Cybersecurity Center

About

UMKC’s Cybersecurity Center serves as the focal point for coordinating all cybersecurity research, education, and outreach activities at the university. Affiliated with MIDE, the Center is composed of faculty, professional staff members, and students in diverse academic disciplines, including Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Civil and Mechanical Engineering, and Physics.

Point of Contact

Dr. Dianxiang Xu

Email:dxu@umkc.edu

Phone: 816-235-6218

FACULTY

Baek-Young Choi
Baek-Young Choi

Professor

Email
Reza Derakhshani
Reza Derakhshani

Associate Dean of Research and Innovation

Email
Yugyung Lee
Yugyung Lee

Professor

Email
Farid Nait-Abdesselam
Farid Nait-Abdesselam

Professor

Email
Sejun Song
Sejun Song

Associate Professor

Email
Dianxiang Xu
Dianxiang Xu

Director of Computing, Analytics and Mathematics

Email
Zhu Li
Zhu Li

Professor

Email
Tiahang Zheng
Tiahang Zheng

Assistant Professor

Email
ASM Tohidul Hasan
ASM Tohidul Hasan

Assistant Teaching Professor

Email

Research

The Cybersecurity Center conducts research in the following cybersecurity areas:

Access control: Dr. Dianxiang Xu

AI for cybersecurity: Dr. Baek-Young Choi, Dr. Reza Derakhshani, Dr. Yugyung Lee, Dr. Farid Nait-Abdesselam, Dr. Sejun Song, Dr. Dianxiang Xu, Dr. Tianhang Zheng

Biometrics: Dr. Reza Derakhshani, Dr. Sejun Song

Cloud security: Dr. Baek-Young Choi

Data privacy: Dr. Baek-Young Choi, Dr. Yugyung Lee, Dr. Sejun Song, Dr. Tianhang Zheng

Digital forensics: Dr. Dianxiang Xu

Hardware security: Dr. Reza Derakhshani

IoT security: Dr. Sejun Song

Network security: Dr. Baek-Young Choi, Dr. Farid Nait-Abdesselam, Dr. Sejun Song, Dr. Dianxiang Xu, Dr. Tianhang Zheng

Software and application security: Dr. Yugyung Lee, Dr. Dianxiang Xu, Dr. Tianhang Zheng

Trustworthy AI: Dr. Yugyung Lee, Dr. Dianxiang Xu, Dr. Tianhang Zheng

Education

UMKC offers cybersecurity studies at the undergraduate, master’s and Ph.D. levels.

  • Cybersecurity emphasis in the BS CS and BIT programs in the Division of Computing, Analytics, and Mathematics.
  • Cybersecurity emphasis in the MS CS program
  • Interdisciplinary PhD (iPhD) with CS or ECE as the primary discipline (Ph.D. in CS and Ph.D. in ECE starting Fall 2024)

Outreach

The Cybersecurity Center is actively engaging in a range of outreach activities, including:

  • Sponsorship and hosting for the Central Area Networking and Security Workshop (https://www.cansec.org/home) since its establishment in 2012
  • GenCyber Cybersecurity Camps for high school students in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024
  • Hack-A-Roo Cybersecurity Track for high school students in Fall 2021, Fall 2022, and Fall 2023