The Secure Cryptographic Implementations (SCI-Lab) at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University will host its Research Day on Side-Channel-Resilient Post-Quantum Security in Digital-Twin Structural Health Monitoring Systems on June 29, 2026. The event will bring together researchers and students to discuss emerging advances in post-quantum cryptography, hardware security, privacy-preserving AI, homomorphic encryption, and IoT-enabled structural health monitoring.

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We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Mostafa Taha has been selected as an Outstanding Faculty Graduate Mentor for 2025–26 at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University. This award, administered by the Office of the Vice‑President (Research, Innovation, and International) and the Office of Graduate Studies, recognizes exceptional dedication to graduate student mentorship. Dr. Taha was selected as one of five recipients university‑wide, following a competitive nomination process involving 49 nominees and drawing from the university’s faculty body. This recognition highlights his sustained contributions to graduate students’ intellectual development, research training, and professional growth.

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We are proud to announce that Mahmoud Yassin, a PhD candidate in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University, has been recognized with a prestigious departmental scholarship for his outstanding research contributions.

Mahmoud Yassin has been awarded the Bernard Pagurek and Murray Woodside Scholarship (2026). He has received this award for the second year in a row, and it marks his third award this year.
Mahmoud’s research aims to design secure deep learning systems that operate directly on encrypted data, enabling privacy-preserving and quantum-safe AI. His work supports confidential AI inference in sensitive domains such as cloud computing, healthcare, and finance.

We celebrate Mahmoud’s dedication, innovation, and impact in Secure AI. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!

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We are excited to share that on March 1, 2026,  the Secure Cryptographic Implementations Lab (SCI-Lab) has recently secured funding for a new NSERC Alliance International Catalyst Quantum Grant, further advancing our work in cybersecurity and post-quantum cryptography.

• Title: Quantum‑Safe and Side‑Channel‑Resilient Post‑Quantum Cryptography for Multi‑Hop IoT in Digital‑Twin‑Enabled Structural Health Monitoring
• Principal Investigator: Dr. Mostafa Taha (ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University)
• International Collaborator: (Rochester Institute of Technology – Dubai, UAE)

This Catalyst project aims to establish an international collaboration between Canada and the United Arab Emirates in the domain of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) for the security-critical field of Digital-Twin (DT) technology as applied to Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of critical infrastructure such as bridges and towers. The proposed work addresses the growing need for long-term quantum-resistant security in multi-hop IoT communication pipelines that underpin DT-enabled SHM systems.

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On 5 March 2026, the SCI-Lab was awarded a Mitacs Accelerate project entitled “Secure and Efficient ML-KEM Implementation on ARM Cortex-M7“

Principal Investigator: Dr. Mostafa Taha, ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University. Partner organization: . Intern: Dr. Mahmoud Sayed

This project aims to make future internet-connected devices secure against quantum computer attacks by developing faster and safer cryptographic software for small embedded systems. We will optimize a newly standardized post-quantum algorithm so that it runs efficiently on widely used ARM Cortex-M7 processors without sacrificing security. The results will help protect critical infrastructure, healthcare systems, and smart devices from emerging cyber threats, supporting Canada’s leadership in cybersecurity innovation.

✨ We are proud of the team’s continued efforts in pushing the boundaries of secure and efficient cryptographic systems.

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We are proud to highlight the recent accomplishments of Mahmoud Yassin, a PhD Candidate in the Systems and Computer Engineering Department in ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University, and a member of SCI-Lab.

Mahmoud has recently received two awards, recognizing his academic excellence and research potential:

• GSA PhD Scholarship (Fall 2025): awarded by the Graduate Students’ Association at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University to only 10 outstanding PhD students across all faculties for academic achievement and service to the graduate community.
• Dr. Thomas Betz Memorial Award (2026): awarded by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs to 3 exceptional graduate students across all faculties (per year) who demonstrate strong scholarly promise and intellectual leadership.

Mahmoud’s research at the Secure Cryptographic Implementations Lab focuses on the design of secure deep learning systems that can operate directly on encrypted data to provide privacy-preserving and quantum-safe computation. His work explores enabling confidential AI inference while protecting both user data and computation models.

Through this research, Mahmoud aims to advance secure and trustworthy AI systems that can be deployed safely in sensitive domains such as cloud services, healthcare, finance, and much more.

Please join us in congratulating Mahmoud on these well-deserved recognitions and wishing him continued success in his research journey.

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We are thrilled to announce that Shazly Ahmed has been awarded the Gabriel David Warshaw Memorial Scholarship.

This scholarship is awarded annually to graduate students in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering or Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering who aspire to build careers focused on the peaceful and environmentally respectful applications of their disciplines.

The award was endowed in 1998 to honor the memory of Dr. Gabriel David Warshaw, a ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University alumnus (MEng, PhD) who made significant contributions to the Canadian and international space programs.

Congratulations to Shazly on this fantastic milestone!”

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We are thrilled to announce that Mahmoud Sayed has been awarded the Senate Medal for Outstanding Graduate Work (Doctoral) at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University for the Fall 2025 semester!

This prestigious medal is merit-based and is awarded to only one PhD graduate per semester across each faculty. It recognizes exceptional academic achievement and research excellence. The selection is based on the quality of the doctoral thesis, research contributions such as publications and presentations, and the recommendation of the Faculty Dean.

Receiving this honor on October 31, 2025, Mahmoud has demonstrated outstanding scholarly impact and dedication throughout his PhD journey.

Please join us in celebrating this remarkable achievement!

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Mahmoud Sayed has successfully defended his PhD thesis with the title: Homomorphic Encryption Based Obfuscated Complex Queries System 

His work focused on a novel technique for implementing a privacy-preserving software application on remote untrusted server using a modified construction of the Fully Homomorphic Encryption of The Torus. With traditional encryption, the users are able to hide their data from the cloud server operator, but they cannot process it on the cloud without decrypting them. Homomorphic Encryption allows the cloud server to operate on encrypted data, but it does not hide the algorithm itself. With the proposed approach approach, the users are able to fully utilize the full computation power of cloud servers without revealing their data or processing algorithm: protect the data and the procedure.

In addition, the proposed methodology allows also processing plain un-encrypted data on the cloud while hiding the algorithm and the result. This extends the list of applications to an interesting realm: GPS directions from online maps without revealing the traveler’s destination to the service provider, searching online without revealing the search criterial to the search engine, and much more!

The examination committee consisted of:

The defence committee nominated Mahmoud’s work for a university medal.

Congratulations to Dr. Mahmoud Sayed!

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We are proud to share that Mahmoud Yassin, a PhD student in the Lab, has been awarded the Bernard Pagurek and Murray Woodside Scholarship by the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University.

This scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding graduate students in Systems and Computer Engineering and is intended to support and inspire academic excellence. It was established to honor the legacy of Drs. Bernard Pagurek and C. Murray Woodside, renowned for their contributions to education, research, and the advancement of knowledge.

This recognition marks Mahmoud’s second academic award in 2025, reflecting his continued excellence in research and commitment to advancing the field of secure computing.

Congratulations to Mahmoud on another well-deserved achievement!

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