Faculty
Prof. Kevin Fu (PI)
Northeastern university
As PI of this project, Kevin Fu, Ph.D., is a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, and Bioengineering at Northeastern University. He leads research in analog cybersecurity, focusing on threats to the physics of computation and sensing, with work that has influenced medical device manufacturers, global regulators, and international safety standards. A widely published expert in medical device security, healthcare ransomware, automobile cybersecurity, RFID security, and web security, Dr. Fu previously served as Acting Director of Medical Device Cybersecurity at the U.S. FDA and Program Director for Cybersecurity at its Digital Health Center of Excellence. He has testified before Congress, co-chaired the AAMI cybersecurity working group to develop FDA-recognized consensus standards, and co-founded N95decon.org during the COVID-19 pandemic. He holds B.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees from MIT.
Email: k.fu@northeastern.edu
Prof. Wayne Burleson
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Professor in VLSI Circuits and Systems who specializes in industry-focused research and development in digital and mixed-signal CMOS, emphasizing low-power and hardware security. He is recognized for leading federally funded Exascale computing research at AMD Research which led to the El Capitan and Frontier supercomputers at Livermore and Oak Ridge National Labs. He also managed technology transfer from the AMD research group into advanced CPU and GPU products. Burleson has developed and taught novel courses in VLSI and Security Engineering as well as publishing over 200 papers in these fields. He has graduated 22 PhD students and 40 MS students in his 35 year career at UMass. Burleson is an IEEE Fellow and recipient of the UMass Amherst Chancellor’s Medal and the ACM/IEEE A. Richard Newton Technical Impact Award in Electronic Design Automation. He has degrees from MIT and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Email: burleson@umass.edu
Prof. Jenny Amos
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Jenny Amos, Ph.D., earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science from Texas Tech University in 2004, followed by a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a concentration in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of South Carolina in 2008. She currently serves as a Teaching Professor and Laura Hahn Faculty Fellow in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Amos’s research focuses on engineering education, emphasizing curriculum design, program assessment, and strategies to enhance student learning through evidence-based and inclusive pedagogical practices. She also advances interdisciplinary initiatives that integrate engineering methodologies into medical education, fostering the development of professionals at the intersection of healthcare innovation and technology.
Email: jamos@illinois.edu
Dr. Julian Goldman, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Julian M. Goldman, M.D. is an anesthesiologist affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he serves as an Instructor in Anesthesia and Medical Director of Biomedical Engineering at Mass General Brigham. He earned his medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 1985 and completed his anesthesiology residency and a research fellowship in medical device informatics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Board-certified in both Anesthesiology and Clinical Informatics, he has built a distinguished career spanning clinical innovation, biomedical engineering, and leadership in device interoperability research.
Email: jmgoldman@mgh.harvard.edu
Prof. Erika Petersen, MD
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery
Erika Petersen, MD, FAANS, FACS, is a Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where she directs the Section of Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery and serves as program director for the neurosurgery residency. A board-certified neurosurgeon, her clinical practice and research focus on neuromodulation for movement disorders, spasticity, and chronic pain, with particular interest in developing new devices, indications, and methods for treatment. She collaborates across specialties to advance applications of deep brain stimulation and neuromodulation, and also studies the privacy and cybersecurity of implanted devices, diversity and inclusion in surgery, and the use of virtual reality in neuroscience. Dr. Petersen earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completed neurosurgery residency at the University of Texas Southwestern, and a fellowship in deep brain stimulation at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. She holds leadership roles in national neurosurgical and pain societies, serves on multiple editorial boards, and is a frequent lecturer at national and international meetings.
Prof. Xuan (Silvia) Zhang
Northeastern university
Xuan (Silvia) Zhang, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University, where she joined the faculty in January 2024. Her research interests encompass integrated circuit (IC) design, computer architecture, and electronic design automation (EDA), with a particular focus on optimizing autonomous systems for performance, reliability, security, and energy efficiency. Her work has applications across cyber-physical systems (CPS), the Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous robotics. Dr. Zhang is also the principal investigator of the XZ Group at Northeastern University, leading a team dedicated to advancing these areas of research.
Email: xuan.zhang@northeastern.edu