PhD Students

MS Students

Undergraduate Students

  • Luke Quinn, Undergraduate VT
  • Shihan Lin, Undergraduate Fudan
  • Douglas Bossart, Undergraduate VT

Alumni

  • Chun Wang (MS VT, 2018) >> IBM

Current Student Collaborators

  • Huandong Wang (PhD Tsinghua), co-advised w/ Yong Li
  • Joseph Messou (undergraduate VT)
  • Shinan Liu (undergraduate UESTC)
  • Alejandro Cuevas (undergraduate PSU)
  • Faysal Hossain Shezan (PhD UVA)
  • Wenbo Guo (PhD PSU)
  • Dongliang Mu (PhD Nanjing Univ.)
  • Ying Dong (PhD University of Chinese Academy and Sciences)
  • Qing Zhang (PhD VT)
  • Taoran Ji (PhD VT)
  • Chen Gao (PhD Tsinghua)
  • Huan Yan (PhD Tsinghua)
  • Shiliang Tang (PhD UCSB)
  • Xinyi Zhang (PhD UCSB)

Former Student Collaborators

  • Kexiong (Curtis) Zeng (PhD VT, 2018) >> Facebook
  • Bolun Wang (PhD UCSB, 2018) >> Facebook
  • Ke Tian (PhD VT, 2018) >> Microsoft
  • Rupinder Paul (PhD VT, 2018) >> Moody's Analytics
  • Fang Liu (PhD VT, 2017) >> Palo Alto Networks
  • Alex Kedrowitsch (MS VT, 2017) >> West Point
  • Divya Sambavisan (MS UCSB, 2015) >> Yelp
  • Allen Chang (BS/MS UCSB, 2013) >> Box
  • Manish Mohanlal (MS UCSB, 2012) >> Yelp
  • Konark Gill (MS UCSB, 2012) >> Facebook
  • Troy Steinbauer (MS UCSB, 2011) >> Zynga
  • Megan McQueen (San Marcos High, 2015) >> Yale
  • Emily Pan (Harker School, 2015) >> Caltech

Q: Why Virgina Tech PhD Program?

Virginia Tech has one of the top engineering and computer science programs around the world. If you plan to apply to graduate school and you are interested in cyber security, high-performance computing, big data or HCI, this is definately a great place for you. We have world-class faculty in these areas and the PhD program is expanding rapidly. You can find more information about the university here.

Applying to PhD programs is very different from applying to undergraduate or masters programs. For undergraduate and masters programs, you should care about the ranking of the school (a lot). In contrast, the most important thing when selecting a PhD program is choosing your advisor. PhD programs are more like jobs than school: you will spend the vast majority of your time creating new knowledge with your colleagues and advisor, not attending classes. Thus, as a PhD student, you want to choose an advisor who is working in an area you feel passionate about, because you will spend several years working very hard with them.

Q: What are you looking for in prospective students?

I am always looking for passionate, hard-working students to join my research group. The most important quality I look for in students is self-motivation: as a PhD student you need to take charge and proactively drive your own research agenda. I also like students who are energetic and curious, which are critical qualities to effectively identify interesting research problems and find solutions. In terms of technical skills, I expect students to be competent programmers (networking, mobile systems), but you don't need to be a super-hacker to succeed as a PhD student. In addition, my research area involves extensive data analytics. I expect students to have basic knowledge in statistcs.

Q: What should I do if I want to work with you?

The best thing to do is to read several of my recent papers, and then write me a brief email (with your CV attached) explaining: 1) which papers you like and why, 2) why you want to get a PhD, and 3) what research problems you are interested in. Please understand that I receive a lot of unsolicited emails from prospective students, so I may not be able to respond to all inquiries.

Keep in mind that my research focuses on security and privacy in the web and mobile systems. I am also interested in data mining and machine learning. If you aren't interested in those areas, then I am not the right advisor for you. If you haven't been admitted to Virginia Tech, I suggest you going through the application process first. You can mention my name in your application so that I can easily find your case. Make sure you select the "cybersecurity" area in your graduate application.

Q: I am a Masters/Undergraduate student at Virginia Tech, can I join your research projects?

Absolutely! I always enjoy working with Masters/Undergraduate students who are interested in doing research. If you are already enrolled in Virginia Tech, the best way of action is to take my class. Students who excel in class and actively participate have the best chance to join my lab to work on real research projects. Of course, I am always happy to write strong recommendation letters for good students who have worked with me, or connect them to potential internship opportunities.