Rozhin Yasaei

Rozhin Yasaei is an Assistant Professor in Cyber Operations, Intelligence, and Technology at the College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST) at the University of Arizona. She also contributes her expertise to the CAST Curriculum Committee, playing a role in enhancing the academic curriculum.

Dr. Yasaei earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 2023, with a thesis titled "Graph Neural Network for Integrated Circuits and Cyber-Physical Systems Security." Prior to her doctoral studies, she completed a master's degree in computer engineering at UC Irvine in 2021 and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2018.

In a cross-disciplinary move, Dr. Yasaei's research focuses on the application of machine learning techniques to enhance security in hardware, embedded systems, and cyber-physical systems. Her research tackles hardware security concerns, including the detection of Hardware Trojans (HT), both pre- and post-silicon stages, through side-channel analysis and data-driven modeling. Through the application of machine learning, particularly graph neural networks, she pioneers methodologies to model integrated circuits, enhance security frameworks, and combat hardware IP piracy. 

In her research endeavors, Dr. Yasaei adopts a bottom-up perspective to address challenges in system security. Notably, her adaptive method emphasizes data fusion to develop context-aware models as a system digital twin to enhance system security and reliability, as demonstrated in experiments on IoT systems. 

Rozhin's dedication to education has earned her recognition, including the prestigious UC Irvine Pedagogical Fellowship in 2021. Following a year of intensive training, she received a Teaching Excellence Certificate. Her excellence in academia was further acknowledged with accolades such as the Rising Stars in EECS Award in 2022, the iREDEFINE Professional Development Award in 2022, the UCI UROP Research Discovery Fellowship in 2022, and the UCI Henry Samueli Endowed Scholarship in 2018. 

Beyond her academic achievements, Rozhin is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in STEM fields. She actively participates in and volunteers for panels, workshops, and conferences that align with her vision of promoting inclusivity. Since 2021, she has been an active member of Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS), initially as student chapter president and later as faculty advocate, where she has been steadfast in her efforts to increase the involvement of women in this dynamic field.

Focus Areas

Applied Machine Learning for Hardware Security (e.i. IP piracy, Trojan), Embedded and Cyber-Physical Systems, HW/SW Co-design, Digital Twin, and Cross-layer security.