The newsletter highlights our ongoing activities and accomplishments, not only on the research front but also on education and outreach. We hope to keep you up-to-date on the broad research activities within the Institute, as well as provide opportunities for collaboration. We look forward to connecting with you.
Swarup Bhunia, Director, Distinguished Professor & Semmoto Endowed Chair Professor of Internet of Things, ECE
My T. Thai, Associate Director & UF Research Foundation Professor, CISE
 | Register now for the Warren B. Nelms Annual IoT Conference! For more details, please visit the conference website. |
 | Research on Trustworthy AI Showcased at Three Leading Conferences The ability to trust an autonomous system is crucial in nearly every application, but how do we know if its trustworthy or not? From large language models reasoning through a hard problem to autonomous robots navigating the physical world, the systems tend to fail in the same unnerving way: silently and confidently. Zhenjiang Mao, PhD student in the Trustworthy Engineered Autonomy (TEA) Lab advised by Dr. Ivan Ruchkin, investigates this problem at the intersection of natural language processing, cyber‑physical systems, and robotics. |
 | Trio of Studies Pursues Logical Reasoning in Large Language Models Large language models, or LLMs, have shown impressive capabilities in language understanding, coding and problem solving. Yet logical reasoning remains challenging for current LLMs because a single mistake can derail an entire reasoning process. Yuanyuan Lei, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Computer & Information Science and Engineering, or CISE, and researchers in her lab are tackling the problem by uncovering the internal mechanisms that support logical reasoning and using that understanding to make LLMs more precise and efficient. |
 | New NSF Award: Using Digital Twins to Uncover Vehicular Systems Vulnerabilities Dr. Sandip Ray, Warren B. Nelms Endowed Professor, has received an NSF research award to develop new approaches for identifying security vulnerabilities earlier in the design of vehicular systems. “The goal of the project is to make connected and autonomous vehicles safer and more secure,” said Dr. Ray. “Modern vehicles rely on complex networks of computers, software, sensors, and communication systems, creating new security risks when information flows in unintended ways between vehicle components.” |
 | Nelms Members Mentor Award-Winning IPPD Team From fall 2025 to spring 2026, Nelms Institute members Aaron Costin, PhD and Janise McNair, PhD mentored an undergraduate student design team in the Integrated Product & Process Design (IPPD) program. The directive was to design an IoT system for construction 2.0 site monitoring. The team received the University of Florida 2026 Exemplary Team Award, and they were selected to present an invited poster at the 2026 National Capstone Design Conference. |
 | Students Win Runner-Up in NSF SpectrumX Data & Algorithm Competition A team of three Warren B. Nelms Institute students recently won the NSF SpectrumX Data & Algorithm Competition (SpX-DAC) Overall Runner-Up Award. “The competition gave us a chance to work with real spectrum data.” said Yanyu Hu, PhD student researcher. Since all connected devices share this limited resource, good spectrum monitoring can help avoid interference and enable more reliable communication. |
 | Dr. Pasha Antonenko Named Director for Education Programs Dr. Pasha Antonenko, Professor of Educational Technology in the College of Education, has been named the Director for Education programs in the Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World. Please join us in welcoming him to the leadership team! |
 | Dr. Baibhab Chatterjee Named Nelms Rising Star Professor The Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World is proud to announce a new Nelms Rising Star Professor, Baibhab Chatterjee, PhD. 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, and/or outreach activities relevant to the mission of the institute. Dr. Chatterjee’s research interests are in low power, efficient, and secure circuits and systems design for smart applications. |
 | Warren B. Nelms Institute Leaders Recognized by ECE Department for Research and Service Two leaders in the Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World have been recognized by the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at University of Florida: Dr. Swarup Bhunia for Excellence in Research and Dr. Baibhab Chatterjee for Excellence in Service. |
 | Welcome New Leaders of the IoT Students Club The IoT Students Club at the University of Florida is thrilled to announce this year’s club leadership team. We are looking forward to an exciting lineup of hands-on workshops, panels, guest speakers, and events in the fall and spring and semesters. Get involved with real-world research, connect with faculty and industry professionals, and contribute to events connected to the UF Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World including the annual IoT Conference. UF students of all years, majors, and experience levels are welcome to join. |
 | View Research Portfolio We invite you to browse our current and ongoing research projects. Our research addresses major world challenges relating to public health, energy, education, transportation, and more. We envision a future where people, things, processes, and data are connected in a more intelligent, more energy efficient, and more secure way. |