I'm Sarah, an OSU alumna, a Fulbright scholar, and a new member of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology family at Universiti Malaya. Before joining UM, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Istanbul Technical University in Türkiye from 2023 to 2026. During that time, I was also a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Automotive Research at The Ohio State University, USA, from 2024 to 2025. From 2019 to 2023, I was an Assistant Professor at the University of Bahrain. I earned my Ph.D. in 2017 and my M.Sc. in 2016, both in Electrical and Computer Engineering, from The Ohio State University, following the Fulbright Science and Technology Award I received in 2012. My B.Sc. and first M.Sc. degrees are in Computer Engineering from the University of Basrah, Iraq, where I graduated as valedictorian in 2004 and 2008.

My research 🛰️🚘🚊🛳️🗝️🔐 sits at the intersection of AI and security, spanning connected and autonomous mobility, secure edge computing, and energy systems. I use cryptography to protect AI and connected systems, drawing on elliptic-curve and lattice-based schemes, group signatures, and homomorphic and functional encryption. In turn, I use reinforcement learning, multi-agent learning, federated learning, and uncertainty quantification to make these systems smarter and safer.

Visualized Research Map

I welcome motivated undergraduate, Master's, and Ph.D. students, as well as postdoctoral researchers. To grow together, we will aim to publish in high-impact IEEE journals, collaborate with colleagues in Malaysia and across the pond, and build skills that matter now and in the future. If you hold a scholarship or sponsorship, please reach out. If you don't have funding yet, please get in touch anyway. In shaa Allah, I am working to secure funding for strong candidates.

In my professional role, I am an IEEE Senior Member and chair, organize, review, and edit conferences, journals, societies, and affinity groups.

Outside academia, I am a dedicated L3 CrossFitter 🏋️ and a history-hungry reader 🔍.