Ying Wu College of Computing Welcomes New Faculty for 2021-2022 Academic Year

Top Row: Fuad Hamidli, Huong Le, Yao Ma, Kamlesh Naik 

  Bottom Row: Shantanu Sharma,Julie Ancis, Hua Wei

Seven new faculty members – researchers and instructors – joined the Ying Wu College of Computing (YWCC) in Fall 2021, embracing the opportunity to contribute to the NJIT academic mission. They collectively bring a wealth of experience from as far as Asia and the Middle East to the four corners of the U.S., hailing from institutions and organizations that are recognized leaders in their fields.

Craig Gotsman, dean of YWCC, cannot conceal his satisfaction: “As we continue to grow the college, we welcome a steady stream of fresh talent. Our recent crop is as outstanding as it is diverse, and we look forward to their contributions, which I know will be significant.”

Fuad Hamidli, university lecturer

Fuad Hamidli received his Ph.D. in cryptography from Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. A cybersecurity expert, his work has been deployed throughout industry. His current endeavors include research on APN/PN/Bent functions and continuing his joint work with collaborators at METU on Alltop functions. He is also continuing research and evaluation of cybersecurity vulnerabilities/incidents and security solutions.

Fuad is eager to contribute in an academic environment and looks forward to sharing his significant industry experience with NJIT’s many students.

Huong Le, university lecturer

Huong Le recently completed her Ph.D. in Computer Science at NJIT. This experience has enabled her to successfully transition to a new position as University Lecturer with a first-hand perspective on understanding the needs of students. She expects to continue refining her teaching style and is passionate about reinforcing value, best practices, and ethics to the diversity of freshmen and seniors with whom she feels privileged to be educating. She will also continue working on her research interests of spectral clustering, computer networking, machine learning, blockchain, data analytics, and deep learning.

Huong is currently writing two books: Machine Learning Mastery with Python and A Practical Guide to Hands-on Computer Networking.  When not working, she enjoys reading Manga and cites Kindaichi, Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit and The Liar Game as all-time favorites.

Yao Ma, assistant professor

Yao Ma recently earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2021. Prior to that, he completed his MS (2016) in Statistics, Probability & Operations Research at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and his BS (2015) in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. His research interests include graph neural networks and their applications, social network analysis, and knowledge graphs. He is currently developing deep learning models for graph-structured data. Yao authored the first comprehensive book on the topic of Deep Learning on Graphs, published by Cambridge University Press.

Kamlesh Naik, university lecturer

Kamlesh Naik transitions to the NJIT faculty following completion of his M.S. in computer science in spring 2021. Honored and excited to have been appointed as a faculty member at his alma mater so soon after graduation, he views teaching more as a calling than just a job. Kamlesh feels that his recent experience as a student himself will provide insight into instructional methodologies that will resonate with the many “young, enthusiastic learning minds” in his classes. In parallel to continuing to develop as an instructor, he will also perform research in the field of cybersecurity, with the ultimate goal of pursuing a PhD degree.

Shantanu Sharma, assistant professor

Shantanu Sharma holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and spent five years as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine, widely considered to be a “mecca” for machine learning research.

Shantanu has developed several techniques for scaling cryptographic techniques for large-size datasets, which have been incorporated in a real-time, privacy-preserving WiFi-based system called TIPPERS, funded by DARPA. The system uses WiFi connectivity data for localizing people both inside and outside buildings, and is operational at UC Irvine and the Naval Information Warfare Center. Shantanu’s work has been published at top databases conferences and he served as leading organizer and presenter on tutorials and advances in secure data management at the IEEE International Conferences on Data Engineering (ICDE) in 2020 and IEEE Big Data in 2019. He frequently collaborates with Jeffrey Ullman of Stanford University, recipient of the 2021 Turing Award.

Julie Ancis, professor

Julie Ancis is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and Founding Director of the Cyberpsychology program at NJIT, which she launched in the College of Science and Liberal Arts (CSLA) prior to joining YWCC this fall. Julie has been active in leadership roles in the American Psychological Association (APA) and other organizations, including serving as Chair of APA’s Society of Counseling Psychology’s Section for the Advancement of Women. Julie has received a number of awards and honors, including Woman of the Year from that section and Georgia State University’s Outstanding Research Award.

Prior to NJIT, Julie served as Associate Vice President for Institute Diversity at Georgia Institute of Technology and was affiliated with the School of Psychology. At Georgia Tech, she was PI and Co-PI of 6 million dollars in grant funding from the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Previously, she served as a tenured professor of psychology at Georgia State University.

Julie looks forward to bringing her expertise in the area of cyberpsychology and human-computer interaction (HCI) to the department of Informatics and collaborating on interdisciplinary research. Her current research focuses on the individual and environmental factors that influence susceptibility to online misinformation and its spread in areas of COVID, climate change, and prejudice. She is especially proud of having had her work applied to areas of clinical practice, training, and in the legal arena; including use of her research in several Amicus Briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Julie enjoys all genres of music… “as long as it’s good…”

Hua Wei, assistant professor

Hua Wei recently earned his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 2020. Before joining NJIT, he worked as a Staff Researcher at Tencent AI Labs. His research interests include data mining (especially spatio-temporal data mining), reinforcement learning, and urban computing. He sums up his experience at NJIT thus far: “As the saying goes, ‘the first step is always the hardest,’ but the faculty and staff have made it much easier for me.”

Hua lives by the motto “teach well, advise well,” and cites the satisfaction he felt when a student at a conference told him that his paper followed Hua’s work and was accepted for presentation at the conference.

He also appreciates that NJIT security will come and open the doors when you lock yourself out of your building and office! Many have probably done this but few might admit it…