Dr. M. Hadi Amini’s SOLID Lab is off to a Solid Start

Faculty Highlight, Research

Photo of Hadi Amini

Since joining KFSCIS in 2019, Dr. M. Hadi Amini founded the Sustainability, Optimization, and Learning for Interdependent Networks Laboratory (SOLID Lab) with a focus on creating efficient, secure machine learning and optimization algorithms. These algorithms are applied to real-world challenges, including cybersecurity, critical infrastructure resilience, healthcare, homeland security, and water-sewer control. Dr. Amini’s mission encompasses cutting-edge research, educating the next generation of computer science and engineering professionals, and contributing to South Florida’s technology landscape.

Under his leadership, SOLID Lab secured $4.6 million in external research funding, including $2,823,200 as Principal Investigator (PI) and $1,778,869 as Co-PI from agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, National Science Foundation, Air Force Research Laboratory, Florida Department of Health, and Department of Transportation. Notable projects involve monitoring transportation cybersecurity vulnerabilities and employing federated learning and quantum computing for cyber-attack detection.

Dr. Amini’s student research group has produced 17 journal articles, 34 conference papers, authored two books, and edited three books on machine learning, distributed computing, blockchain technology, and infrastructure resilience. His work has yielded two invention disclosures, improving national infrastructure security with advanced machine learning and computer vision.

He initiated the FIU SOLID Lab Federated Education (FeDucation) Webinar Series, featuring top researchers from across the nation, enhancing student and faculty engagement.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, his team developed predictive visualization dashboards for COVID-19 statistics and automated detection using Chest Radiographic Images, aiding the community.

Dr. Amini’s contributions make him a valued member of the KFSCIS faculty, and we anticipate even more innovation and impactful research from SOLID Lab in the future.