University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Engineering and Applied Science PhD Program


Mary Nankya

PhD Student | Artificial Intelligence & Cybersecurity | Autonomous Systems Resilience, Security, and Reliability, 2025 - Present.

Ms Computer Science, Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 2023
BSc in Computer Science, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda 2016

Phone: 351-213-1289

Email: mnankya@umassd.edu

Address: 285 Old Westport Rd, Dartmouth, MA, 02747

Google Scholar, Linkedin, ResearchGate





Hello!


PhD program in Engineering and Applied Science, specializing in the Computer Science and Information Science track.

My research will sit at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity, with a focus on improving the reliability, security, and resilience of autonomous systems. This includes developing methods to (1) model and quantify risk, (2) detect and mitigate adversarial or anomalous behavior, and (3) enable robust recovery and graceful degradation under attacks, failures, or uncertain operating conditions. I’m particularly interested in ensuring AI-enabled autonomy remains verifiable, explainable, and operationally safe, even when facing sophisticated threat actors and evolving system complexity

I recently Served as an Adjunct Professor at Fitchburg State University, Computer Science Department. I also recently served as the Director of Data and Evaluation at Hearth Inc., Boston. I bring a rich background in both academia and industry and with recently published research in a wide range of topics, including cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, wireless communication, and next-generation technologies such as 5G, 6G, and beyond.