Academic Positions

  • Present 2016

    Full Professor

    CIISE, Concordia University

  • 2016 2010

    Associate Professor

    CIISE, Concordia University

  • 2010 2006

    Assistant Professor

    CIISE, Concordia University

  • Present 2006

    Adjunct Professor

    Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Laval University

  • 2006 2006

    Scientist Research (NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow)

    Computational Logic Laboratory, School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University

  • 2006 2005

    Scientist Research (Postdoctoral Fellow)

    Science and Software Engineering, Geomatics Research Center, Laval University

  • 2005 2005

    Professional Research

    Science and Software Engineering, Geomatics Research Center, Laval University

Academic Background

  • Ph.D. 2001-2005

    Ph.D. in Computer Science

    Laval University

  • M.Sc. 1998-2001

    M.Sc. in Computer Science

    National Engineering School of Computer Science and System Analysis, ENSIAS, Rabat, Morocco.

    1st class honors.

  • B.Sc. 1994-1998

    Engineer in Computer Science (equivalent to a BS.c.)

    National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics, INSEA, Rabat, Morocco.

    1st class honors.

  • Diploma 1991-1994

    French type of Baccalaureate in Sciences (Diploma of College Studies)

    Nador, Morocco..

    1st class honors.

Selected Research Projects

  •    Trust and security of communities of services in the cloud

    In this project, we are investigating the general question of security in services/cloud computing where services are autonomous entities that co-exist within virtual groups called communities. The security is analysed from the perspectives of 1) trust that autonomous and selfish components can establish towards each other and 2) detection of malicious components and their attacks. We model the trust and its propagation using probabilistic systems where objective and subjective trust sources are considered. The main objective is to develop a collusion-resilient trust framework to deal with attacks aiming to mislead trust results and a trust-based coalitional game that enables autonomous entities to form distributed trustworthy systems. Game theoretical solutions and concepts are being used and proposed.

  •    Security of outsourced databases/cloud databases

    In this project, we investigate how we can best employ game theory to improve the security and efficiency of outsourced databases (cloud databases). Outsourced databases are stored on untrusted third-party servers (cloud database service provider) beyond the database owner control. Therefore, the database owner must employ data integrity assurance techniques to ensure the integrity of the outsourced database is not manipulated. Using the well-known data integrity assurance techniques such as encryption/decryption can be computationally costly process specially when applied to big data. The main objective of this project was to employ Stackelberg game theory to model the security game between a malicious database service provider and the database owner as a leader-follower security game. By solving the game, the database owner (being the leader in this game) finds the optimal mixed strategy as to what database table to verify at each verification moment. By committing to this optimal strategy, the database owner can ensure a higher payoff which translates to a higher probability of detecting any data manipulation.

  •    Logical specification and formal verification of multi-agent systems

    In this project, we are interested in formalizing agent communication using formal logics and automatically verifying agent systems using the principal of model checking. Social commitments, knowledge and trust are the key concepts this project is analysing. The main idea is to verify the system against desirable properties derived from the requirements. The system is modeled as a mathematical structure capturing its behavior and transitions and the properties are expressed using formal and computational logical languages. Unlike traditional systems, intelligent systems exhibit autonomous and non-deterministic behaviors based on the dynamic knowledge of the autonomous agents forming the global system and their ability to commit to a complex course of actions. Verifying this type of systems is particularly challenging from the computational perspectives where new algorithms taking into consideration the autonomy and selfishness of agents must be defined and implemented.

  •    Specification and verification of avionics systems

    Avionics systems are critical systems and their specification and verification are challenging issues. Ensuring safety in such systems is a high priority to prevent catastrophic events. The avionics industry has introduced a rigorous certification process described in the DO-178B standard that provides guidance for producing software of airborne systems that performs its function with a level of confidence in safety and complies with airworthiness requirements. In this project, we are investigating the modeling part of avionics components and their specification using formal methods. The main objective is to propose an operational and formal approach that addresses the issues of modeling, verifying, and testing avionics systems. Combining testing and formal verification in the same framework is one of the main gaols of this project.

(* = Co-supervised)

Current Students

Postdoctoral/Research Associate:

  1. Warda El Kholy

Ph.D Students:

  1. Omar Abdul Wahab
  2. Laura Zapata
  3. Mona Taghavi
  4. Nagat Drawel
  5. Ahmed Bataineh
  6. Afaf Mousa
  7. Mounia Elqortobi
  8. Nader Kesserwan *
  9. Alaa Eddine Sohaili
  10. Khokhar Rashid Hussain *
  11. Faryed Mansour Eltayesh
  12. Alaa Eddine Sohaili

Master Students:

  1. Roya Aminikia
  2. Amine Laarej
  3. Amine Rahj *

Alumni

Postdoctoral/Research Associate:

  1. Rebeca Estrado Pico
  2. Mohamed El-Menshawy
  3. Faisal Al-Saqqar
  4. Khalid Ibrahim Sultan

Ph.D Students:

  1. Yosr Jarraya *
  2. Babak Khosravifar
  3. Mohamed El-Menshawy *
  4. Heng Kuang *
  5. Mohamed Mbarki *
  6. Wei Wan *
  7. Khalid Ibrahim Sultan
  8. Mohamad Mehdi *
  9. Ehsan Khosrowshahi-Asl
  10. Faisal Al-Saqqar
  11. Omar Mary *
  12. Warda El Kholy *

Master Students:

  1. Jihad Labban
  2. Wei Wan
  3. Muhamed Rafiul Alam
  4. Khaled Ghoneim
  5. Mellissa Kova
  6. Omar Marey *
  7. Ahmad Moazin
  8. Milos Vujicic *
  9. Maziar Gomrokchi
  10. Nassir Shafieidizaji *
  11. Giti Oghabi
  12. Jinzi Huang *
  13. Sina Honari *
  14. M’Hamdi Mohamed-Amine
  15. Mahsa Alishahi-Tabrizi
  16. Reem Kateb
  17. Hiba Fallatah
  18. Ahmed Bataineh *
  19. Omid Danesh Shahraki *
  20. Ana Vazquez
  21. Faryed Mansour Eltayesh *

Courses Taught

  • Winter 2017

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2016

    INSE 6421 - Systems Integration and Testing

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2016

    INSE 6260 - Software Quality Assurance

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2015

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2015

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2015

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2015

    INSE 6260 - Software Quality Assurance

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2014

    INSE 6441 - Applied Game Theory and Mechanism Design

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2014

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2013

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2013

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2011

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2011

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2011

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2011

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2011

    INSE 6300 - Quality Assurance in Supply Chain Management

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2010

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2010

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2010

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Summer 2009

    COMP 348 - Principles of Programming Languages

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2009

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2009

    INSE 6260 - Software Quality Assurance

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2008

    INSE 6280 - Quality Assurance for Systems Engineering

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2008

    INSE 6300 - Quality Assurance in Supply Chain Management

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2008

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2007

    INSE 6280 - Quality Assurance for Systems Engineering

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2007

    INSE 6300 - Quality Assurance in Supply Chain Management

    (Syllabus)
  • Winter 2007

    INSE 6250 - Quality Methodologies for Software

    (Syllabus)
  • Fall 2006

    INSE 6280 - Quality Assurance for Systems Engineering

    (Syllabus)
  • NSERC Evaluation Group 2015-2018

    Section Chair and Member

    Computer Science Evaluation Group

  • External Agencies Reviewing 2007-Preset

    NSERC Strategic Grant (2007)

    NSERC Discovery Grant (2007-Present)

Journal Editorship and Reviewing

  • Associate Editor of Service Oriented Computing and Applications, Springer
  • Editorial Board of International Journal of Information Technology and Web Engineering, IGI Global
  • Editorial Board of Applied Intelligence, Springer
  • Editorial Board of Open Geospatial Data, Software and Standards, Springer
  • IEEE Transaction on Services Computing, IEEE
  • Applied Soft Computing, Elsevier
  • Artificial Intelligence Review, Springer
  • Expert Systems with Applications, Elsevier
  • IEEE Transactions on Man, Systems and Cybernetics, IEEE
  • Applied Intelligence, Springer
  • Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, Springer
  • Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer
  • Journal of Systems and Software, Elsevier
  • ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology, ACM
  • Knowledge-Based Systems, Elsevier
  • IEEE Intelligent Systems, IEEE
  • Service Oriented Computing and Applications, Springer
  • Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, Springer
  • Computational Intelligence, Blackwell
  • ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems, ACM
  • International Journal of Web and Grid Services, Inderscience
  • International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, Inderscience
  • Informs Journal on Computing, Informs

Chairing and Organization

  • Local Chair for AAMAS 2019
  • Program Co-Chair for ICSOC 2019
  • Program Co-chair for MobiSPC 2019
  • Program Co-Chair of the IEEE 5th International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud (FiCloud 2017)
  • Program Co-Chair of the International Conference on Open and Big Data (OBD) 2016, Vienna, Austria
  • Program Co-Chair of the 13th International Conference on Mobile Systems and Pervasive Computing. August 15-18, 2016, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • Track Chair at the International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud (FiCloud) 2016, Vienna, Austria
  • Track Chair at the International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud (FiCloud) 2015
  • Track Chair at Mobile Systems and Pervasive Computing (MobiSPC) 2015
  • Track Chair at the International Conference on Emerging Ubiquitous Systems and Pervasive Networks September (EUSPN) 2015-2016
  • Agent Communication in Conjunction with AAMAS 2010 Co-Chair Organizer
  • DALT 2009 in Conjunction with AAMAS 2009 Co-Chair Organizer
  • MALLOW-AWESOME'009 Co-Chair Organizer
  • 3 Sessions Chair at IEEE 23rd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA +WAMIS 2009)
  • AAWSE 2008, Organizing committee
  • Web 2007 Local Arrangement Co-Chair
  • IEEE CHAA-07 Organizing Committee
  • AMTA 2006 Steering Committee