Debzani Deb

Biography

Debzani Deb is the RJ Reynolds Endowed Professor of Computer Science at the Winston-Salem State University. She is also the founding director of Center for Applied Data Science (CADS) at WSSU. She authored and coauthored over 50 referred journal and proceeding articles and has been awarded nearly $ 4 millions of funding from National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, University of North Carolina Research Opportunities Initiative (UNC ROI), Google, Mozilla Foundation etc. She is the recipient of 2021 Wilveria B. Atkinson Distinguished Research Award at WSSU. She has over 15 years of experience in Higher Education as faculty member in three different countries such as USA, Australia, and Bangladesh.

Dr. Deb is experienced in applying data science and machine learning techniques and algorithms in solving user-inspired problems in different domains such as healthcare, cybersecurity, mobile computing, business, geospatial, and social sciences while leading and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams. Additionally, she is also involved in many research projects that are dedicated to improving the quality and inclusivity of data science and computer science education.

Dr. Deb is a regular reviewer for journals including Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing (JPDC), IEEE transaction on Education, conferences including ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), and IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE), and workshops including EduPar and EduHPC. She served as the program chair of EduHPC workshops at Supercomputing conferences in 2018 and 2019.

Along with leading CADS research projects, Dr. Deb is involved in many other research projects and a few of them are listed as below

Institute for Multi-agent Perception through Advanced Cyber-Physical Technologies (IMPACT), Funded by NASA
Data Science Certificate for Non-Computing Majors, Funded by NSF
Data Science and Management Research Laboratory, Funded by NSF
Data Science in Urban Studies and Sustainability, Funded by NSF
NSF/IEEE-TCPP Curriculum Initiative, Funded by NSF
MRS: Mobile Response System, Funded by NSF

Educational Background

PhD, Montana State University Bozeman, Montana, USA, 2008
MCompSci, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, 2001
MS, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh
BS, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

Research and Project Interests

Big Data Analytics
Machine Learning
Parallel and Distributed Computing
Computer Science Education

WSSU News and Information, WSSU receives grant to teach students how to use artificial intelligence responsibly and ethically, February 2024
Winston-Salem Journal, "WSSU receives two grants for an engineering program and a research project", September 2023
Winston-Salem Journal, “Transforming the Triad with data science”, March 2021
University of North Carolina (UNC) News Story, “WSSU awarded $1.5M grant to establish new Center for Applied Data Science”, September 29, 2020
UNC News Story, “WSSU Received one of the three ROI Grants that UNC awarded for 2021-2023” July 29, 2020

NSF, PI, "A data analytics certificate for non-computing majors," NSF IUSE CUE, Award #2245959, $409,799.00, 2023-2027
NASA, PI, "Institute for Multi-agent Perception through Advanced Cyber-Physical Technologies (IMPACT)," NASA MUREP/DEAP, $403,074.00, 2023-2026.
Mozilla Foundation, PI, "Integrating AI Ethics Modules into interdisciplinary courses at an HBCU," Responsible Computing Challenge, $149,743.00, 2023 – 2024
Google, PI, “TensorFlow Outreach Award” 10,000.00, 2022 – 2023.
NSF, PI, "Capacity Building for Research at Minority-Serving Institutions: Infrastructure Research Readiness (CyBR-MSI: IRR).," ASEE/NSF, $3,000.00, 2023.
NSF, Co-PI, “CISE-MSI: RCBP-RF: SCH: Mining Mobile Crowdsensing to Optimize Community Health Clinic Management”, Award Number: 2131100 $299,695.00, 2021-2023.
HanesBrands, PI, "Research Award to CADS", $50,000.00, 2021-2025.
Google, PI, “TensorFlow Outreach Award” 10,000.00, 2021 – 2022.
UNC Research Opportunities Initiative (ROI) Award, PI, "Winston-Salem State University Center for Applied Data Science (CADS)", $1,498,625, 2020-2023. UNC System Awards Three ROI Grants for 2021-2023.
Google Cloud Research Grant, PI, $5000, 2020-2021.
NSF, Co-PI, "Collaborative Research: Excellence in Research: Computational Framework and Data Science for Identification", Award Number: 1900087, $299,962.00, 2019-2022
NSF, Co-PI, "Targeted Infusion Project: "Integrating Data Science into the Urban Studies and Sustainability Program", Award Number: 1912214, $249,825.00, 2019-2022
NSF, Senior Personnel, "Collaborative Research: CyberTraining: Conceptualization: Planning a Sustainable Ecosystem for incorporating parallel and distributed computing into undergraduate education", Award Number: 2002649, $423,921.00, 2019-2021
NSF, PI, "Improving Research and Education of Big Data and Cloud Computing at Winston-Salem State University", Award Number: 1600864, $307,802.00, 2016 – 2019
UNC Collaboration Grant, Senior Personnel, "Research Cyberinfrastructure, A collaboration within WSSU, UNCG, and UNCW", $3000, 2017-2018
WSSU, PI, RIP Award: "Utility-based Resource Provisioning of Big Data Applications on Cloud Environment", $9,690, 2016 – 2017
WSSU Office of Science Initiatives (OSI) Teaching Innovation Award, PI, "Using Peer Instruction to Improve Student Engagement", $2,500, 2016 – 2017.
Google Community Tech Grant, Co-PI, "Increase awareness of computer science and technology among the under-resourced community of East Winston-Salem", $83,000, 2016 – 2017.
TCPP/NSF, PI, "CDER Center Early Adopter Award for Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and Distributed Computing", $2500, 2015-2016.
NSF, Co-PI, "Targeted Infusion Project: Use of Mobile Application to Improve Active Learning and Student Participation in the Computer Science Classroom", Award Number: 1332531, $235,091, 2013-2017.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania(IUP) senate Fellowship Grant, PI, "Preliminary Investigation on Utilizing smart phones in Higher Education", $12,000, 2010-2011.

Curriculum Guidelines

Prasad, S. K., Estrada, T., Ghafoor, S., Gupta, A., Kant, K., Stunkel, C., Sussman, A., Vaidyanathan, R., Weems, C., Agrawal, K., Barnas, M., Brown, D. W., Bryant, R., Bunde, D. P., Busch, C., Deb, D., Freudenthal, E., Jaja, J., Parashar, M., Phillips, C., Robey, B., Rosenberg, A., Saule, E., Shen, C. 2020. NSF/IEEE-TCPP Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and Distributed Computing - Core Topics for Undergraduates, Version II-beta, Online

Peer reviewed Journal and Series publications (last 5 years)

Smith, R., Deb D., Blizard, Z., Midgett, R., "A Planner's quest for identifying spatial (in)justice in local communities: A case study of urban census tracts in North Carolina, USA", Applied Geography, Volume 158, 2023, ISSN 0143-6228, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2023.103030.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622823001613)
Mickle, C., Deb, D. “Early prediction of patient discharge disposition in acute neurological care using machine learning”, BMC Health Services Research 22, 1281 (2022), Published by Springer Nature, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08615-w (Scopus CiteScore: 3.9)
Panlaqui, B-J, Fuad, M., Deb, D., Mickle C. “Path Forming of Healthcare Practitioners in an Indoor Space Using Mobile Crowdsensing”. Sensors, Published by MDPI, 22(19):7546, 2022, https://doi.org/10.3390/s22197546 (Scopus CiteScore: 6.4)
Deb, D., Smith, R. M. “Application of Random Forest and SHAP Tree Explainer in Exploring Spatial (In)Justice to Aid Urban Planning”, International Journal of Geo Information (ISPRS), Published by MDPI, Vol. 10(9), 2021, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10090629 (Scopus CiteScore: 6.1)
Deb, D., Fuad M., “Integrating Big data and Cloud Computing Topics into the Computing Curricula: A modular Approach”, Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing (JPDC), Published by Elsevier, Vol. 157, 2021, pp. 303-315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpdc.2021.07.012 (Scopus CiteScore: 9.8)
Taylor G., Deb, D., “Teaching AI Ethics in a Flipped Classroom”, Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, Vol. 36, No. 5, 2021, pp. 67-76.
Fuad M., Deb, D., James E. and Gloster C., “Mobile Response System: A Novel Approach to Deliver Interactive and Hands-on Activity in the Classroom”, Journal of Educational Technology Research and Development, Published by Springer Nature, Vol. 66, No. 2, 2018, pp. 493- 514. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9570-5 (Scopus CiteScore: 7.7)

Peer reviewed Conference/Workshop publications (last 5 years)

Panlaqui, B. -J. G., and Deb, D., "Convolutional Neural Networks: An Analysis of Varying Factors", IEEE SoutheastCon 2023, Orlando, FL, USA, 2023, pp. 348-349, doi: 10.1109/SoutheastCon51012.2023.10115075.
Fuad, M., Deb, D., Panlaqui, B. -J. G., and Mickle, C. F. , "Using RSSI to Form Path in an Indoor Space," 2022 IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN), 2022, pp. 1-2, doi: 10.1109/ICCCN54977.2022.9868912.
Mickle, C. F., and Deb, D. "Predicting Patient Discharge Disposition in Acute Neurological Care," 2021 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI), Orlando, FL, USA, 2021, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/SSCI50451.2021.9659904.
Fuad, M. and Deb, D. "Using Real-World Problems to Explore and Improve Students' Understanding of Parallelism Concepts," 2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2021, pp. 57-62, doi: 10.1109/EDUCON46332.2021.9453912.
Deb, D. and Guirguis, M., "Use of Auxiliary Classifier Generative Adversarial Network in Touchstroke Authentication," 2020 19th IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA), 2020, pp. 252-257, doi: 10.1109/ICMLA51294.2020.00049.
Deb, D. and R. M. Smith, "Use of Machine Learning in Exploring Spatial (In)Justices¹," 2020 19th IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA), 2020, pp. 1211-1217, doi: 10.1109/ICMLA51294.2020.00191.
Monroe et al., "Lightning Talks of EduHPC 2019," 2019 IEEE/ACM Workshop on Education for High-Performance Computing (EduHPC), 2019, pp. 25-31, doi: 10.1109/EduHPC49559.2019.00009.
Fuad, M., Akbar, M., Zubov, L. and Deb, D. "Out-of-class Activities: What Have We Been Doing and How We Can Change it for the Future,"2019 14th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE), 2019, pp. 714-719, doi: 10.1109/ICCSE.2019.8845513.
Aggarwal, et al., "EduPar Posters," in 2019 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops (IPDPSW), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2019 pp. 347-349.
Deb, D., Fuad, M., Irwin, K., “A Module-based Approach to Teaching Big data and Cloud Computing Topics at CS Undergraduate Level”, 50^th ACM SIGCSE Conference, March 2019, pp. 2-8.
Deb, D. S. Cousins and M. Fuad, "Teaching Big Data and Cloud Computing: A Modular Approach," 2018 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops (IPDPSW), 2018, pp. 377-383, doi: 10.1109/IPDPSW.2018.00070.
Deb, D., Fuad, M., James, E. and Gloster, C., “MRS: Automated Assessment of Interactive Classroom Exercises”, 49^th ACM SIGCSE Conference, February 2018, pp. 290-295
Prasad, S., Weems, C., Dougherty, J., Deb, D., “NSF/IEEE-TCPP Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and Distributed Computing –Status Report”, Special Session at 49th ACM SIGCSE conference, February 2018, pp. 134-135

Peer reviewed Poster Abstract (last 5 years)

Paul, J., and Deb, D.. 2023. "Minority Serving Institutions and SIGCSE". In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2 (SIGCSE 2023). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1251. https://doi.org/10.1145/3545947.3573349
Deb, D., Jones, E., “University-wide Adoption of Data Science”, 51^th ACM SIGCSE Conference, February 2020.
Deb, D., Smith, R. M., and Fuad, M. “Infusing Data Science Across Disciplines”, In Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), July 2019.
Deb, D., Fuad, M., Irwin, K., “An Alternative Approach to Teaching Big data and Cloud Computing Topics at CS Undergraduate Level”, Poster abstract at International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (Supercomputing’18), November 2018.

2022, 2023: Google's "TensorFlow Outreach Award"

2021: Wilveria B. Atkinson Distinguished Research Award, Winston-Salem State University

2021: Red Jacket Distinguished Award, Winston-Salem State University

2009: Awarded “Certificate of Merit” presented by the Trustees and President of IUP in recognition of faculty productivity in published scholarship.

2005: Honorary citizenship by the City of Bozeman, Montana, USA.

2004-2005: Benjamin Ph.D. fellowship, College of Engineering, Montana State University, USA.

2000-2001: AusAID Scholarship, Adelaide University, Australia.

1996: “Woman of the Year”, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Bangladesh. This is a title given to the best female student of SUST based on academic and extracurricular achievements.

1993-1996: Shahjalal University Merit Scholarship.

1990-92: Bangladesh Government Merit Scholarship.

Spring, 2024 – CSC 1316 Exploratory Data Analysis of Social Justice Issues(UG), CST 6302 Programming Languages (G)
Fall, 2023 – CST 5345 Data Visualization(G), CST 5320 Design and Analysis of Algorithms (G)
Spring, 2023 – CSC 2315 Applied Data Science (UG)
Fall, 2022 – CST 5345 Data Visualization(G), CST 5320 Design and Analysis of Algorithms (G)
Spring, 2022 – CSC 3331 Analysis of Algorithms (UG), CSC 2315 Applied Data Science (UG)
Fall, 2021 – CST 5345 Data Visualization(G), CST 5320 Design and Analysis of Algorithms (G)
Spring 2021 – CSC 3331 Analysis of Algorithms (UG)
Fall 2020 – CST 5345 Data Visualization(G), CST 5320 Design and Analysis of Algorithms (G)
Spring 2020 – CST 6302 Programming Languages (G), CSC 3331 Analysis of Algorithms (UG)
Fall 2019 – CST 5320 Design and Analysis of Algorithms (G), CSC 4350 Software Engineering (UG), CSC 4322 Parallel Computing (G/UG)
Spring 2019 – CSC 4310 Big Data and Cloud Computing(G/UG), CSC 3331 Analysis of Algorithms (UG)
Fall 2018 – CST 5320 Design and Analysis of Algorithms (G), CSC 4350 Software Engineering (UG), CSC 4322 Parallel Computing (G/UG), Team taught a module on data science in GEO 2321 Environmental Justice & Sustainability (UG).
Spring 2018 – CSC 4310 Big Data and Cloud Computing(G/UG), CSC 3331 Analysis of Algorithms (UG), Team taught modules on big data and cloud computing in CSC 3322 Computer Architecture (UG) and CSC 3355 Database Management Systems (UG).

Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)
ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
ACM Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE)
ACM Special Interest Group on High Performance Computing (SIGHPC)
NSF/IEEE-TCPP Parallel and Distributed Curriculum Guideline Revision Committee.
IEEE Technical Committee on Parallel Processing (TCPP) Diversity Committee.
IEEE Computer Society T&C Adhoc Committee on Ethics,　Diversity　and Inclusion (EDI)