Newsmakers | Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Highlighting the professional and academic accomplishments of College of Computing and Information Sciences students, faculty, and staff.

Newsmakers are a quick and easy way to acknowledge the professional and academic accomplishments of RIT students, faculty, and staff, such as publishing an article in a scholarly journal, presenting research at a conference, serving on a panel discussion, earning a scholarship, or winning an award. Newsmakers appear in News and Events as well as the "In the News" section on faculty/staff directory profile pages.

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August 2025

August 18, 2025

Hanif Rahbari, assistant professor of cybersecurity, was recently invited to present at the IEEE Silicon Valley Cybersecurity Conference 2025 where he discussed his research in post-quantum cryptography. He was joined by other speakers from Google, NIST, and Juniper Networks.
August 8, 2025

Zhiqiang Tao, assistant professor in the School of Information, received a National Science Foundation award for the paper “ERI: A New Uncertainty Modeling Framework for Snapshot Compressive Imaging.” Tao’s research focuses on studying smart, scalable, and secure machine-learning algorithms through optimization and inference techniques for a wide range of fields.
August 8, 2025

Naresh Kshetri, lecturer in the Department of Cybersecurity, and students published and presented the paper “detectGNN: Harnessing Graph Neural Networks for Enhanced Fraud Detection in Credit Card Transactions” at the IEEE International Symposium on Digital Forensics and Security in Boston. Their research shows that Graphical Neural Networks can provide a powerful, accurate, and a scalable solution for detecting credit card fraud.

July 2025

July 30, 2025

Edith Hemaspaandra, professor in the Department of Computer Science, has earned a three-month research award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a return visit to Germany to continue her collaboration with specialist colleagues. The award is a follow up from her 2011-2012 sabbatical which was, in part, supported by a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award recognizing her career achievements in computational social choice. The research period begins Sept. 1.
July 29, 2025

Ersin Uzun, Katherine Johnson Endowed Executive Director of RIT's ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute, co-authored the book The AI Advantage: Thriving Within Civilization's Next Big Disruption. In its first week of release, the book became the No. 1 bestseller in Amazon's Business Technology Innovation category in the United States. Gathering insights from more than 30 global AI experts, the book offers readers a practical guide to understanding and using AI in a world that is rapidly transforming.
July 25, 2025

David Schwartz, director of the School of Interactive Games and Media, is presenting several cybersecurity games Aug. 7-10 at DEF CON 33 in Las Vegas. In the Biohacking Village, Schwartz is featuring the next generation of Jack Voltaic, a game collaboration with the Army Cyber Institute at West Point that educates critical infrastructure stakeholders about cybersecurity attacks and physical disasters. In another mobile game prototype, players can learn about MITRE’s ATT&CK framework.
July 25, 2025

James Rice, lecturer in the Department of Cybersecurity, is presenting the cybersecurity game Hacker Troll House on Aug. 9 at DEF CON 33 in Las Vegas. Rice created the game where users take on a variety of entry-level Linux security challenges against the Trolls, who don’t play fair. The game will run in Red Team Village at DEF CON—the largest hacking and security conference.
July 18, 2025

Naresh Kshetri, lecturer in the Department of Cybersecurity, co-edited the book Deep Learning and Blockchain Technology for Smart and Sustainable Cities. The book features 20 chapters exploring deep learning and blockchain concepts for sustainable smart-city ecosystems, blockchain security enhancement solutions, and key points necessary for developing various blockchain and DL‑based intelligent transportation systems.
July 16, 2025

Dukka KC, chair of the Department of Computer Science, edited the book Large Language Models (LLMs) in Protein Bioinformatics. The recently published book contains 19 chapters covering a wide range of topics related to LLMs and their diverse applications in bioinformatics. Reflecting on the swift pace of LLM development today, the volume delves into numerous LLM-based tools to investigate proteins science, from protein language models to the prediction of protein-ligand binding sites.
July 11, 2025

A team of new media interactive development and new media design students won Best Interactive or Experiential Project for their interactive game show experience, Overboard, at the Motion Design Education Summit in Prague. The team of seven designers and three developers created the experience in partnership with The Strong National Museum of Play for the “Beyond the Buzzer: Game Shows in America” exhibit, and was recently featured on WROC-TV.