Team

• Associate professor of Computing and Information Sciences
• Affiliated faculty of ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute 
• Affiliated faculty of Computer Engineering 
• Faculty member of Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD program 
• Faculty member of Computing and Information Sciences PhD program

Dr. Rahbari received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) from the University of Arizona (UA) in 2016 in WiCON lab. He joined RIT in Spring 2018 after a brief experience as a postdoctoral associate at Virginia Tech in WiNSeR lab. He also holds a B.Sc. degree in information technology engineering and an M.Sc. degree in computer networks from Sharif University of Technology and AmirKabir University of Technology (Iran), respectively. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2023.

→ Personal Website
Office: GOL-3789 (Cybersecurity Hall)
Faraday Lab: GOL-3739
Email: hanif.rahbari@rit.edu

Education: I completed my Master of Science in Computing Security from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in May 2020. Prior to that, I received my Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering from Pune University, India in July 2017.

PhD: I started my Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at RIT in Fall 2020. My research interests include secure spectrum sharing in 5G, Wi-Fi and radio astronomy services; beamforming in MIMO systems; and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications security.

Email: sd4767@rit.edu
Office: Cybersecurity Hall (open research space)

Education: I received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computing Security from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in 2021. Prior to my studies at RIT, I received two Associate of Science (A.S.) degrees, one in Computer Science and the other in Mathematics, from Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, NY.

PhD: I started my Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at RIT in Fall 2021. My research interests include secure vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, security in emerging and next-generation vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies, post-quantum security for connected vehicles, and testbed development for wireless systems.

Email: geoff.twardokus@mail.rit.edu
Website: https://geofftwardokus.com
Office: Cybersecurity Hall (3rd floor research space)

Education: I completed my pre-university education in Mali. I received the B.Sc. degree in Electronics and M.Sc. degree in Networking & Telecommunication Engineering from Université Mouloud Mammeri de Tizi-Ouzou (Algeria) in 2016 and 2018, respectively. I received another M.Sc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Pan African University (Kenya) in 2021.

PhD:  I started my Ph.D. in Internet of Things: Embedded Computing Systems at the University of Rwanda in 2023, and I am currently a visiting student at RIT from Fall 2025 under the supervision of Dr. Rahbari. My research interests encompass low-latency communications, lightweight cryptography for IoT and connected vehicle security, and AI-based intrusion detection systems.

Email: lc6858@rit.edu

Degree Program: B.S./M.S. Cybersecurity (expected graduation in May 2026).

Research Interests: Cybersecurity in aerospace communication systems, including air traffic control, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and satellites. 

Email: raf1843@rit.edu

Degree Program: B.S. Computer Science (expected graduation May 2026).

Research Interests: Security in quantum systems, sustainable computing (green computing), energy efficiency in computing systems. 

Email: cgs9212@rit.edu 

Ph.D. in Computing and Information Sciences, July 2025. Currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the College of Computing at Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Naureen received her Ph.D. in July 2025 after successfully defending her dissertation which was titled, "Dynamic Defenses to Systematically Secure Exposed Attack Surfaces in Wireless Systems." Naureen's research in the WISP Lab focused on the security of AI-enabled wireless communications, Wi-Fi security, among other areas.

Email: nh9502@rit.edu 

B.S. Game Design and Development in May 2024 (currently a master's student in Game Design and Development at Rochester Institute of Technology)

Email: aob6548@rit.edu

B.S. Cybersecurity in May 2024 (currently a Security Researcher at Two Six Technologies in Arlington, Virginia)

Ben participated in a number of research projects in WISP lab during his time at RIT, including work on applications of post-quantum cryptography in wireless systems and developing a UAV testbed for wireless security.

Email: btc5343@rit.edu
Social: LinkedIn

Enrolled in the accelerated dual-degree program in Cybersecurity at RIT with expected graduation in May 2025.

Email: nlg9323@rit.edu

M.S. in August 2021 (Currently a Ph.D. candidate in the ECE program at Rochester Institute of Technology)

Geoff entered the accelerated dual-degree program in Computing Security at RIT in 2019, completing the B.S. requirements in 2020 and the M.S. requirements in 2021 under the supervision of Dr. Rahbari. His research focus was on testbed development and security in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications.

Thesis title: Intelligent Lower-Layer Denial-of-Service Attacks Against Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (available from RIT Scholar Works)

Email: gdt5762@rit.edu

M.S. in May 2021 (Currently a Site Reliability Engineer at Grubhub, Chicago)

While a Computer Science student at RIT, Leul moved into the accelerated Master's program in Computing Security in 2019 as a BS/MS student. His research focus was on Zigbee Security.

Project title: Only as strong as the weakest [ZigBee] Touchlink 

Email: lgb9445@rit.edu
Social: LinkedIn