Winner. Scientist of the Year 2023

Sunitha Safavat

Academic title, degree: Ph.D. in Computer Science
Fields of science: Computer Science
Research interest: Secure Communications and Content Caching for Internet of Vehicles and Cyber Physical System
Career Development: Experienced
Organization: Howard University
Position: Research Scientist
City: Chantilly, Virginia
Country: USA

Dr. Sunitha Safavat is a highly accomplished researcher and engineer with over 15 years of experience in computer science, specializing in cybersecurity, machine learning, and cyber-physical systems. Her field of research broadly lies at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, mobile edge computing, software-defined systems, and Cybersecurity, where she develops new analytical tools for understanding and enhancing the performance of Wireless communication in Internet of Vehicles (IoV) Networks, as well as security approaches for IoV applications.

Dr. Safavat holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Howard University, a Master's in Information Technology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, and a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University.

As a Research Scientist at Howard University, Dr. Safavat conducted extensive research and published numerous papers on resilient machine learning for cyber-physical systems and wireless security solutions. Previously, as a Graduate Research Assistant at Howard University, she designed and developed AI/ML algorithms to enhance network capacity, energy efficiency, and security for Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Vehicles (IoV).

Due to its characteristics of dynamic topological structures, massive network scale, non-uniform distribution of nodes, and mobile limitation, IoV systems face various types of attacks, such as authentication and identification attacks, availability attacks, confidentiality attacks, routing attacks, data authenticity attacks, etc., which result in several challenging requirements in security and privacy. To address security and privacy issues, Dr. Safavat developed an Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) based Ant Colony Optimization Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (ACO-AODV) routing protocol which avoids suspicious vehicles during message dissemination in IoV and improves efficiency in the wireless communication systems.

Dr. Safavat also discovered that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Flying Ad-Hoc Networks (FANET) are increasing rapidly and being employed for many civilian and military applications. UAVs carry sensitive data, and hence, it is crucial to authenticate UAVs’ identities before they begin to communicate with each other. However, the traditional authentication methods encompass a low secure ability. To address this issue, she proposed a “modified Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) based lightweight identity authentication method”, which ensures no malicious UAVs are present in the FANET and improves wireless communications overhead.

Before Howard University, Dr. Safavat worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at St. Mary’s Engineering College, Hyderabad, where she prepared lectures, class activities, and graded assignments for undergraduate students. Additionally, she worked as a Database Administrator at Vijetha Publications Private Limited, where she detected, analyzed, and resolved database issues and created and maintained documentation for DBA standard operating procedures.

Dr. Sunitha Safavat has a strong educational background, significant research accomplishments, and diverse work experience, making her a well-rounded professional in her field of expertise.

She is a research scientist at Howard University. Her latest research focuses mainly on improving security in Internet of Things (IoT) networks and Vehicular Cyber-Physical Systems, where she has developed several security and resource allocation algorithms for these networks.

It has been published in top academic conferences and journals, including the IEEE International Conferences, such as ICC MILCOM, INFOCOM, and Intelligent Transportation Systems. This research is making a significant contribution to the cybersecurity field, and Dr. Safavat's work got recognition and has been cited 114 times.

Dr. Sunitha Safavat has received several awards and recognitions for her work, including a $125,000 research grant from the US Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation through Howard University's DSC Research Center.

In the academic year 2018–2019, the Graduate Division of Howard University presented Dr. Safavat with the Distinguished Graduate Research Assistant Award in appreciation of her significant contributions to the Department.

She has been recognized for her professional accomplishments, including:
• The President Award for outstanding project achievement at Vijetha Publications Pvt. Ltd.;
• Best Assistant Professor Award for curriculum creation at St. Mary's Engineering College;
• National Overseas Scholarship Award by India's Ministry of Women's Welfare worth $192,000 for pursuing research studies in the US.

In addition, she was awarded a Student Travel Grant for the IEEE CCNC conference in 2023.

She was also awarded the Dissertation Year Program Fellowship by the Graduate Research Division of Howard University, which provided her with a stipend of $7200 for six quarters, as well as tuition reimbursement.

Dr. Sunitha Safavat is a IEEE’ and a Full Sigma Xi member.