I teach across the computer engineering and cybersecurity curriculum at Iowa State, with a focus on hands-on, team-based, and research-integrated learning. My courses combine fundamentals with realistic labs drawn from research testbeds.
Courses Taught at Iowa State
- CPR E 2810: Digital Logic Design and Analysis
- CPR E 2300: Cybersecurity Fundamentals
- CPR E 4310: Basics of Information Systems Security
- CPR E 4370 / 4370X: Introduction to Wireless Security
- CPR E 5370: Wireless Network Security (graduate)
- CPR E 4890: Computer Networks and Data Communications
- CPR E 1850 / SE 1850: Introduction to Computer Engineering / Problem Solving in Software Engineering
- EE 2850: Problem-Solving Methods
- CPR E 4920: Senior Design Project II
Educational Innovations
- CourseGPT & ZenEra: AI course assistants for CPR E 4310 and CPR E 2810 that interact with students through Discord and Canvas, answering content questions and reinforcing learning outside of lecture. Resulting work was published at IEEE FIE.
- ISU CourseGPT Bot: is an AI-powered educational assistant that helps students ask questions about course materials and receive source-grounded answers. Built with React, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, ChromaDB, LangChain, and LLaMA 4 Scout, it supports document uploads, RAG-based search, Discord/Canvas integration, and real-time AI responses to improve learning and reduce repetitive instructor questions.
- CPR E 4370X (Introduction to Wireless Security): Proposed and developed this elective course for the cybersecurity program; built labs on passive 802.11 sniffing, Wi-Fi MitM, and Bluetooth snooping with Kali Linux.
- CPR E 4310 labs: Encryption and hashing, password cracking against the NIST 100K list, Linux access control, Layer-7 DoS with Slowloris, firewall configuration on CloudLab.
- Team-Based Learning conversion of SE 1850: Redesigned the course materials, recorded weekly support videos, and integrated TBL practices that have impacted 700+ students.
- EE 2850 lab refresh: Updated 70% of the labs and added pre-lab sections; subsequently adopted by other instructors.
- CPR E 2810 final-project ramp: Co-developed a bridging lab between weekly exercises and the large-scale final project to help students succeed.
Current Postdoctoral Scholars
- Dr. Ahmed Nazar: Postdoctoral Scholar, Iowa State University. Ph.D. (Computer Engineering, ISU, Spring 2025). Research: agentic and multimodal LLMs for wireless environment perception, beam prediction, and 6G smart cities.
Current Graduate Students
- Varun Advani: Ph.D. (expected Spring 2029); M.Sc. (expected Spring 2026)
- Guoying Zu: Ph.D. (expected Fall 2026)
Former Graduate Students
- Ahmed Nazar: Ph.D., Spring 2025 (co-advised); M.Sc., Spring 2022
- Shakil Ahmed: Ph.D., Summer 2023
Undergraduate Research and Mentoring
I have supervised 20+ undergraduates through the ARA REU program (2023–2025) and many independent studies and honors projects in computer engineering, software engineering, and electrical engineering. Recent senior design projects span LLMs for emergency response, PTSD detection devices, LiDAR-based environmental classification, secure aircraft data load systems, and CourseGPT development.
Selected Teaching Honors
- College of Engineering Excellence in Foundational Course Teaching Award (2024)
- Boast-Nilsson Educational Impact Award (2019, 2024)
- Iowa State University Early Achievement in Teaching Award (2021)
- College of Engineering Early Achievement in Teaching Award (2020)