About

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Fordham University. My research sits at the intersection of AI and machine learning, security, and optimization, with a focus on cyber-physical systems that remain safe and resilient under adversarial conditions. I received my PhD in Electrical Engineering from New York University in 2020.

I am also serving as the faculty director of the Tortorella Statistics for Social Justice Initiative at Fordham, a university-wide initiative aiming to address pressing societal challenges using quantitative methods, such as data science, statistics, optimization, and machine learning.

LL610A, 113 W 60th St, New York, NY 10023
jchen504(at)fordham.edu
PhD openings — I am looking for self-motivated PhD students in trustworthy AI, reinforcement learning, quantum AI, and CPS security. If interested, please send an email with your CV, transcript, and a brief research statement.
Masters & undergrad — Research opportunities available in AI, smart cities, and cybersecurity. Reach out with your CV and brief research statement.
Research Interests
Cyber-Physical Systems
Security & Resilience
Reinforcement Learning
Game & Decision Theory
Quantum AI & Security
Learning & Optimization
Latest News
Feb 2026
Fernando's work on Stackelberg Coupling of Online Representation Learning and RL is accepted to ICLR 2026.
Jan 2026
New paper on differentiable architecture search for adversarially robust quantum computer vision published in Quantum Machine Intelligence.
Aug 2025
Khalifa joined the RegLab at Stanford University as a research fellow.
Jul 2025
Grant NSF grant awarded to develop a programmable wireless architecture with formal policy assurance.
Jun 2025
Organizing the Workshop on Quantum Computing Security, Privacy, and Resilience (Q-SEC) at IEEE Quantum Week 2025.
Mar 2025
Khalifa presents our work on efficient data encoding in quantum AI systems at CVPR 2025. Paper
Mar 2025
Grant NSF grant to upgrade Fordham's GPU cluster for multidisciplinary research.
Feb 2024
Grant NSF grant to investigate resilient quantum learning systems.
Jan 2024
Paper on cyber-physical resiliency for power grids under IoT botnet attacks accepted in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.
Apr 2023
Award Distinguished Research Award for junior faculty from Fordham University Research Council.
Mar 2023
Fordham-IBM Research Fellowship awarded to support collaborative work on dynamic adversarial AI.
Aug 2023
Grant NSF grant on system-level quantum computing cybersecurity research and education.
May 2021
Award Alexander Hessel Award for Best PhD Dissertation in Electrical Engineering, NYU.
Sep 2020
Joined the CIS Department at Fordham University as a tenure-track assistant professor.
Selected Publications
ICLR 2026
Stackelberg Coupling of Online Representation Learning and Reinforcement Learning
F. Martinez*, T. LI, Y. Lu and J. Chen
arXiv
Quantum Machine Intelligence, 2026
Differentiable Architecture Search for Adversarially Robust Quantum Computer Vision
M. Afane*, Q. Long*, H. Shen, Y. Mao, J. Farooq, Y. Wang, and J. Chen
DOI
CVPR 2025
ATP: Adaptive Threshold Pruning for Efficient Data Encoding in Quantum Neural Networks
K. Afane*, G. Ebbrecht*, Y. Wang, J. Chen, and J. Farooq
arXiv
IEEE Trans. Control Systems Technology, 2024
Integrated Cyber-Physical Resiliency for Power Grids under IoT-Enabled Dynamic Botnet Attacks
Y. Zhao, J. Chen, and Q. Zhu
arXiv

Full list on Google Scholar · All publications →