The Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World has named a new Nelms Rising Star Professor. This endowment was made possible thanks to a generous donation by David Nelms and the Nelms family.

The Nelms Rising Star Professorship is awarded to junior faculty (assistant and associate professors) who have shown extraordinary promise early in their career in research, education, workforce development, broadening participation, or other outreach activities, relevant to the mission of the institute.

Jie Fu, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

Dr. Jie Fu received the M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Beijing Institute of Technology, China, in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware, Newark, in 2013. Her research interests include Control theory, Formal methods, Game theory, with applications to Robotic systems and Cyber-Physical Systems.

Dr. Fu’s research centers around theory and algorithms for synthesizing correct-by-construction autonomous systems through integrated formal methods, learning, control, and game theory.

“My research group develops theory and algorithms in control and decision-making towards constructing provably safe and secured cyber-physical systems (CPSs) in their dynamic, open, and uncertain environments. Specifically, we are interested in a class of CPSs that employ robotic systems, including robotized security patrolling systems, robotized industrial automation, and teleoperated/human-in-the-loop robotic systems. Due to the increasingly interconnected mesh of networks and physical robots, such systems face unprecedented challenges for ensuring safety and security. For example, in a robotized security patrol system, a successful cyber-attack on the sensor network can be combined with adversarial control commands to compromised robotic systems and disrupt the robot’s mission.

Our ongoing work investigates game-theoretic solutions that effectively integrate robot sensing and control, with dynamic cyber defense to mitigate adversarial attacks from cyber- and physical- layers. The fellowship will enable me to explore new research directions and applications of our game-theoretic solutions for CPS security. ” – Dr. Jie Fu