Komal Ilyas, a first-year computer science and engineering Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University, has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation CSGrad4Us fellowship to study how artificial intelligence systems can be hacked and how to stop it.
“As AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives and critical systems, understanding its vulnerabilities is essential,” Ilyas said. “I’ll be focusing on identifying how AI can be deceived or attacked so we can build more secure and trustworthy systems.”
The fellowship provides fellows with a $37,000 annual stipend, a $16,000 cost of education allowance, and access to a mentorship program, all for three years. Ilyas, who earned her master’s degree in computer science from Texas A&M, applied during the final year of that program.
She works in the SPIES lab under Dr. Nitesh Saxena and Dr. Irfan Khan. Her current project investigates how unmanned marine vessels could be targeted by cyberattacks and what defenses can protect them.