Li Yang, PhD
Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Business and Information Technology
Oshawa, Canada
Adjunct Research Professor,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
London, Canada
Associate Editor,
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (TNSM)
Emails: li.yang@ontariotechu.ca and liyanghart@gmail.com
GitHub | Google Scholar | LinkedIn | ResearchGate | University Page
Paper Citations: 5,000+
GitHub Stars: 3,000+
Welcome to my website!
My research spans several areas, including:
machine learning, deep learning, AutoML, TinyML, model optimization;
cybersecurity, intrusion detection, anomaly detection;
network data analytics, network automation for 6G, Internet of Things (IoT);
concept drift, online learning, continual learning;
and adversarial machine learning (AI security).
I joined Ontario Tech University as a tenure-track assistant professor in January 2024. Before that, I obtained my Ph.D. and was a postdoc & limited-term assistant professor at Western University, under the supervision of Prof. Abdallah Shami. I'm also a Adjunct Research Professor at Western University, and I'm co-supervising MESc and PhD students at Western University.
I am recruiting MSc and PhD students who are passionate about AI and cybersecurity, and have strong backgrounds in these areas. If you are interested, please read the instructions in the LinkedIn Post or OneDrive to apply.
More details about our MSc and Ph.D. programs can be found at the following links: MSc in Computer Science | PhD in Computer Science | PhD in Cybersecurity.
I am also recruiting a Postdoc, more information can be found in the LinkedIn Post.
News
Sep. 2025 (Featured) Dr. Yang has been named by Stanford University on the World's Top 2% Scientists List for 2025! He's ranked 752nd (Top 0.3%) among more than 200,000 researchers globally (and 27th in Canada) in the 'Networking & Telecommunications' field. (His personal page)
Sep. 2025 Dr. Yang has been appointed as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (TNSM), impact factor: 5.4!
Sep. 2025 Our papers received more than 5,000 Google Scholar citations.
Aug. 2025 Our papers were the most cited research items from our department on ResearchGate in Jul 2025.
Aug. 2025 Harshit Maheshwari, a MSc student in our group (co-supervised with Dr. Richard Pazzi), has successfully defended his MSc thesis and has been nominated for the Outstanding Thesis Award. Congratulations, Harshit!
Aug. 2025 Our paper "Traffic Intersection Simulation Using Turning Movement Count Data in SUMO: A Case Study of Toronto Intersections" is published at 2025 21st International Conference on Distributed Computing in Smart Systems and the Internet of Things (DCOSS-IoT)! Congratulations Harshit!
Jul. 2025 Our paper "Machine Learning Advancements in Urban Traffic Simulation: A Comprehensive Survey" is published in IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems (IF: 5.3)! Congratulations Harshit!
Jul. 2025 Dr. Yang has been appointed as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (TII), impact factor: 11.7!
May. 2025 Our papers were the most cited research items from our department on ResearchGate in Apr 2025.
Apr. 2025 Our papers were the most cited research items from our department on ResearchGate in Mar 2025.
Mar. 2025 Dr. Yang's groundbreaking research on AI-driven network automation towards 6G and cybersecurity has been featured in Ontario Tech University news and LinkedIn post.
Mar. 2025 Our papers received more than 4,000 Google Scholar citations.
Mar. 2025 Our paper "Towards Zero Touch Networks: Cross-Layer Automated Security Solutions for 6G Wireless Networks" is accepted in IEEE Transactions on Communications (TCOM, IF: 7.2)!
Feb. 2025 Dr. Yang started an adjunct position in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Western University as an Adjunct Research Professor.
Jan. 2025 Our papers were the most cited research items from our department on ResearchGate in Jan 2025.
Nov. 2024 Our Cyber Security Innovation Network (CSIN) grant application was accepted by the National Cybersecurity Consortium (NCC) and was featured in the headline news at Ontario Tech University and the INsauga Durham Local News.
Nov. 2024 Dr. Yang gave an invited paper presentation, "A Lightweight Concept Drift Detection and Adaptation Framework for IoT Data Streams", at the 2024 IEEE 10th World Forum on Internet of Things (IEEE WF-IoT 2024), Ottawa, Canada.
Oct. 2024 Our paper "Towards Autonomous Cybersecurity: An Intelligent AutoML Framework for Autonomous Intrusion Detection" won the Best Paper Award in the Workshop on AutonomousCyber, ACM CCS 2024!
Sep. 2024 Dr. Yang has been named by Stanford University on the World's Top 2% Scientists List for 2024! He's ranked 1,134th among more than 200,000 researchers globally (and 52nd in Canada) in the 'Networking & Telecommunications' field. (His personal page)
Sep. 2024 Our paper "Towards Autonomous Cybersecurity: An Intelligent AutoML Framework for Autonomous Intrusion Detection" is accepted in the Workshop on AutonomousCyber, ACM CCS 2024 (a Top-3 Cybersecurity Conference Internationally).
Sep. 2024 Start teaching the course INFR3700U-Machine Learning and INFR 4599U-Special Topics in IT: IoT.
Aug. 2024 Our papers received more than 3,000 Google Scholar citations.
July. 2024 Our paper "On TinyML and Cybersecurity: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Use Case" is published in IEEE Access (IF: 3.4).
May. 2024 Drs. Yang and Shami gave a tutorial "On AutoML for Intrusion Detection in 6G and IoT Systems: From Theory to Practice", at the 2024 IEEE World Forum on Public Safety Technology (WF-PST), Washington DC, USA.
May. 2024 Start teaching the course MITS 6100G "Attack and Defence" at Ontario Tech University.
Mar. 2024 Our papers were the most cited research items from our department on Researchgate in Feb 2024.
Mar. 2024 Our paper "Enabling AutoML for Zero-Touch Network Security: Use-Case Driven Analysis" is published in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (IF: 5.3).
Feb. 2024 Our paper "Zero-Touch Networks: Towards Next-Generation Network Automation" is published in Computer Networks (IF: 5.6), Elsevier.
Jan. 2024 Our papers received more than 2,000 Google Scholar citations.
Jan. 2024 Joined the Faculty of Business and Information Technology at Ontario Tech University as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor
Jan. 2024 Our paper "Enhancing Network Intrusion Detection: An AutoML Pipeline with Efficient Digital Twin Synchronization" is available on TechRxiv
Dec. 2023 Served as the Workshop Chair (Workshop 20) of the SMC-IoT 2023 conference
Dec. 2023 Received the Outstanding Volunteer Award, issued by IEEE London Section
Dec. 2023 Our paper "Zero-Touch Networks: Towards Next-Generation Network Automation" is available on arXiv
Aug. 2023 Our paper "Towards Zero Touch Networks: Cross-Layer Automated Security Solutions for 6G Wireless Networks" is available on TechRxiv
Aug. 2023 Our paper "Diving Into Zero-Touch Network Security: Use-Case Driven Analysis" is available on TechRxiv
Aug. 2023 Our GitHub code repositories have received more than 2,000 GitHub stars
Jul. 2023 Our paper "Forensic Data Analytics for Anomaly Detection in Evolving Networks" is published as a book chapter in Innovations in Digital Forensics, World Scientific.
May. 2023 Served as the Chair and Judge of the Annual Graduate Symposium in the ECE department at Western University
Apr. 2023 Accepted as the Technical Program Committee (TMC) member of IEEE GlobeCom 2023 (MWN and CISS Symposiums)
Feb. 2023 Our paper "A Multi-Stage Automated Online Network Data Stream Analytics Framework for IIoT Systems" is published in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (IF: 12.3)
Jan. 2023 Our papers received more than 1,000 Google Scholar citations
Jan. 2023 Taught the course ECE 9039 - 002 "Machine Learning: From Theory to Applications" at Western University
Nov. 2022 Our paper "IDS-ML: An open source code for Intrusion Detection System development using Machine Learning" is published in Software Impacts.
Nov. 2022 Our paper "IoT Data Analytics in Dynamic Environments: From An Automated Machine Learning Perspective" is published in Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IF: 8.0).
Oct. 2022 Started serving as the Vice Chair of the Computer & SMC Chapter in the IEEE London Section
Sep. 2022 Joined the OC2 Lab at Western University as a Postdoc Associate
Aug. 2022 Our paper "LCCDE: A Decision-Based Ensemble Framework for Intrusion Detection in The Internet of Vehicle" is selected by the Reddit Machine Learning Community as one of the Top-10 Most Popular AI Research in the world in Aug 2022.
Aug. 2022 Our paper "LCCDE: A Decision-Based Ensemble Framework for Intrusion Detection in The Internet of Vehicle" is accepted by IEEE GlobeCom 2022.
May. 2022 Our paper "A Transfer Learning and Optimized CNN Based Intrusion Detection System for Internet of Vehicles" is published in IEEE ICC 2022.
May. 2022 Received the Graduate Symposium Award for Best Presentation, issued by the ECE department, Western University
Apr. 2022 Received the Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research, issued by the ECE department, Western University
Mar. 2022 Our paper "Multi-Perspective Content Delivery Networks Security Framework Using Optimized Unsupervised Anomaly Detection" is published in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (IF: 5.3)
Jan. 2022 Our paper "MTH-IDS: A Multitiered Hybrid Intrusion Detection System for Internet of Vehicles" is published in IEEE IoT Journal (IF: 10.6)
Dec. 2021 Our paper "PWPAE: An Ensemble Framework for Concept Drift Adaptation in IoT Data Streams" is published in IEEE GlobeCom 2021
Dec. 2021 Our paper "Concept Drift Detection in Federated Networked Systems" is published in IEEE GlobeCom 2021
May. 2021 Received the Mitacs Accelerate Fellowship from the OC2 Lab at Western University
May. 2021 Our paper "A Lightweight Concept Drift Detection and Adaptation Framework for IoT Data Streams" is published in IEEE IoT Magazine
Nov. 2020 Our paper "On Hyperparameter Optimization of Machine Learning Algorithms: Theory and Practice" is published in Neurocomputing (IF: 6.0)
Oct. 2020 Received the Industrial Research Excellence Award, issued by the OC2 Lab at Western University
Oct. 2020 Received the Research Excellence Award, issued by the OC2 Lab at Western University
Aug. 2020 Served as the Session Chair of Technical Sessions in IEEE CCECE 2020
Dec. 2019 Our paper "Tree-based Intelligent Intrusion Detection System in Internet of Vehicles" is published in IEEE GlobeCom 2019
Nov. 2018 Our paper "Image-Based Visibility Estimation Algorithm for Intelligent Transportation Systems" is published in IEEE Access (IF: 3.9)