Assistant Professor
University of Maryland, College Park
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Email: zhambyl@umd.edu
Office: 2305 A.V. Williams
University of Maryland, College Park
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Email: zhambyl@umd.edu
Office: 2305 A.V. Williams
Zhambyl Shaikhanov is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. from Rice University in 2024 and 2020, respectively, working with Dr. Edward Knightly, and his B.S. from The University of Texas at Austin in 2015. Prior to graduate school, he worked in the industry at the Dell Server Networking Lab. Zhambyl's research has been featured in top-tier ACM/IEEE venues and recognized with multiple awards, including Best Demo Awards at ACM HotMobile and ACM WiSec. He is a Texas Instruments Distinguished Fellow and a Rice ECE Fellow.
I am seeking motivated Ph.D. students passionate about wireless systems. If you are interested in joining my team, please contact me.
My research focuses on a broad spectrum of next-generation (6G and beyond) wireless. Building on strong theoretical foundations, I design, prototype, and demonstrate in-the-field next-generation wireless systems and architectures with applications in security, sensing, and networking. My research is multi-disciplinary, cutting across electromagnetics, protocols, signal processing, robotics, and end-to-end systems.
[Smart Devices and Systems]
Recent News
Our paper on spoofing eavesdroppers with audio misinformation has been accepted to IEEE S&P (Oakland), 2025 [paper] [webpage]
Our wireless backhaul security research was featured in ACM GetMobile Magazine, 2025 [paper]
Our paper on downlink multi-user sub-THz communication work has been accepted to IEEE INFOCOM, 2025 [paper]
Our paper on audio misinformation encoding via on-phone metasurface has been accepted to Optica, 2024 [paper]
Our wireless backhaul security MetaFly paper has been accepted to IEEE S&P (Oakland), 2024 [paper]
Our paper on balloon-based UAVs for accurate environmental mapping has been accepted to IEEE CCNC, 2024 [paper]
We have been awarded $1.8M from the U.S. Army Research Office to enhance security against adversarial metasurfaces, 2023.
Our wireless security work on directional misinformation to eavesdroppers has been accepted to IEEE CNS, 2023 [paper]
Our wireless security paper on Metasurface-in-the-Middle attack has been accepted to ACM WiSec, 2022 [paper]
Our paper on a networked drone system for sensing, localizing, and approaching RF targets has been accepted to IEEE IoT, 2022 [paper]
Our paper on off-grid networked drones on sensing missions has been accepted to ACM TiOT, 2021 [paper]
Awards
Minta Martin Award, 2025
Northrop Grumman Seed Grant, 2025
Best Paper Runner-Up Award at SPICES, 2024
Best Demo Award at ACM HotMobile, 2023
Best Demo Award at ACM WiSec, 2022
Texas Instruments Distinguished Fellowship, 2017 - 2024
Rice Electrical and Computer Engineering Fellowship, 2017