Positions and Affiliations


Contact Information

  • Mailing Address: CSE Building, Room E301, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116120, Gainesville, Florida 32611-6120
  • Office: MALA 4050A, Malachowsky Hall
  • Email: mythai@cise.ufl.edu

Announcements

Postdoc positions are available for 2019-21. Pls email me your CV and Research Statement if interested.
Please email me if you'd like to chair the CSoNet 2019 and beyond.

Selected Honors and Awards

  • 2026 USENIX Security Distinguished Paper Award, Runner-up
  • 2023 ACM Web Science Trust Test of Time Award
  • 2023 AAAI Distinguished Paper Award
  • 2022 IEEE Big Data Security Women of Achievement Award
  • 2021 IEEE Fellow
  • 2021 AAIA Fellow
  • 2018 UF IoT Term Professorship Award
  • 2018 IEEE/ACM ASONAM Best Paper Award, Runner-up
  • 2017 IEEE ICDM Best Papers Award
  • 2017 IEEE ICDCS Best Paper Award Candidate
  • 2016 UF Research Foundation Professorship Award
  • 2014 IEEE MSN Best Paper Award
  • 2011 UF Provost's Excellence Award for Assistant Professors
  • 2010 NSF CAREER Award
  • 2009 Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Young Investigator Award

Leadership and Professional Service

Editorial Leadership

  • Editor-in-Chief (2025-present), ACM Computing Surveys
  • Founding Specialty Chief Editor (2022-present), Artificial Intelligence of Things section, Frontiers in the Internet of Things
  • Founding Editor-in-Chief (2020-present), IET Blockchain
  • Editor-in-Chief (2019-present), Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer
  • Founding Editor-in-Chief (2013-2018), Computational Social Networks
  • Guest Editor (2021), IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, special issue on Reloading Feature-rich Information Networks

Book Series Editor

  • Springer Optimization and Its Applications (2019-present)
  • SpringerBriefs in Optimization (2010-present)

Committees and Boards

  • Vice-Chair (2026-present), IEEE Task Force on Learning for Graphs
  • Advisory Board Member (2024-present), IEEE TEMS Technical Committee on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies
  • Chair (2021-2025), ACM-W Standing Committee
  • Member (2021, 2022, 2025), IEEE Fellow Committee

Founding Steering Committee Chair

  • CSoNet (2013-present), International Conference on Computational Data and Social Networks
  • CINS (2014-2016), ACM SIGMETRICS International Workshop on Critical Infrastructure Network Security
  • WIDN (2013-2015), IEEE INFOCOM Workshop on Inter-Dependent Networks

General Chair

  • ICDM 2022, IEEE International Conference on Data Mining
  • WIT 2021 and 2022, Workshop for Women in IoT
  • MSN 2014, IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks
  • WASA 2014, IEEE International Conference on Wireless Algorithms, Systems, and Applications
  • CCNet 2011, IEEE GLOBECOM Workshop on Complex Communication Networks

Program Chair

  • MARBLE 2023, International Conference on Mathematical Research for Blockchain Economy
  • ICBC 2022, IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
  • BigData 2021, IEEE International Conference on Big Data
  • ICDCS 2019, IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems
  • CINS 2018, ACM SIGMETRICS International Workshop on Critical Infrastructure Network Security
  • MASS 2018, IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Systems
  • COCOON 2010 and 2016, International Computing and Combinatorics Conference
  • WIDN 2015, IEEE INFOCOM Workshop on Inter-Dependent Networks
  • DySON 2014, IEEE INFOCOM Workshop on Dynamic Social Networks
  • CSoNet 2013, International Conference on Computational Social Networks
  • ISSPIT 2012, IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology
  • IWCMC 2012, IEEE International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference
  • SIMPLEX 2011, International Workshop on Simplifying Complex Networks for Practitioners
  • DIS 2011, International Conference on the Dynamics of Information Systems
  • CCNet 2010, IEEE GLOBECOM Workshop on Complex Communication Networks

Selected Talks

  • "Mining Intelligence: The Next Frontier of Data Mining", IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM), 2026. Plenary Keynote
  • "The Next Challenges in Autonomous Driving: Rare Failures", IEEE Conference on Information Technology and Data Science (CITDS), Sep 2026. Plenary Keynote
  • "OppyAI: The First Privacy-Preserving Large Language Model", Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Aug 2026. Invited Talk
  • "Privacy-Preserving LLMs: The First of Its Kind", Rabat International University, Morocco, May 2026. Invited Talk
  • "Safe, Transparent, and Private: The Next Frontier for LLMs", International Conference on Computational Data and Social Networks (CSoNet), Dec 2025. Plenary Keynote
  • "The Next Horizon: How Quantum Computing Will Shape Tomorrow", Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea, Sep 2025. Invited Talk
  • "Towards Trustworthy Foundation Models", Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, Sep 2025. Invited Talk
  • "Federated Learning: Evolving Promise or Persistent Mirage?", International Conference on Intelligent Aerial Access and Applications (IAAA), Jul 2025. Plenary Keynote
  • "Interpretability and Privacy Preservation in Large Language Models (LLMs)", EAI International Conference on Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good (GoodTech), Dec 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "Trustworthy AI: Explanation and Exploitation", 20th EAI International Conference on Security and Privacy in Communication Networks (SecureComm), Dubai, UAE, Oct 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "When Combinatorial Optimization Meets Quantum Computing", 30th International Computing and Combinatorics Conference (COCOON), Aug 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "Interpretability and Privacy Preservation in Large Language Models (LLMs)", 24th International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications (ICCSA), Jul 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "Federated Learning: Big Promise or False Hope?", 18th International Conference on Wireless AI Computing Systems and Applications (WASA), Qingdao, China, Jun 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "Accelerating Viral Marketing: From Combinatorial to Learning-Based Solutions", 37th Conference of the European Chapter on Combinatorial Optimization (ECCO), Ghent, Belgium, Jun 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "Securing Smart Grids in the Age of Deep Learning", International Conference on Cyber Physical System Security, Jeju Island, South Korea, Jun 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "Quantum Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection in Smart Grids", Gachon University, South Korea, Jun 2024. Invited Talk
  • "Towards Trustworthy Quantum Machine Learning", Soongsil University, South Korea, Jun 2024. Invited Talk
  • "Lightweight Algorithms to Learning Solutions for Large-scale Maximization", International Conference on Theory and Applications of Models of Computation (TAMC), Hong Kong, May 2024. Plenary Keynote
  • "Decoding AI: Mastering the Craft of Explainability", IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM) Workshop on Adaptable, Reliable, and Responsible Learning, Shanghai, China, Dec 2023. Plenary Keynote
  • "Federated Learning: A False Sense of Security?", IEEE International Conference on Big Data Security, 2023. Plenary Keynote
  • "Trustworthy Distributed Machine Learning with Blockchain", Coinbase Research Summit, 2023. Invited Talk
  • "Ethical AI by Design", National Academies of Sciences (NAS) Workshop on Integrated Diagnostics into Precision Oncology Care, 2023. Invited Speaker
  • "Provable Guarantees on Privacy in the Age of Adversarial Learning", 17th International Conference on Ubiquitous Security, 2021. Plenary Keynote
  • "Nonlinear Explainability for Blackbox AI", Women in Data Science (WiDS), 2021. Distinguished Speaker
  • "Artificial Intelligence in Addiction Science: Potential and Challenges", NIDA/NSF Workshop on Computer and Addiction Science, 2021. Plenary Keynote
  • "Making Blackbox Models Explainable", International Conference on Wireless Algorithms, Systems, and Applications (WASA), 2021. Plenary Keynote
  • "Information Diffusion on Social Networks: From the Traditional Setting to the Future Blockchain-Based", IEEE/ACM ASONAM, Spain, Aug 2018. Tutorial
  • "Blockchain: Promising Future and Current Challenges", Lancaster University, UK, May 2018. Invited Talk
  • "Mining in Online Social Networks: Dynamic Sampling and Adaptive Learning", International Conference on Machine Learning, Optimization, and Big Data (MOD), Italy, Sep 2017. Plenary Keynote
  • "Cyber Attacks in Online Social Networks through Social Bots", AFRL Mathematical Modeling and Optimization Institute (MMOI), Aug 2017. Plenary Keynote
  • "Viral Marketing: From the Approximation to the Exact on Billion-scale Networks", International Conference on Network-Based Information Systems (NBiS), Czech Republic, Sep 2016. Plenary Keynote
  • "Group Testing and Its Application in Biological Screening", International Conference on Computational Biomedicine (CBM), 2016. Plenary Keynote
  • "Viral Marketing: A Road to Billion-scale Networks", International Conference on Combinatorial Optimization and Applications (COCOA), Houston, TX, Dec 2015. Plenary Keynote
  • "Security in Smart Grids: Interdependency and Vulnerability", Smart Grid Security Workshop, South Korea, May 2014. Plenary Keynote
  • "Cybersecurity in Internet-of-Things", Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, May 2014. Invited Talk
  • "Big Data in Social Networks", International Conference on Computer Information Systems and Industrial Management Applications (CISIM), Vietnam, 2014. Plenary Keynote
  • "Interdependent Networks Analysis", Learning and Intelligent Optimization Conference (LION 8), USA, Feb 2014. Tutorial
  • "Cybersecurity in Smart Grids", National Security Research Institute, South Korea, Nov 2013. Invited Talk
  • "Dynamic Community Structure Analysis in Complex Networks", International Conference on the Dynamics of Information Systems, USA, Feb 2013. Plenary Keynote
  • "How the Power-law Distribution Impacts on the Complex Network Vulnerability", International Workshop on Complex Networks, USA, Mar 2012. Invited Talk
  • "The Optimal Use of Social Networks to Manipulate Information", Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Dallas, USA, Sep 2011. Department Colloquium

Current Students

  • Euna Kim (Ph.D., joined since Spring 2026)
  • Tue Cao (Ph.D., joined since Spring 2026)
  • Quan Nguyen (Ph.D., joined since Spring 2025)
  • Nguyen Do (Ph.D., joined since Spring 2025)
  • Nhat Hoang (Ph.D., joined since Fall 2023)
  • Hoang Ngo (Ph.D., joined since Summer 2022)

Former Students

  • Tre' R. Jeter (Ph.D., Fall 2025.). MITRE
  • Minh Vu (Ph.D., December 2023). Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
  • Raed Alharbi (Ph.D., August 2023). Saudi Electronic University
  • Truc Nguyen (Ph.D., May 2023). National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
  • Lan Nguyen (Ph.D., May 2021). Meta
  • J. David Smith (Ph.D., August 2020). Doseform
  • Tianyi Pan (Ph.D., August 2019). Google
  • Xiang Li (Ph.D., August 2018). Santa Clara University
  • Alan Kuhnle (Ph.D., August 2018). Texas A&M University
  • Huiling Zhang (Ph.D., August 2018). Google
  • Md Abdul Alim (Ph.D., Dec 2016). Optym
  • Huiyuan Zhang (Ph.D., July 2016). Amazon
  • Subhankar Mishra (Ph.D., July 2016). Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
  • Dzung T. Nguyen (Ph.D., July 2013). Microsoft
  • Nam Nguyen (Ph.D., March 2013). Towson University
  • Yilin Shen (Ph.D., March 2013). Samsung Research
  • Thang N. Dinh (Ph.D., March 2013). Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Bo Li (Ph.D., Summer 2012, co-advice with Ye Xia). Microsoft
  • Ying Xuan (Ph.D., Fall 2011). IBM Research
  • Ravi Tiwari (Ph.D., June 2010). eBay
  • Incheol Shin (Ph.D., May 2010). Mokpo National University, Korea
  • Yu-Song Syu (M.S., June 2012)
  • Ning Zhang (M.S., 2008). NEC Labs

Research Overview

I lead Thái Lab (The Science of Intelligent Systems), where we explore how models learn, agents interact, and failures arise. We ask how to uncover the mechanisms behind learned behavior, coordinate decisions efficiently under limited resources, and establish reliability, privacy, and security guarantees under uncertainty and adversarial conditions.

We address these questions through mathematical analysis, algorithm design, and experimental validation. For more information, visit the Thái Lab website.

Funded Research Projects

  • NIDDK/NIH 2026-2031, SURVIBENE-LT: A Survivorship-Based Benefit Model for Optimized Liver Transplantation Allocation, (collaborate with L. Pruinelli, G. Simon, and T. Pruett)
  • NSF 2026-2029, REALISE: Reasoning with Embodied AI Labs in STEM Education, (UF PI: Thai, collaborate with C. Li and R. Guo)
  • NSF 2024-2027, III: Collaborative Research: Foundations for Trustworthy Decentralized Federated Learning, (UF PI: Thai)
  • HU-RIZONT (EU) 2024-2026, FRATERNITY: FRAmework for TEsting Cooperation between autoNomous vehicles and Intelligent TransportatIon sYstems, (UF PI: Thai)
  • MOTIE (S. Korea) 2023-2027, Realtime Cyber-Physical Attack Response System and Security Management, (UF PI: Thai)
  • NSF 2021-2025, SCH: Trustworthy and Explainable AI for Neurodegenerative Diseases, (Lead PI: Thai, collaborate with E. Xing, R. Fang, and A. Ramirez-Zamora)
  • NSF 2021-2023, SaTC: Trustworthy and Privacy-preserving Federated Learning, (Lead PI: Thai, collaborate with T. N. Dinh)
  • NSF 2020-2023, SaTC: When Adversarial Learning Meets Differential Privacy: Theoretical Foundation and Applications, (UF PI: Thai, collaborate with H. Phan)
  • FC2 2020-2021, Multi-Layer and Systematic Analytics for Securing the Internet-of-Things, (UF PI: Thai, collaborate with A. Mohaisen)
  • NSF 2020-2023, FAI: Towards a Computational Foundation for Fair Network Learning, (collaborate with HH Tong and R Maciejewski)
  • NSF 2019-2022, III: Stream-based Active Mining at Scale: Non-Linear Non-Submodular Maximization, (Lead PI: Thai, collaborate with DZ Du)
  • CTMT 2020-2021, DeepTrust: Building Competency-aware AI Systems with Human-Centric Communication, (coPI, collaborate with S. Chan-Olmsted)
  • UFII 2019-2021, Active Mining and Data Integrity at Scale: A Blockchain-based Approach (sole PI).
  • NSF 2018-2021, NeST: Lightweight Adaptive Algorithms for Network Optimization at Scale towards Emerging Services, (Lead PI: Thai, collaborate with ZL Zhang)
  • FC2 2018-2019, Thwarting APTs in IoT, (UF PI: Thai, collaborate with A. Mohaisen)
  • FC2 2017-2018, Resilient Smart Grid Control for Load Switching Cyber Attacks, (UF PI: Thai, collaborate with Z. Miao)
  • NSRI 2016-2017, Identification of Critical Monitoring Nodes in SCADA Network, (sole PI)
  • FC2 2016-2017, Nonlinear Model-Based Cyber Attack-Resilient Smart Grid Control, (UF PI: Thai, collaborate with Z. Miao)
  • NSF 2015-2019, EARS: Collaborative Research: Laying the Foundations of Social Network-Aware Cellular Device-to-Device Communications, (UF PI: Thai, collaborate with W. Saad and Z. Han)
  • NSF 2014-2019, Collaborative Research: RIPS Type 2: Vulnerability Assessment and Resilient Design of Interdependent Infrastructures, (Lead PI: Thai, co-PI: V. Boginski, Y. Yin, C. McCarty, A. Sarwat)
  • NSF 2014-2017, CCF: Modeling and Dynamic Analyzing for Multiplex Social Networks, (sole PI)
  • DTRA 2014-2019, Interdependent Network Responses to WMD: Dynamics Modeling, Impact Analysis, and Adaptive Control Techniques, (PI: Thai, co-PI: D. Wu)
  • NSRI 2014-2015, Efficient Protection Schemes towards Load-Redistribution Attacks, (sole PI)
  • DTRA 2010-2015, Mathematical Approaches to WMD Defense and Vulnerability Assessments on Dynamic Networks (co-PI with C. Smith and P. Pardalos)
  • DTRA 2009-2014, YIP: C-WMD: Models, Complexity, and Algorithms in Complex Dynamic Evolving Networks (sole PI)
  • NSF 2010-2015, CAREER: Optimization Models and Approximation Algorithms for Network Vulnerability and Adaptability (sole PI)
  • ETRI 2013-2014, Efficient DPI Methods in SCADA Smart Grid System (sole PI)
  • NSF 2010-2015, Sequencing Gators: Building a Genome Science Curriculum at the University of Florida and Beyond (co-PI with E. Triplett, V. Crecy, and T. Kahveci)
  • NSF 2008-2010, A New Approach for Identifying DoS Attackers Based on Group Testing Techniques (sole PI)

Recent Courses

2025-2026

  • Spring 2026: CIS6930: Distributed Machine Learning

2021-2022

  • Advanced Blockchain

2019-2020

  • Spring 2020: CIS6930: Blockchain: Optimization and Applications

2018-2019

  • Spring 2019: COT5442: Approximation Algorithms

2017-2018

  • Fall 2017: COT5442: Approximation Algorithms

Publications