Yunpeng (Jack) Zhang, Ph.D., IEEE Senior Member

Associate Professor

Computer Information Systems and Information System Security

Fax 713-743-4032

Email yzhang119 [at] uh.edu

Website The Network, Software and System Laboratory, USDOT Tier 1 UTC Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE)

Curriculum Vitae

Professional Experience

University of Houston, Houston, TX, U.S.
Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN, U.S.
Boise State University, Boise, ID, U.S.
Dakota State University, Madison, SD, U.S.
Imperial College London, London, U.K.
Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, U.K.
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

Professional Service & Affiliations

IEEE Member
ACM Member
IEEE Boise Section Secretary (01/2015-07/2015)

Classes

Aug 2015-Present University of Houston

Data Science for Cybersecurity (CIS 6397, New developed)
Cryptography and Information Systems Security (CIS 6323)
Integrated Information Systems (CIS 3355)
Intrusion Detection and Incident Response (CIS 3351)
Information Systems Application Development (CIS 2348)
Information Technology Hardware and Systems Software (CIS 2332)

Jan 2015-May 2015 Boise State University

Ethical Hacking (CS 397), collaborative course with Prof. Izzat Alsmadi

Research Interests

Cyber Security, Data Science, Physical Safety, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Cryptography, Access Control, Intrusion Detection, Software Engineering, Software Testing and Analysis, Healthcare Informatics, Human-Computer Interface Design, Bioinformatics, Blockchain, Trusted Computing

Grants

Grants and Contracts

U.S. Department of Transportation UTC Tier 1: Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE), $10,000,000.00 (Federal Funding) + $5,000,000.00 (Match Funding), Feb, 2023 – Dec, 2027. (Center Director, PI at the Lead University - University of Houston, Other consortium partners: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Rice University, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, University of Hawaii)
Theorizing Connected Vehicle (CV) Based Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) Vulnerability Analysis and Strategizing for Cyber Security, UH Small Grant, $5,999.00, Mar, 2023 – Sept, 2024. (PI, 100% Credit)
Acquisition of an Advanced Traffic Management Systems for Cyber and Physical Security Research, UH High Priority Area Research Equipment Award, $48,600.00, April, 2020 – Oct, 2021. (PI, 100% Credit)
Development and Enhancement of In Service Performance Evaluation (ISPE) Process for Roadside Safety Devices, Texas Department of Transportation flow thru from Federal Highway Administration, $249,695.00, July, 2019 – July, 2021. (UH side PI, $142,296.00, 100% Credit, TSU side PI: Dr. Fengxiang Qiao)
Deep Learning Based Intrusion Detection Approaches for Advanced Traffic Management Systems, UH Data Science Institute, $29,876.00, Jan 15 2019 – Jan 14, 2020. (PI, 40% credit. Co-PI: Dr. Liang-Chieh Cheng and Dr. Jiming Peng)
Towards a Security Framework for the Future Heterogeneous Internet of Things: A Pilot Study, College of Technology, UH, $9,999.00, Feb 2018-Jan 2019. (PI, 100% credit.)
Blockchain-Enabled Digitized Value Chain for the next-gen e-Commerce, Fluor Corporation, Pasadena, TX, U.S.A., $7000.00, Dec 2017- May 2018. (Co-PI, 50% credit, PI: Dr. Liang-Chieh Cheng, 50% credit.)
Blockchain Innovations in Supply Chain, Department of Construction Management, UH. $5,400.00, Nov 2017-Feb 2018. (Co-PI, 50% credit, PI: Dr. Liang-Chieh Cheng, 50% credit.)
Multiple Workflow Systems Data Combing and Security Access Design, Segorobotics LLC, Katy, TX, U.S.A. $3,000.00, Aug 2017-Dec 2017. (PI, 100% credit.)
High Risk Patient Behavior Data Analysis and HIPPA-based Secure Mobile App Development, $7,000.00, June 2017-Mar 2018, Sub-contract of Virtual Reality Cue Reactivity: Assessment of Reactivity and Extinction Protocols in Injection and Non-Injection Heroin-Using Mexican Americans, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 2014-2019. Collaborative grant with Graduate College of Social Work at UH. (Sub-contract PI, 100% credit. The Project PI: Dr. nfbromfield [at] uh.edu (Nicole F. Bromfield) at UH)
Investigating the Security of TxDOT's Traffic Signal Systems, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Funding, TxDOT, $173,800.00, Sept 2016-Feb 2018, (PI, 60% credit.) (This project was selected by TxDOT for the award, but due to the budget issue of the TX government, TxDOT canceled the project.)
New Method of DNA Encryption Based on Biological puzzle, New Faculty Funding, University of Houston, $6,000.00, Sept 2015-Aug 2016, (PI, 100% credit.)
Research on New Cybersecurity Model and System, $29,988.00, Sept 2015-Aug 2016, University of Houston National Research University Fund. (PI, 100% credit.)
NSF:TTP: Small: Automated Conformance Testing of Access Control and Obligation Policies, NSF CNS1359590, $515,371 (including $15,600 REU supplement), Nov 2013 - August 2015. Dr. Dianxiang Xu (PI). (Dr. Yunpeng (Jack) Zhang was a Research Associate.). Boise State University
NSF:MRI: Acquisition of an Online Banking System for Information Assurance Research, NSF CNS1123220, $400,000.00, Jan 2013 – Oct 2013, Dr. Dianxiang Xu (PI), (Dr. Yunpeng (Jack) Zhang was a Research Associate.). Dakota State University
Research on DNA Cryptography, A Basic Research Fund of Northwestern Polytechnical University, ￥100,000.00, Oct 2010-Oct 2012, GAKY100101 (PI, 100% credit.)
Research on New Chaos Image Cryptography Based on Information Hiding, Science and Technology Development Grant of Shaanxi Province, China, ￥50,000.00, Jan 2010-Dec 2011, 2010K06-22g, (PI, 100% credit.)
Research on Symmetrical DNA Crypto-algorithm, R Fund of College of Software and Microelectronics of Northwestern Polytechnical University, ￥50,000.00, Jan 2010 – Dec 2011, 2010R001, (PI, 100% credit.)
Research on Data Cryptography of Telemetering Based on Network and Embedded System, A Aero-Science Fund of China, ￥80,000.00, Oct 2009-Oct 2011, 2009ZD53045, (PI, 100% credit.)
Analysis and Design of Several Chaotic Cipher Algorithms, A NPU Innovation Technology Fund-funded, ￥60,000.00, Dec 2007 – Dec 2009, W016121, (PI, 100% credit.)
Monitoring and Fault Predicting Technology Over the Web, A China Aviation Industry Corporation 1 Science and Aeronautical Fund-funded, ￥3,500,000.00, Sept 2005-Sept 2009, (B2720060300) (A collaborative project with Prof. Zhengjun Zhai as a Senior Personnel, 10% credit.)

Travel Fundings

Provost’s Travel Fund, UH, $1,200.00, support travel for 2019 6th International Conference on Systems and Informatics (ICSAI2019), Nov 2-4, 2019, Shanghai, China. (PI, 100% credit.)
Provost’s Travel Fund, UH, $1,200.00, support travel for The 14th IEEE International Conference on Control & Automation, June 12–15, 2018, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, (PI, 100% credit.)
Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Travel Grant, ORAU, $800.00. May - Aug 2018, (PI, 100% credit.)
Provost’s Travel Fund, UH, $1,200.00, support travel for The 13th IEEE International Conference on Control & Automation, July 3–6, 2017, Ohrid, Macedonia. (PI, 100% credit.)

Projects on Education Research

NSF: RET Site: Cyber Security, NSF CNS1200648, $500,000.00, May 2013 - August 2013, Dr. Dianxiang Xu (PI). (Dr. Yunpeng (Jack) Zhang was a Research Associate.), Dakota State University.
Research on Teaching International Students with the Strongpoints of Chinese and Western Methods, A Shaanxi Province Education Method Research Fund (Key), China, ￥50,000.00, Dec 2010-Dec 2012, (PI, 100% credit.)
2008 Best Courses "Software Engineering" Project, A NPU Education Method Research Fund, ￥30,000.00, Apr 2008-Apr 2011, (Co-PI, 40% credit. PI: Junsheng Wu, 60% credit.)
Professional Development for Software Engineering Series Courses Project, A China National Ministry of Education Method Research Fund, ￥50,000.00, Feb 2008-Feb 2010, (Co-PI, 20% credit. PI: Yian Zhu, 80% credit.)
Research and Practice to Improve Student’s Innovative Ability in Software Engineering Core Curriculum, A NPU Education Research Fund (Key), ￥60,000.00, Dec 2007-Dec 2009, (Co-PI, 20% credit. PI: Yian Zhu, 80% credit.)
The Best Course Construction of User-central Interface Design Project, A NPU Education Method Research Fund, ￥5,000.00, Sep 2006-Sep 2008, (PI, 100% credit.)
Research and Practice of Psychology in Human-Computer Interface Design Course Project, A NPU Education Method Research Fund, ￥5,000.00, Sep 2005-Sep 2007, (PI, 100% credit.)
Strengthening SSD Education Methods in the "Introduction to Computers" Course and Strive to Improve the Overall Quality of Students Project, A NPU Education Method Research Fund, ￥5,000.00, Sep 2004-Sep 2006, (PI, 100% credit.)

Awards & Honors

Sept 2022, Best Paper Finalist (three papers in total), Yunpeng Zhang, Daniel Egwede, Guohui Zhang and Xuqing Wu, Pseudonym Tracking Certificateless Aggregate Signature Scheme for Preventing Replay Attacks in a Platoon of Vehicles, The International Conference on Intelligent Data Science Technologies and Applications (IDSTA2022), Sept 5 - 7, 2022, San Antonio, TX, U.S.A.
May 2017, Best Presentation Award, Ben You, Yunpeng Zhang, Liang-Chieh Cheng, Review on Cybersecurity Risk Assessment and Evaluation and Their Approaches on Maritime Transportation, The 30th Annual Conference of International Chinese Transportation Professionals Association, May 19 ~ 21, 2017, Houston, TX, USA.
Nov 2015, New Faculty Award, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Aug 2015, Honorable Recognition of Paper, Dianxiang Xu, Yunpeng Zhang, Ning Shen, Formalizing Semantic Differences between Combining Algorithms in XACML 3.0 Policies, Proc. Of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability, and Security (QRS 2015), Vancouver, Canada, Aug. 3-5, 2015.
Sept, 2010 The Outstanding Education Achievement Award. Awarded by NPU (Northwestern Polytechnical University)
Jan, 2010 The 3rd Courseware Award, Awarded by College of Software and Microelectronics, NPU
Sept, 2009 The National Higher Education Achievement Award. Awarded by China National Ministry of Education (The highest Education award, once every four(4) years)

View Yunpeng Zhang's Google Scholar Profile

Books

Yunpeng Zhang, Junsheng Wu, Fan Yang, User-Centered Design and Evaluation, Posts & Telecom Press, Sept 2014, ISBN: 9787115366733
Yunpeng Zhang, Modern Multimedia Technology and Its Application, Posts & Telecom Press, Mar 2014, ISBN:9787115344120
Yunpeng Zhang, Jiejie Li, etc, Skilled in Program of Hacker Based on VB, Qi Lu, Electronic Audio-video Publishing House, 2009, ISBN:9787894621856
Yunpeng Zhang, Yian Zhu, etc, Introduction of Computer System, Northwestern Polytechnical University Press, 2009, ISBN:9787561225325
Yunpeng Zhang, Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic6.0, Enhanced Edition, Translation, Publishing House of Electronics Industry, 2007, ISBN:9787121042379
Yunpeng Zhang, Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic6.0, Enhanced Edition, Reorganization, Publishing House of Electronics Industry, 2006, ISBN:7121034077

Book Chapters

Yunpeng Zhang, etc, Applied Cryptography and Network Security, InTech - Open Access Publisher, Mar 2012, ISBN: 9789535102182. (http://www.intechopen.com/books/statistics/applied-cryptography-and-network-security/research-on-dna-cryptography) Downloaded more than 4101 times (02/8/2021).
Hu Liao, Yunpeng Zhang, Qinghong Yu, Exercise Instruction of Exams for Postgraduate Schools of Discrete Mathematics，Northwestern Polytechnical University Press, 2007, ISBN: 9787561222867
Hu Liao, Qinghong Yu, Yunpeng Zhang, Discrete Mathematics, Northwestern Polytechnical University Press，2007，ISBN:9787561222546

Paper Reviewer for Journals (Selected)

IEEE Transactions on Reliability,
IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing,
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics,
IEEE Access,
ACM Computing Surveys,
Journal of Internet Technology,
Imaging Science Journal,
Energies, etc.

Proposal Reviewer for Funding Agencies (Selected)

NSF Panel
DOD

Editor of Journal

4/2017-1/2018 Guest Editor, Security and Communication Networks
1/2014-present Editorial Board, Journal of Computer Engineering and Informatics

Service on International Conferences/Workshops and Journal

Jan, 2021-July 2021 Program Committee Member, 2021 IEEE 45th COMPSAC Symposium on Security, Privacy and Trust in Computing (SEPT), virtual meeting, July 12-16, 2021.
Jan, 2021-July 2021 Program Committee Member, The 30th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (IEEE ICCCN 2021), Athens, Greece. July 19-22, 2021
Dec, 2019-Oct 2020 Program Committee Member, The 15th International Conference on Systems and Networks Communications (ICSNC 2020), - Porto, Portugal, October 18 - 22, 2020
Oct, 2019-July 2020 Program Committee Member, 2020 IEEE 44th Computer Society Conference on Computers, Software and Applications (COMPSAC 2020), Madrid, Spain, July 13 – 17, 2020
Sept, 2019-Aug 2020 Program Committee Member, The 29th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (IEEE ICCCN 2020), Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Aug 3-6, 2020
Sept, 2019-May 2020 Program Committee Member, The 13th Asia Pacific Transportation Development Conference and 33rd International Chinese Transportation Professionals Association (ICTPA) Annual Conference, Shanghai, China. May 28-31, 2020
Dec, 2019-Dec 2020 General Co-Chair, The 3rd IEEE International Symposium on
Future Cyber Security Technologies (FCST 2020). In conjunction with
The Seventh IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things: Systems, Management and Security (IoTSMS 2020), Paris, France. Dec 14-16, 2020
Aug 2019 Session Chair, The 2019 International Conference on Sensing, Diagnostics, Prognostics, and Control, August 15-17, 2019. Beijing, China.
July 2019 Session Chair, The 2nd IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (IEEE Blockchain 2019), July 14–17, 2019, Atlanta, USA.
Dec, 2018-Oct 2019 General Co-Chair, The 2nd IEEE International Symposium on
Future Cyber Security Technologies (FCST 2019). In conjunction with
The Sixth IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things: Systems, Management and Security (IoTSMS 2019), Granada, Spain. October 22-25, 2019
May 2019 Judge, The 4th annual US-China Innovation and Investment and 3rd InnoSTARS conference, May 16-17, 2019, Houston, U.S.A
Dec, 2017-Oct 2018 General Co-Chair, The 1st IEEE International Symposium on
Future Cyber Security Technologies (FCST 2018). In conjunction with
The Fifth IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things: Systems, Management and Security (IoTSMS 2018), Valencia, Spain. October 15-18, 2018
Aug 2018 Judge, the 2nd InnoSTARS online showcase, Aug 8, 2018, Houston, U.S.A
June 2018 Session Chair, The 14th IEEE International Conference on Control and Automation (IEEE ICCA 2018), June 12–15, 2018, Anchorage, Alaska, USA.
May 2018 Judge, The 3rd annual US-China Innovation and Investment and 2nd InnoSTARS conference, May 14-15, 2018, Houston, U.S.A
Sept, 2017-April 2018 General Co-Chair, the 1st International Symposium on the Future of Security Controls (FSC 2018), Barcelona, Spain. April 23-26, 2018.
Oct, 2017-Mar 2018 IPC Member, 3rd ACM Workshop on Attribute Based Access Control, March 21, 2018, Tempe, AZ, USA
Sept, 2017-April 2018 IPC Member, the Fifth International Conference on Software Defined Systems (SDS-2018), Barcelona, Spain. April 23-26, 2018.
July 2017 Session Chair, the 16th IASTED International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Control, Calgary, Canada.
May 2017-Feb 2018, Guest Editor, Journal of Security and communication Networks for the Special Issue "Emerging Security Architectures and Technologies for Internet of Things".
June, 2017 Keynote Speaker, 2017 2nd International Conference on Control, Automation and Artificial Intelligence (CAAI2017), Sanya, China. http://www.caai2017.org/keynote.html
May, 2014-Dec, 2014 IPC Member, Information and Cyber Security Track, I-SPAN 2014, Chengdu, P.R. China.
Mar, 2013 Keynote Speaker, 2013 International Conference on Computer Science, Electronic Technology and Intelligent System (CSETIS 2013), Hangzhou, China.
Nov, 2012 Session Chair, the 16th IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering and Applications (SEA2012), Las Vegas, USA
June, 2012 Session Chair, 5th International Conference on Interaction Sciences: IT, Human and Digital Content, Jeju Island, Republic of Korea
Feb, 2010-May, 2010 IPC Member and Session Chair, 6th China-Europe Symposium on Software Industry Oriented Education, Xi’an, P.R. China
Aug, 2009 Session Co-Chair, IEEE 2009 4th International Conference on Computer Science & Education, Nanning, P.R. China
Selected Seminars and Talks
Aug 2019 Invited Talk: Research on Core Blockchain Technology in Real Estate Economy, hosted by Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
Oct, 2018 Invited Talk: Innovations of Smart & Connected Systems - New ways to conduct business in a digital tech environment, hosted by Americas Breakbulk, Houston, U.S.A.
July, 2018 Invited Talk: DNA Cryptography and a Nanostructure Based Algorithm, hosted by Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, U.S.A.
Mar, 2018 Invited Talk: Decentralized, BlockChain Based Access Control Framework for the Heterogeneous Internet of Things, Department of Industrial Engineering, hosted by University of Houston, Houston, U.S.A.
Oct, 2017 Invited Talk: Developing Trust Management System and Trust Data Analysis in a Cloud-Based Supply Chain, Invited by Technology Collaboration Center, hosted by Rice University Houston, U.S.A.
June, 2017 Invited Talk: State of Art of Traffic Signal Systems Cybersecurity and a Solution, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China
April, 2017 Invited Talk: The Future of National Security - Maritime cybersecurity, Department of Transportation Studies at Texas Southern University (TSU), Houston, U.S.A.
Sept, 2016 Invited Talk: A Novel System for Maritime Cybersecurity, Breakbulk Americas Education Day, Houston, U.S.A.
Sept, 2016 Invited Talk: What’s Cybersecurity? Cyber Security Club, University of Houston, Houston, U.S.A.
July, 2016 Invited Talk: Background and Future Research Related to Drone Technologies, Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence & Innovation, Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, U.S.A.
Mar, 2016 Invited Talk: Cybersecurity Ramble, Cyber Security Club, University of Houston, Houston, U.S.A.
Nov, 2015 Invited Talk: Fault-Based Testing of Combining Algorithms in Access Control Language Policies, Department of Computer Science, University of Houston, Houston, U.S.A.
Oct, 2015 Invited Talk: Detecting Misuses of Combining Algorithms in XACML 3.0 Policies, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, U.S.A.
Mar, 2015 Invited Talk: Fault Detection Conditions for XACML3.0 Policies, Department of Information and Logistics Technology, University of Houston, Houston, U.S.A.
Mar, 2012 Research Group Talk: Open Source Software and Image Processing. Imperial College London, U.K.
Jun, 2011 eResearch Group Talk: Index-Based Symmetric DNA Encryption Algorithm. University of Melbourne, Australia
May, 2011 eResearch Group Talk: A Rapid Cryptographic Algorithm Based on Chaos and Public Key Infrastructures. University of Melbourne, Australia
Nov, 2010 Department Seminar: Introduction to DNA Cryptography. NPU, China
Sept, 2006-Dec, 2012 Cyber Security Group Seminar, NPU, China, one time per two weeks, (on-campus or online meeting), Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

Professional Development

May-Aug 2020, INFA792 Special Topic Machine Learning for Cyber Security, Dakoda State Uni. CyberTraining Summer Courses, Online course.
Aug 2019, Intrusion Detection and Prevention, National Security Agency (NSA) and NorthCentral CRRC, Faculty Professional Development Workshop, Las Vegas, NV
July 2019, Online Course Developing Training, College of Technology, UH, Houston, TX
May 2019, Penetration Testing, National Security Agency (NSA) and North Central CRRC, Faculty Professional Development Workshop, St. Paul, MN
April 2019, NSF CISE Career Workshop, NSF, April 8-9, 2019, Washington D.C.
Jan, 2019, The 36th National Effective Teaching Institute 1A NETI, January 3-5, 2019, San Diego, CA.
May-June 2018, Incident Response, National Security Agency (NSA) and North Central CRRC, Faculty Professional Development Workshop, Sioux Falls, SD
Aug, 2010 Cloud Computing Certiﬁcate, IBM
Aug, 2006 Open Source Technology and software Certiﬁcate, IBM
Feb, 2005 SSD4（User-Central Design and Testing Training, obtain Instructor Competency, Icarnegie (Carnegie Mellon University)
Nov, 2004 Linux Basic and System Administration Certiﬁcate, IBM
Sept, 2004 SSD2 Introduction to Computer Systems Training, obtain Instructor Competency, and assumed Leading Instructor of P.R. China, Icarnegie (Carnegie Mellon University)
May, 2004 XML and Related Technologies and Web Services Certiﬁcate, IBM

Service (Since Aug 2015)

Serve on the CM Department SCLT TT Search committee at University of Houston (Feb-July 2020 due to COVID-19)
Serve on the College of Technology Honest committee at University of Houston (Aug 2019-Aug 2021)
Build a new Course, CIS 6397-Data Science for Cybersecurity (Feb-Dec, 2019 )
Help on Building a new Graduate Program, Data Science for Technology (2019, 2020)
Serve as the Department Hearing Officer (Fall 2017 – Fall 2018)
Help on Building the Cybersecurity Strategic Plan (2018)
Serve on the ILT Department Cybersecurity TT Search committee at University of Houston (Nov 2017 – Mar 2018)
Provide Letter of Recommendation for students
Advised students

Dissertation Committee Member, Ph.D. Student, Zechun Cao, (Prof. Stephen S.-H. Huang is the Chair.) (2018, 2019, 2020)
Dissertation Committee Member, Ph.D. Student, Mohammad Najarian, Dissertation Committee Member (Prof. Gino Lim is the Chair.) (2018, 2019, 2020)
Ph.D. Student, Thanh Hung Duong (Joint with Prof. Miao Pan, Since 2020)
RA, Ph.D. Student, Anukriti Mishra (Joint with Prof. Albert Cheng, Female, 2019, 2020)
RA, Ph.D. Student, Khadija khaldi (Prof. Shishir Shah is the supervisor, Female, 2019)
RA, Ph.D. Student, Ali Memariani (Prof. Ioannis Kakadiaris is the supervisor, 2019)
RA: Advising Research Project: David Utomi (2020, 2021)
RA: Advising Research Project: Luciano R. Branco (2020, 2021)
RA: Advising Research Project: Farzanuddin Hisam Ahmad (2020, 2021)
RA: Advising Research Project: Nirupam Bidikar (2020, 2021)
RA: Advising Research Project: Sri Harsha (2020)
RA: Advising Research Project: Revanth Sri Tripuraneni (2020)
RA: Advising Research Project: Leticia de Castro Leandro (Female, 2019)
RA: Advising Research Project: Glenn Turner (2019, Master Thesis Defense on Nov 8, 2019)
RA: Advising Research Project: Tian Yuan (2019, 2020)
RA: Advising Research Project: Hung Duong (2020)
RA: Advising Research Project: Bidit Das (2019, 2020)
RA: Advising Research Project: Anish Patel (2019)
RA: Advising Research Project: Eljose Sajan (2019)
RA and Volunteer: Advising Research Project: Rashmi S Rao (Female, 2018)
Volunteer: Advising Research Project: Abheeshta Reddy Jakka (Female, 2018)
Volunteer: Advising Research Project: Zach haven (Undergraduate, 2018)
IA: Hari Prasad Jella (2018)
IA: Jules Berlin Nde Kengne (2018)
RA: Advising Research Project: Chethana Dukkipati (Female, 2017, 2018, 2019)
RA: Advising Research Project: Jincheng Lai (2017, 2018)
RA: Advising Research Project: Lun Sun (2017, 2018)
RA and Volunteer: Advising Research Project: Sarah S. Alexander (Female, 2017, 2018)
RA: Advising Research Project: Xiaobo Li (2017)
Advising Graduate Student Capstone Project: Yang You, Co-Chair (2017)
Advising Graduate Student Capstone Project: Jorge Victorio, Chair (2017)
Advising Graduate Student Capstone Project: Ke Gan, Co-Chair (2017)
Volunteer: Advising Research Project: Srinivasa Kapthic Ponguru (2017)
IA: Sagar Limaye (2017)
RA: Advising Research Project: Feng Guo (Undergraduate) (2016)
IA: Dharani Chandran (2016)

Networking

Connected with around 60 Companies, Universities and Institutes. Our team’s research has attracted significant interest from industrial companies and the government. Contactors examples are as follows.

IBM , Dr. Prabhakar Kudva and Dr. Liang Ma, who had discussed blockchain, IoT and cloud computing research with the PI and is doing work towards publishing papers and pursuing grants together.
Department of Transportation of Corpus Christi, Raymond Chong exchanged a lot ideas and submitted two proposals to DoT in transportation security field with Dr. Zhang’s team.
Port of Houston, the Director of Security, Ms. Jessica Thmothy, who first met with Dr. Zhang’s team in June 2017. Dr. Zhang’s team is currently continuing contact with Ms. Thmothy. She is willing to have research and training in maritime field for Port of Houston.
SegoRobotics, Inc. in Katy, TX, Dr. Jason He and his team has shown great interest and enthusiasm in the dynamic weighted sum and multi-factor integration based trust management theoretical approaches and model for HIoT security since our cooperation began in Feb 2017. SegoRobotics, Inc. has supported one of the Dr. Zhang’s projects, Multiple Workflow Systems Data Combing and Security Access Design, $3000.00, Aug-Dec 2017, (PI, 100% credit.). Dr. Zhang’s team is working closely with the engineers of SegoRobotics, Inc. and the insights obtained from this project will be assimilated into the operations of the company.
Gensler, who is interested in the deployment of our research in future smart cities. In July 2017, Gensler held the first formal meeting with the University of Houston (UH) team. Dr. Zhang’s team is currently continuing contact with Gensler’s team for further cooperation.
Texas Southern University, 1) Dr. Fengxiang Qiao who is the head of Innovative Transportation Research Institute; 2) Dr. Yi Qi who is the Chair in the Department of Transportation. They are working with Dr. Zhang in transportation security field and submitted proposal and/or problem statement to TxDoT and/or DoT. TSU team already submitted three proposals to TxDoT and DoT with Dr. Zhang’s team.
Fluor Corporation, Pasadena, TX, U.S.A., Supported a project, Blockchain-Enabled Digitized Value Chain for the next-gen e-Commerce, $7000.00, Dec 2017- May 2018. (co-PI, 50% credit, PI: Dr. Liang-Chieh Cheng, 50% credit.)
Graduate College of Social Work at UH. Dr. Luis Torres (Associate Dean) and his team, Worked with Dr. Zhang on a NIH project. Dr. Zhang had done a sub-contract, High Risk Patient Behavior Data Analysis and HIPPA-based Secure Mobile App Development, $7,000.00, June 2017-Oct 2017. (PI, 100% credit.)
Gulf Winds, Mr. Dustin Hebrank, Chief Financial Officer, and his team are interested in Blockchain technology to improve their business processing. Gulf Winds team first met with Dr. Zhang’s team in Nov 2017. Dr. Zhang’s team is currently continuing contact with Gensler’s team to pursue further cooperation.

In its efforts to keep the projects sustainable, Dr. Zhang’s team is considering commercializing the technologies and transitioning their research outcome to the team’s collaborating institute to provide a platform for researchers in this field.