Principal Investigators
Dr. Evelyn Sowells-Boone
Dr. Evelyn R. Sowells-Boone is the interim Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Computer Systems Technology department at North Carolina A&T State University. Prior to joining the College of Science and Technology faculty, she held positions at the U.S. Department of Energy, N.C. A&T’s Division of Research and College of Engineering. Dr. Sowells-Boone earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University’s College of Engineering. She also holds a M.S. and B.S in Computer Science with a concentration in software engineering. Her primary research interests are in the areas of low-power digital systems design, self-timed digital system design and STEM education. Her primary research interests are in the areas of efficient electronic systems design and STEM education. As a result of her research in the past years, she was awarded the 2020-2021 College of Science and Technology Outstanding Female Faculty Researcher, 2016 Chair’s award for Junior Researcher of the year in the Computer System Technology department, as well as a 2016-2017 College of Science and Technology Research Rookie of the Year Merit Award. To date she has $4,408,565.00 in research funding.
Clay S. Gloster Jr., Ph.D., P.E.
Clay Gloster, Jr. is the Vice Provost for Graduate Research and Dean of the Graduate College at North Carolina A&T (N.C. A&T) State University. His research interests are field-programmable custom computing machines, innovations in graduate education, STEM education, distance education, machine learning, and cybersecurity. Dr. Gloster received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from N.C. A&T and a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. IBM, the Department of Defense, and the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina have also employed him. Dr. Gloster has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed conferences and journals and has made presentations throughout the US, Europe, Africa, and China. He has served on the program committee for several international conferences and received best paper and presentation awards at an international conference. He has received numerous fellowships and distinguished awards and holds two patents.
Dr. Hossein Sarrafzadeh
Dr. Hossein Sarrafzadeh is a University Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity Research, Education and Outreach at NC A&T State University. He has worked in the areas of IoT, data mining and machine learning in cybersecurity and cybersecurity in Smart Cities and Smart Grid Security. He developed one of the world’s first real-time facial expression and gesture recognition systems for emotion recognition. He has founded several cybersecurity research and operation centers in NZ, Australia and the US. He has a number of inventions and patented systems in computer vision, cybersecurity and cloud security. Dr. Sarrafzadeh has published over 180 research articles and secured over $15M funding in the past 5 years.
Dr. Zhaohui Wang
Zhaohui Wang holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona, an M.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Toledo, and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona. From 2011 he continued post-doctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is now an Assistant Professor of the Department of Computer Systems Technology at North Carolina A&T State University. His current research includes machine learning, embedded system design, and biomedical physics.
Karreem Hogan
Karreem Hogan is a skilled, dynamic, and hands-on leader approaching 2 decades of experience in STEM Education and over a decade of experience in IT and Engineering Systems. Currently, Karreem is a Teaching Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator at North Carolina A&T State University in the Computer Systems Technology department, under the College of Science and Technology. A few of his focus areas outside of teaching are program and course development, student recruitment and retention, and talent development through professional, personal, and leadership training for student success. Karreem teaches courses in Electronics Technology and Information Technology, some of which are IoT Fundamentals (Cisco NetAcad), Applied Hardware and Software, System Integration and Architecture, Human Computer Interaction Design, Advanced Circuits, and Enterprise Application Development (certification course). Prior to his current role, Karreem held a role at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories where his work centered around advanced wireless communication and signal processing systems design and development. Complementing his professional and academic careers, his research activities are in the areas Deep Learning for Autonomous Vehicle Control of Connected Vehicles, focusing on Reinforcement Learning and Risk Aversion, IoT Systems Development and Security, and Robotics and Control Systems. Karreem has a B.S. and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.S. in Nanoengineering from North Carolina A&T State University.