Paulo Costa

Current Students

PhD

• David Loveall – PhD Student
  PhD Dissertation: Cybersecurity Forensics
• Marcos Pontes – PhD Student
  PhD Dissertation: AI in Cybersecurity
• Jonathan West – PhD Student
  PhD Dissertation: TBD
• Syeda Sanjidah– PhD Student
  PhD Topic: Machine Learning and AI in Cybersecurity
• Sai Gayatri Anamreddy - PhD Student
  PhD Topic: TBD

Former Students

PhD

1. Dr. Busra Ezici (2023)
   PhD Dissertation: Modeling and Assessing the Cyber Risk of Data Collection and Storage Technologies in Semiconductor Manufacturing
2. Dr. Nicholas Clark (2022)
   PhD Dissertation: Scalable Framework for Securing Constrained Edge Devices into an Information-Centric Network of Things
3. Dr. Mark Locher (2019)
   PhD Dissertation: A Structuring Framework for Modeling Recurring Decision Problems 
4. Dr. Shou Matsumoto (2019)
   (co-advised with Prof. Kathryn Laskey)
   PhD Dissertation: PR-OWL 2 Decision: A Framework for Decision Making with Probabilistic Ontologies 
5. Dr. Jeronymo Carvalho (2017)
   PhD Dissertation: Collaborative Mobile Ad Hoc Intrusion Detection System Framework and Implementation 
6. Dr. KamalEldin Mohamed (2017)
   (co-Advised with Prof. Duminda Wijesekera)
   PhD Dissertation: A secure Lightweight Framework for Hosting & Consuming Web Services in Smart Mobile Devices  
7. Dr. Bo Yu (2014)
   (co-advised with Prof. Duminda Wijesekera)
   PhD Dissertation: A Workflow-Based Electronic Medical Record System
8. Dr. Richard Haberlin (2013)
   (co-advised with Prof. Kathryn Laskey)
   PhD Dissertation: A Methodological Approach to Probabilistic Ontology Development & Evaluation
   
9. Dr. Henrique Costa Marques (2012)
   (co-advised with Prof. José Parente from ITA)
   PhD Dissertation: Semantic Layer to Support Military Planning Systems Interoperability

Master of Science (with Thesis)

1. Kelly Fitzpatrick (2021) 
   MS Thesis: A Value Model-Based Decision Framework for an Enterprise Data Architecture
   Recipient of the SEOR Distinguished Academic Award 
2. Felipe Flaminio João (2020)
   MS Thesis: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Air Defense Systems
3. Fernando Wilson Silva do Couto (2015)
   Thesis: Value-Focused Approach to the Training with Flight Simulators in the Brazilian Air Force.
4. Rommel Novaes Carvalho (2007 - Co-Advisor with Marcelo Ladeira from UnB)
   Thesis: Raciocínio Plausível na Web Semântica através de Redes Bayesianas Multi-Entidades - MEBN (Plausible reasoning in the Semantic Web through Multi-Entity Bayesian Netwoks - MEBN).
5. Luiz Cláudio Topan (2007, Universidade da Força Aéra)
   Thesis: Avaliação de força para ações de defesa terrestre de instalações aeronáuticas (Force evaluation for actions of ground defense of aeronautical facilities).

Academic Committees

PhD Committees

1. Dr. Liriam Enamoto (2023)
   Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
   PhD Thesis: GeMGF - Generic Multimodal Gradient-Based Meta Framework
   Advisor: Dr. Li Weigang
2. Dr. Matthew Jablonski (2023)
   George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
   PhD Dissertation: Logical Modeling and Analysis of Offensive and Defensive Operations within Cyber-Physical Systems
   Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
3. Dr. Ahmed Abdelfattah Saleh Sherif (2022)
   Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
   PhD Thesis: Language Independent Text Summarizer and Deep Self-Organizing Cube
   Advisor: Dr. Li Weigang
4. Dr. Jair Feldens Ferrari (2020)
   Concordia University – Montreal, Canada
   PhD Dissertation: A Study of Optimal Search and Rescue Operations Planning Problems
5. Dr. Vasileios Gkioulos (2018)
   Norwegian University of Science & Technology – Gjøvik, Norway
   PhD Dissertation: Securing Tactical Service Oriented Architectures
   Advisor: Dr. Stephen Wolthusen
   First Opponent: Dr. Paulo Costa
6. Dr. Antony Melaragno (2016)
   George Mason University - Fairfax, VA, USA
   PhD Dissertation: Secure Broadcase for Vehicular Communications
   Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
7. Dr. Thabet Kacem (2016)
   George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
   PhD Dissertation: Secure ADS-B
   Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
8. Dr. José Bernardo Neto (2015)
   Instituto Technológico de Aeronáutica – São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
   PhD Dissertation: Automatic Configuration of Web Service Engines Based on Electronic Contract Lifecycle
   Advisor: Dr. Edgar Hirata
9. Dr. Chola Pratapa Singh Chhetri
   George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
   PhD Dissertation: Designing for Privacy in Smart Home Devices: Vulnerabilities, Concerns, and User-Centric Privacy Controls
   Advisor:
10. Dr. Oluwaseun Adegvehingbe - 11/22/2022
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Improved Unistalled Application Inference Through More Accurate Catalog Construction and Consideration of File System Behavior
    Advisor:
11. Dr. Rami Alnafrani - 11/21/2022
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Using ∂ILP for Forensic Investigations
    Advisor:
12. Dr. James Lee - 6/16/2022
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Employing Model-Based Systems Engineering to Develop a Data Science Framework for Knowledge Capture, Re-use, and Integration
    Advisor:
13. Dr. Ali Seydmazloom - 4/29/2022
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Robust Reinforcement Learning with Diffusion Wavelets
    Advisor:
14. Dr. Santos Jha - 12/17/2021
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: NextG MEC Coordinated Resilient Cyber-Physical System Services
    Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
15. Dr. Satish Kolli - 11/23/2021
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Secure and Reliable Communications for Modern Transportation
    Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
16. Dr. Sara Mohamadi - 2/15/2021
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Digital Twin Analytics: Life-Cycle Modelling of Structures for Present and Future Condition Assessment
    Advisor: Dr. David Latanzi
17. Dr. Myong Lim - 10/22/2020
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: A Digital Media Similarity Measure for Triage of Digital Forensic Evidence
    Advisor:
18. Dr. Mufeeza Iqbal - 8/10/2020
    Schar School of Policy and Government - George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Poverty, Basic Needs, and Political Violence Insights Into the Social Context of Terrorism from Pakistan's Northwestern Tribal Areas
    Advisor:
19. Chaitanya Yavvari, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Using Vehicular Dynamics to Enhance Safety and Security in Connected Autonomous Vehicles
    Advisor:
20. Robert G. Kurtz Jr., Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Improving Mutation Testing with Dominator Mutants
    Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey
21. Anurag Srivastava, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Memory Analysis in User Space: Identifying the Malicious Processes
    Advisor:
22. Eniye Tebekaemi, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: An Integrated Cyber-Physical Security Model for Decentralized and Autonomous Smart Power Grids
    Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
23. Michael Reep, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Legal Ontologies for Protecting Genetic Privacy in EHR systems and their Enforcement Mechanisms
    Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
24. Cheol Young Park, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Multi-Entity Bayesian Networks Learning in Predictive Situation Awareness
    Advisor: Dr. Kathryn Laskey
25. Noha Hazzazi, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Automating the Verification o Blood Safety Workflow
    Advisor: Dr. Duminda Wijesekera
26. Tahir Mehmood Khan, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Identifying Factors Affecting Deleted File Persistence Through Empirical Study and Analysis
    Advisor:
27. Bahram Yousefi, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Assessment of the Resilience of Enterprises in a Contested Cyber-Environment: FAA Enterprise Architecture
    Advisor: Dr. Alexander Levis
28. Ehab Abozinadah, Ph.D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Detecting Abusive Accounts with Arabic Tweets Using Multidimensional Analysis Model
    Advisor:
29. Todd Martin, Ph. D.
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Probabilistic Reasoning and Decision-Making Theory for DSA
    Advisor: Dr. Kuo-Chu Chang
30. Dr. Changwei Liu (2015)
    George Mason University - Fairfax, VA, USA
    A Probabilisitic Programming Based Model for Network Forensics
    
31. Dr. Mohammed Alhussein (2014)
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: A Highly Recoverable Filesystem for Solid State Drives
32. Dr. Firdu Bati (2014)
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: A Probabilistic Methodology to Identify Top Causal Factors for High Complexity Events from Data
33. Dr. Mohammad Ababneh (2014)
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: A Dynamic Dialog System Using Semantic Web Technologies
34. Dr. Alexandre de Barros Barreto (2013)
    Instituto Technológico de Aeronáutica – São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
    PhD Dissertation: Cyber-Argus Framework: Measuring Cyber-Impact on the Mission
35. Dr. Amandine Bellenger (2013)
    Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Rouen – Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France
    PhD Thesis: Semantic Decision Support for Information Fusion Applications
36. Dr. Paul Ngo (2013)
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Emergency Service Provisioning on Mobile Phones
37. Dr. Stephen C. Dinkel (2012)
    Nova Southeastern University – Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA.
    PhD Thesis: Service-based Situational Awareness for the Semantic Web
38. Dr. Ahmed Al-Faresi (2011)
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: A Health Care Privacy/Access Control Model Inspired by HIPAA
39. Dr. Rommel Novaes Carvalho (2011)
    George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA
    PhD Dissertation: Probabilistic Ontology: Representation and Modeling Methodology

Master of Science Committees

1. André Kuroswiski (2020)
   Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronáutica (ITA, Brazil.
   Thesis: Avaliação de Capacidades de Defesa Aérea através de Modelagem e Simulação baseada em Agentes
2. Valdir Amancio Jr. (2020)
   Universidade Estadual Paulista, Marília, SP, Brazil
   Thesis: Modelo de Transformação e Representação de Informações Como Suporte à Projeção Situacional
3. Gustavo Marttos Pereira (2020)
   Universidade Estadual Paulista, Marília, SP, Brazil
   Thesis: Modelo de Recuperação de Informação com Suporte Semântico e Temporal
4. Felipe Bombarda Guedes (2015)
   George Mason University - Fairfax, VA, USA.
   MS Thesis: Management of the Brazilian Air Force's F-5M Fleet
5. Alexandre Sorgini D’Amato (2010)
   George Mason University – Fairfax, VA, USA.
   Advisor: Prof. Andrew Loerch
   MS Thesis: Comparing and Prioritizing Aircraft Requests in the Brazilian Air Force
6. José Roberto de Paula (2008)
   Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica – São José dos Campos, SP , Brazil.
   MS Thesis: Proposta de Método para a Estimativa da Probabilidade de Atendimento de Requisitos Funcionais de um Produto (A Proposal for a Method to Estimate the Probability of Complying with the Functional Requirements of a Product)
7. Sandro Carlos Vieira (2008)
   Universidade de Brasília – Brasília, DF, Brazil.
   MS Thesis: Um Modelo Baseado em Inteligência Artificial para a Gestão do Conhecimento Aplicado ao Processo de Desenvolvimento de Software (A Model Based on Artificial Intelligence for Knowledge Management Applied to the Software Development Process)
   Advisor: Prof. Li Weigang
8. Eduardo Barrios (2008)
   Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica – São José dos Campos, SP , Brazil.
   MS Thesis: Diagramas de Influência para Comando e Controle no Processo de Seleção de Alvos sob o Enfoque de Operações Baseadas em Efeitos (Influence Diagrams for Command and Control of the Target Allocation Process within Effect Based Operations)
   Advisor: Prof. Carlos Henrique Costa Ribeiro
9. André Luiz Pimentel Uruguay (2006)
   Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica – São José dos Campos, SP , Brazil.
   Thesis: Uso da entropia como métrica de consciência situacional em estruturas de comando e controle (Using entropy as metric for situation awareness in command and control structures)
   Advisor: Prof. Carlos Henrique da Costa Ribeiro
10. Nilton de Oliveira Lessa (2006)
    Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica – São José dos Campos, SP , Brazil.
    Thesis: Uma proposta de metodologia de apoio ao planejamento estratégico das Forças Armadas baseado em capacidades (A proposal for a methodology to support armed forces strategic planning based on capabilities)
    Advisors: Prof. Mischel Carmen Neyra Belderrain and Dr. Mônica Maria De Marchi.

Selected Graduation Committees

• José Virgílio Guedes de Avellar and Alexandre Olympio Dower Polezzi (Mechanical Engineering at ITA).
  Project: Otimização na Distribuição de Recursos no COMAER a partir da Utilização de Ferramentas Estatísiticas (Optimizing resource allocation in COMAER by the use of statistical tools) - 2002.
  Committee member.
• André Luiz Pimentel Uruguay and José Pedro Bastos Cavaléro Filho (Computer Engineering at ITA).
  Project: Utilização de técnicas baseadas em inferência Bayesiana e Teoria da Decisão em Comando e Controle (Using techniques based on Bayesian inference and decision theory in command and control) - 2003.
  Committee member.
• Laécio Lima dos Santos e Shou Matsumoto (Computer Science program at UnB).
  Project: Bayes - June 24, 2008.
  Committee member.
• Maurício Franceschini Duarte and André Lustosa Ávila (Computer Science program at UnB).
  Project: Sistema de Reconhecimento de Similaridades em Desenvolvimento de Projetos (System for recognizing simililarities in project development) - July 4, 2008.
  Committeee member.