Yanchao Zhang

Fulton Professor of Networking and Security
School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
Ira. A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University
Cyber and Network Security Group
DoD Center of Excellence in Future Generation Wireless Technology

[email protected]    |    Phone: 480-727-0039    |   Office: Goldwater Center (GWC) 456
 

I received a B.E. in Computer Science & Technology from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 1999, an M.E. in Computer Science & Technology from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2002, and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida in 2006. I am a Fulton Professor of Networking and Security in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University, where I direct the Cyber & Network Security Group (CNSG). I also serve as the Principal Investigator and Director of the DoD Center of Excellence in Future Generation Wireless Technology (FutureG).

My research addresses cybersecurity and privacy challenges in wireless and networked systems, with a current emphasis on FutureG wireless networks (6G+), trustworthy wireless/embodied/physical AI, autonomous and unmanned systems (UAVs, UGVs, and robots), multimodal sensing systems, immersive technologies (AR/VR/MR), and their critical application domains. I received the U.S. NSF CAREER Award in 2009 and was named an IEEE Fellow for contributions to wireless and mobile security in 2019.

I served as TPC Co-Chair for IEEE INFOCOM 2023 and have chaired several other conferences and workshops, including the 2026 U.S. NSF–Singapore CSA Joint Workshop on Cybersecurity Innovations, the 2023 NSF Workshop on Security of FutureG and Spectrum Sharing, the 2020 ARO Workshop on Proactive and Autonomous Defenses in Wireless Networks, the 2017 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS), the 2016 ARO Workshop on Trustworthy Human-Centric Social Networking, and the 2015 NSF Workshop on Wireless Security. I have also served on the editorial boards of several leading IEEE journals, including IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

I welcome highly motivated and self-driven students with a strong passion for research to join CNSG as Ph.D. students. Opportunities are available for both Spring and Fall admission. As a member of CNSG, you may pursue a Ph.D. in EE or CE through the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering (ECEE), or in CE or CS through the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (SCAI). Interested students are encouraged to contact me at [email protected] with a CV in PDF format. I look forward to working with talented students to advance the frontiers of cybersecurity, privacy, and networked systems.