SPEAKERS

Keynote speaker I

Houbing Herbert Song, Ph.D., IEEE Fellow, ACM Distinguished Scientist

University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), USA.

Biography:

Houbing Herbert Song (M’12–SM’14-F’23) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, in August 2012.

He is currently a Tenured Associate Professor, the Director of NSF Center for Aviation Big Data Analytics (Planning), and the Director of the Security and Optimization for Networked Globe Laboratory (SONG Lab, www.SONGLab.us), University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD. Prior to joining UMBC, he was a Tenured Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL. He serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence (TAI) (2023-present), IEEE Internet of Things Journal (2020-present), IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (2021-present), and IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems (J-MASS) (2020-present). He was an Associate Technical Editor for IEEE Communications Magazine (2017-2020). He is the editor of eight books, the author of more than 100 articles and the inventor of 2 patents. His research interests include cyber-physical systems/internet of things, cybersecurity and privacy, and AI/machine learning/big data analytics. His research has been sponsored by federal agencies (including National Science Foundation, US Department of Transportation, and Federal Aviation Administration, among others) and industry. His research has been featured by popular news media outlets, including IEEE GlobalSpec's Engineering360, Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), Security Magazine, CXOTech Magazine, Fox News, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Times, and New Atlas.

Dr. Song is an IEEE Fellow, an ACM Distinguished Member, and an ACM Distinguished Speaker. Dr. Song has been a Highly Cited Researcher identified by Clarivate™ (2021, 2022) and a Top 1000 Computer Scientist identified by Research.com. He received Research.com Rising Star of Science Award in 2022 (World Ranking: 82; US Ranking: 16). Dr. Song was a recipient of 10+ Best Paper Awards from major international conferences, including IEEE CPSCom-2019, IEEE ICII 2019, IEEE/AIAA ICNS 2019, IEEE CBDCom 2020, WASA 2020, AIAA/ IEEE DASC 2021, IEEE GLOBECOM 2021 and IEEE INFOCOM 2022.

Keynote speaker II

Ali Kashif Bashir, Reader in Networks and Security, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Biography:

Ali Kashif Bashir is a Reader of Networks and Security at the Department of Computing and Mathematics, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. He is also serving as Program Leader for BSc Cyber Forensics and Security and BSc Cyber Security.  He also enjoys adjunct and honorary affiliations of the University of Electronics Science and Technology of China (UESTC), China, University of Science and Technology, Islamabad (NUST), Pakistan, and the University of Guelph, Canada. He received his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Korea University, South Korea and his MS from Ajou University, South Korea. Before that, he had a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Management and Technology, Pakistan. He was an Associate Professor at the University of the Faroe Islands, Denmark from 2017 to 2018. From 2013 to 2016, he was with Osaka University, Japan as a Specially Appointed Research Scholar. At Osaka University, he worked with NICT (The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) and NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) to propose pioneering solutions and architectures in cloud computing and data centres. He was also with the National Institute of Technology, Japan as a visiting professor. Between 2012 to 2013, at the National Fusion Research Institute, South Korea he worked on one of the world’s biggest projects named ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) which aims to produce fusion energy by 2050.

His research includes the internet of things, network communication, cyber security, distributed systems, machine learning and smart infrastructures. He has published over 200 research articles. Most of his works are published in the top 10 per cent of ISI indexed Journals. His research has received a lot of attention as well. In 2021, he is recognized as the third most cited author in the IEEE Internet of Things Journal. He has a strong track record of attracting industrial related grants through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP). Accumulatively, he has obtained over 2.5 million pounds of funding from the European, Asian and Middle Eastern funding agencies.

Ali is a Senior Member of IEEE, an invited member of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, and a member of IEEE Communication Society and ACM. He served/serving as an editor in several international journals including Scientific Reports, Nature, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics and IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, etc. Since 2017, he is serving as the EIC of IEEE Technology, Policy, and Ethics.

Keynote speaker III

Hesuan Hu, Professor, Xidian University, Xi’an, China.

Biography:

Hesuan Hu (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in computer engineering and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electro-mechanical engineering from Xidian University, Xi’an, China, in 2003, 2005, and 2010, respectively.

He is currently a Full Professor with Xidian University. He has more than 170 publications in journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. As well, he is a holder of more than 40 issued and filed patents in his fields of expertise. His research interests include discrete event systems and their supervisory control techniques, Petri nets, automated manufacturing systems, multimedia streaming systems, autonomous vehicles, cyber security, and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Hu has been an Associate Editor for IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS MAGAZINE, IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION MAGAZINE, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS, Journal of IntelligentManufacturing, etc. He was the recipient of many national and international awards including the Franklin V. Taylor Memorial Award for Outstanding Papers from the IEEE SMC Society in 2010 and the finalists of the Best Automation Paper from the IEEE ICRA Society in 2013, 2016, and 2017. He is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer.