Faculty Fellows FY25

Sarah Arpin | Assistant Professor | VT math department

Sarah Arpin

Assistant Professor - VT Math Department

Dr. Arpin's research focuses on algebraic number theory and post-quantum cryptography, including the study of supersingular elliptic curves, isogeny-based cryptography, arithmetic geometry in characteristic p, and code-based cryptography. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Virginia Tech's Math Department. Dr. Arpin completed her postdoctoral research at Universiteit Leiden and the Quantum Software Consortium under Dr. Peter Bruin from 2022 to 2024. Additionally, she earned her PhD in Pure Mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder, under the guidance of Dr. Katherine E. Stange, and also holds a Certificate in Data Science Statistics from CU Boulder.Dr. Arpin's research focuses on algebraic number theory and post-quantum cryptography, including the study of supersingular elliptic curves, isogeny-based cryptography, arithmetic geometry in characteristic p, and code-based cryptography. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Virginia Tech's Math Department. Dr. Arpin completed her postdoctoral research at Universiteit Leiden and the Quantum Software Consortium under Dr. Peter Bruin from 2022 to 2024. Additionally, she earned her PhD in Pure Mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder, under the guidance of Dr. Katherine E. Stange, and also holds a Certificate in Data Science Statistics from CU Boulder.

Christiana Chamon Garcia

Assistant Professor - VT Electrical and Computer EngineeringDepartment

Dr. Christiana Chamon's research interests encompass a wide range of topics, including noise-based authentication, decentralized identity, cyber-physical systems, security in artificial intelligence, engineering education, human-computer interaction, accessibility in engineering and kinesiology, and exercise science. Her accomplishments include serving on the Advisory Board for Unsolved Problems on Noise (UPoN 2024), being part of the Admissions Committee at Texas A&M University (TAMU) for 2023-2024, and receiving the FFDP Fellowship from Virginia Tech in 2023. She also served on TAMU’s Scholarship Committee in 2022-2023 and was awarded the Ebensberger Fellowship in 2021. Dr. Chamon’s teaching interests include circuits, electronics, cybersecurity, and control systems.

Murat Kantarcioglu

Professor - VT Computer Science Department

Dr. Murat Kantarcioglu is a professor in the Computer Science department and a CCI Faculty Fellow. His research interests include data and artificial intelligence, security and privacy, and blockchain data analytics. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University in 2005, where he also received a Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics. Prior to that, he completed a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a minor in Finance from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, in 2000.

Efat Fathalla

Assistant Professor - VMI Electrical and Computer EngineeringDepartment

Efat Fathalla is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Virginia Military Institute, USA. She earned her Ph.D. in 2024 from Old Dominion University, USA. Her research interests include privacy-preserving technologies, blockchain applications, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cryptography.

Efat has worked on several research projects focusing on security in both the physical and application layers of communication systems. She has authored multiple patents, book chapters, journal publications, and papers presented at esteemed conferences.