Trustworthy AI Research Lab (TAILab)

The Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Research Lab (TAILab) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly, Ryerson University) is focused on research on understanding trust on machine learning particularly from information security perspective. While we are interested on data security research in its classical sense, in our research we see data as a dynamic entity that its characteristics change throughout its lifecycle, from sensing, collection, used in learning and inferencing to the time that it turns to a decision (data product). Therefore, a major focus of my research group is on the security and privacy of algorithmic rendering of data using machine learning. By understanding data and its security, we are also interested to support privacy, transparency and accountability on data and its products through formalizing validation, attribution and evidence (please see my interview).


For Prospective Students:

I seek to recruit highly qualified individuals pursuing a graduate degree and postdoc. Please check my research interests prior to sending an email. Your email should include (as attachments and not URLs), your CV, transcripts (both undergrad and graduate), and a research statement describing a research topic and how the topic is related to my research interests. Due to the volume of emails only potential candidates will be contacted.

If you are currently an MEng student and interested on Security and Machine Learning, I might be able to help you explore topics and projects that would suit your background and supervise your project.


Statement on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI):

TAILab Research Group is strongly committed to upholding the values of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Consistent with the Tri-Agency Statement on EDI, and the Dimensions Pilot Program at Toronto Met. University, our group will foster an environment in which all will feel comfortable, safe, supported, and free to speak their minds and pursue their research interests. We recognizes that engineering culture can feel exclusionary to traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM fields. By acknowledging the EDI issues that exist in our field, we aim to validate the challenges faced by each group member, and continually strive to improve our group’s culture for all members.


TAILab Research Group Meetings:

We meet bi-weekly to discuss research topics on AI and Machine Learning Security, Privacy. Please see the meeting schedule and discussion topics here. If you are interested to attend please contact Reza Samavi.


Current Projects:

Faculty
Reza Samavi, PhD, PEng

Security & Privacy

Trustworthy Machine Learning

Safe and Secure Machine Learning

Optimization


Research Students
Hamed Karimi , PhD candidate Computer Engineering

Machine Learning Robustness

Secure Machine Learning

Optimization


Hirad Daneshvar, PhD candidate Computer Engineering

Machine Learning

Medical AI


Mohammadreza Maleki, PhD student Computer Engineering

Machine Learning

ML Robustness


Cassandra Czobit, PhD student Computer Engineering

Machine Learning

Medical AI


Mini Thomas, PhD candidate Software Engineering, Co-supervised with Dr. Antoine Deza (McMaster Univ.)

Security, Privacy & Trust

Optimization

Machine Learning

Bradley Rose, MASc student Computer Engineering

Differential Privacy

Daneil Sediq, MASc student Computer Engineering

Differential Privacy

ML Robustness

Md. Mahmud Ferdous, MASc student Computer Engineering

Security & Privacy

Machine Learning

Blockchain


Research group meeting - July 2023


Research group meeting - September 2022


Research group meeting - August 2022


Research group meeting - June 2021


Research group meeting - Sep. 2019


Research group meeting - Aug. 2018

Alumni
Magdalean Singarajah, MEng student Computer Engineering (2023)

Medical AI

LLM Privacy

Bipin Aasi, MEng student Computer Engineering (2023)

LLM Robustness

Moe Sabry, PhD Computer Science, Co-supervised with Dr. Douglas Stebila (Waterloo Univ.) and Dr. Emil Sekirinski (McMaster Univ.) (2023)

Security

Cryptography

Thesis: Secure Long-term Archiving System
Omar Boursalie, Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Machine Learning

Medical AI


Mina Yazdani, MASc Computer Engineering (2023)

Machine Learning Security

Optimization

Thesis: Diverse Ensembles and Noisy Logits for Improved Robustness of Neural Networks
Cassandra Czobit, MEng Computer Engineering (2022)

Machine Learning

Generative Adversarial Networks

Project: Implementation of a CycleGAN Model for MRI Image Translation
Omar Boursalie, PhD Biomedical Engineering, Co-supervised with Dr. Thomas Doyle (McMaster Univ.) (2021)

Machine Learning

Medical AI

Thesis: Temporally-Embedded Deep Learning Model for Health Outcome Prediction

Position: Sessional lecturer at McMaster University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Awards: NSERC PGS-D Recipient for 2018-2020
Anna Lindsay-Mosher, USRA - Art and Science (2020)

Semantic Web

Machine Learning

Social Good


Awards: Undergraduate Student Research Award
Yuting Liang, MSc Computer Science (2020)

Security & Privacy

Optimization

Machine Learning

Thesis: Algorithms in Privacy & Security for Data Analytics and Machine Learning
Position: PhD student at HKUST, Department of Computer Science
Vanessa Calero Bravo, MSc Computer Science (2020)

Security & Privacy

Machine Learning

Social Networks

Thesis: A Framework for Measuring Privacy Risks of YouTube
Yifan Ou, MSc Computer Science (2020)

Security & Privacy

Optimization

Machine Learning

Thesis: Game Theoretic Analysis of Defence Algorithms Against Data Poisoning Attack
Saman Dhindsa, MEng, Co-supervised with Dr. Gail Krantzberg (2020)

Security

Privacy

Project: Privacy Principles for Facial recognition Technology
Position: DependableIT. Technical Service Analysit
Awards: MITACS Award with Highmark Global
Karl Knopf, MSc Computer Science, Co-supervised with Dr. Douglas Stebila (2019)
Thesis: Real World Secret Leaking
Position: PhD student, Computer Science, University of Waterloo
Pouyan Momeni, MEng Computer Science (2019)
Thesis: Machine Learning Model for Smart Contracts Security Analysis
Position: Senior Software Developer, Scotia Bank
Awards: MITACS Award with Highmark Global
Andrew Sutton, MSc Computer Science (2018)
Thesis: Establishing Verifiable Trust in Collaborative Health Research
Position: Blockchain Application Developer at RBC
Awards: SOSCIP Award
Mingyuan Li, MSc eHealth (2018)
Thesis: DSAP: Data Sharing Agreements Privacy Ontology
Position: Solution Developer at CIHI
Sameen Ateeq, MSc eHealth (2018)
Thesis: Finding and Evaluating Predictive Factors of Fall-Related Injuries
Ali Ariaeinejad, MSc eHealth (2017)
Thesis: A Performance Predictive Model for Emergency Medicine Residents
Position: Software Developer at Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University
Qian Shan, MEng Computer Science (2017)
Project: Augmented Reality Based Brain Tumor 3D Visualization
Farshad Rahimi Asl, MEng Computer Science, Co-supervised with Dr. Fei Chiang (2017)
Project: Privacy Aware Web Services in the Cloud
Position: Software Engineer at Evertz
Omar Boursalie, MASc Biomedical Engineering, Co-supervised with Dr. Thomas Doyle (2016)
Thesis: Mobile Machine Learning for Realtime Predictive Monitoring of Cardiovascular Disease
Position: PhD Candidate at McMaster
Xiao Dong, MEng Computer Science (2016)
Project: COC: An ontology for capturing semantics of circle of care
Position: Senior Software Engineer at BlueCat
Salman Khawaja, MEng Computer Science (2016)
Project: Securing the Privacy of Electronic Health Records on Mobile Phones