Simin Nadjm-Tehrani

Professor, Department of Computer and Information Science, Linköping University

What is your position/role in WASP?            

I am the supervisor for one academic PhD student and one industrial PhD student. I also serve on the Research Management Group for Software in WASP.

Why did you choose to join WASP?               

I was approached with a challenging question from industrial colleagues in the safety-critical sector: how to make systems with AI components trustworthy? It was a too exciting question to be left unanswered. As time passed, the further dimension of cybersecurity and AI also became a field to be part of and define.

What are the benefits you see in WASP?    

I find that WASP brings the depth and breadth in knowledge required for the future society under the same umbrella.

Briefly describe your research topic.             

I have worked with AI methods for enhancing cybersecurity, e.g., anomaly detection in critical infrastructure for over a decade before WASP. Now we see AI being used for new/better functions. This will require explainable solutions, when applied to safety-critical systems. Also, the AI systems need to be protected from malicious attacks and misuse.

My work with the industrial PhD student, John Törnblom, is at the forefront for fast and scalable formal analysis of machine learning components that use tree ensembles. This means both showing their reliability, the explainability of their predictions, and their potential exposure to malicious use.

In what way can your research be of importance to our society in the future?                 

The application areas are endless, but transportation is what one sees mentioned most often.