Biography
M. Hadi Amini is a Tenured Associate Professor of Computer Science at Florida International University (FIU) and conducts research in federated learning, distributed optimization and learning algorithms, and their applications in cyber-physical systems, cybersecurity, transportation networks, and critical infrastructures resilience. He is a Senior Member of IEEE. He edited/authored ten books. He is the recipient of the 2025 IEEE Big Data Security Junior Research Award, 2024 FIU Top Scholar Award in Research and Creative Activities, the Best Paper Award from “2019 IEEE Conference on Computational Science & Computational Intelligence”, the 2021 Best Journal Paper Award from “Springer Nature Operations Research Forum Journal”, the 2023 FIU “Faculty Senate Excellence in Teaching Award”, Excellence in Teaching Award from FIU KFSCIS in 2020, and the best reviewer award from four IEEE Transactions. He was also selected as one of the 2025 Rising Star (Sciences) by the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL). His research has been extensively funded by various federal and state agencies with total funding of over $6M ($3.16M as PI). He has served/is serving as Ph.D. advisor of 15 Ph.D. students (7 Graduated as of 2025), advised/mentored 12 Master students, and mentored 17 undergraduate students. His lab alumni have secured jobs in academia (two solid lab Ph.D. students accepted tenure track assistant professor positions and two Ph.D. students are currently a senior research/data scientist) .
Awards & Honors
- National/International
- The 2025 IEEE Big Data Security Junior Research Award for exceptional contributions to Big Data Security in Cyber Physical Systems, IEEE Computer Society, 2025 (This honor, which is awarded to only one junior researcher each year, was awarded at the 11th IEEE International Conference on Big Data Security on Cloud (BigDataSecurity 2025.) held alongside IEEE High Performance and Smart Computing (HPSC) 2025, IEEE Intelligent Data and Security (IDS) 2025, and IEEE SmartCloud 2025 in New York City, USA, from May 9-11, 2025.)
- Honored as a 2025 Rising Star (Sciences) Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL), 22/168 (about 13% of nominees have been recognized)
- “The Rising Stars program of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL) recognizes early-career faculty at the Assistant Professor Level in academia or junior-to-mid-level professionals (less than 15 years in initial independent position) in industry, non-academia non-profit, or government, who work and/or live in Florida and whose innovation and scholarly achievements demonstrate exceptional promise in addressing critical scientific, engineering, and/or medical challenges.”
- Elevated to Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2022
- Best Journal Paper Award (joint with my FIU Ph.D. Student Luiz Manella Pereira), Springer Nature Operations Research Forum Journal, 2021
- Best Conference Paper Award (joint with my FIU Ph.D. Student Ahmed Imteaj), IEEE Conference on Computational Science & Computational Intelligence, 2019
- (IEEE Senior Membership is an honor bestowed only to those who have made significant contributions to the profession.)
- University:
- FIU College of Engineering and Computing Faculty Mentorship Award, 2025 (Mentors are faculty who share their knowledge and experience to enhance the scholarly professional and personal development of students. Mentors are more than faculty advisors. They guide students in the development of research topics, help them understand the ethical issues of their disciplines, assist them in publishing their work, introduce them to career opportunities and networks, and serve as role models providing moral, emotional, and intellectual support.)
- FIU Top Scholar Award, Research and Creative Activities, Junior Faculty with Significant Grants (Sciences), Office of Faculty Leadership & Success, FIU, 2024
- Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, Office of Faculty Leadership and Success, FIU, 2023
- Rewarding Excellence in Teaching Incentives (RETI) Award, FIU, 2022
- (The RETI award recognizes faculty who are working to create learning-centered, inclusive classroom experiences, provides faculty the opportunity to build their teaching excellence portfolio, and serves as a foundation for future awards.)
Education
- Ph.D., 2019, Carnegie Mellon University
- MSc, 2015, Carnegie Mellon University