. He received his master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand in 2018. He has completed his bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Nepal Engineering College, Nepal in 2014. He has worked as a teaching faculty in different colleges in Nepal for more than five years. His research interests include Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN), Ad-Hoc networks, and physical layer security of UAV networks.

Start: Fall 2022

Bhawana Poudel is a Ph.D. student in the  Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach, Florida. In 2017, she earned her Master's degree in Communication and Knowledge Engineering with a focus on Machine Learning from Paschimanchal Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Prior to joining Ph.D. she served as an Assistant Professor at Gandaki University for a duration of two years, where she had the opportunity to impart knowledge and foster learning. 

Start: Spring 2024

Kayla Taylor is a PhD student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a background in the space sciences. Her academic interests focus on balancing the opportunity and impact of human innovation, scientific inquiry, and space exploration. She has researched and published on a variety of STEM-related issues, from expanding opportunities for women in the physical sciences to evaluating the effect of various forms of light pollution on ground-based astronomy. Applying her technical background to integrate the broader scientific landscape and address multidisciplinary questions, her work serves to reimagine and support the exploration of the cosmos. Kayla holds a BS in Astronomy and Astrophysics and an MS in Aviation with a specialization in Space Studies from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. 

Start: Fall 2024

Jeremiah Web is I am currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer science along with an accelerated Master's in Cybersecurity Engineering. During the recent summer, I interned at Amazon Web Services as a Solutions Architect. I contributed to the creation of HIPAA compliant data pipelines that supported Amazon's machine learning models. Some of my professional goals are becoming a certified ethical hacker and working as a cloud security engineer.  

Start: Fall 2024 (Graduated Spring 2024)

Prachi Choudhary is pursuing M.S. in Software Engineering. Before embarking on her M.S. degree, she gained valuable experience by working as a Software Developer at Siemens Healthiness for over three years. Presently, she holds the role of a Teaching Assistant and is actively engaged in research focused on anomaly and fault detection in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

Start: Summer 2023 (Graduate Fall 2024)