Affiliate Faculty

Ali K. Raz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research at George Mason University. His research focuses on complex, autonomous, and cyber-physical systems, with emphasis on information fusion and the integration of AI/ML into systems-of-systems.

His work applies a systems engineering perspective grounded in complex adaptive systems to enable collaborative autonomy and distributed decision-making. Within ISEAI, his research contributes to securing and enhancing the resilience of critical infrastructure by developing AI-enabled methods for monitoring and protecting interconnected sensing and autonomous systems in dynamic environments.

Prior to joining George Mason, Dr. Raz was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Purdue University and has collaborated with the U.S. Navy, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and the Missile Defense Agency. He previously worked at Honeywell Aerospace on flight management and control systems.

Dr. Raz is Co-Chair of the INCOSE Complex Systems Working Group and a Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP), and a Senior Member of IEEE and AIAA.

James Baldo is an engineering practitioner and educator whose work focuses on the design and analysis of systems for detecting, identifying, tracking, and predicting object behavior using multi-source data. His expertise spans information fusion, data-driven analytics, and the application of advanced computational methods in complex operational environments.

Within ISEAI, his work contributes to advancing AI-enabled situational awareness and decision support for critical infrastructure, particularly in contexts where heterogeneous data sources must be integrated to detect and interpret evolving system behaviors.

Dr. Baldo brings extensive experience in leading engineering teams and aligning technical solutions with operational needs. As an instructor, he integrates theory and practice to prepare students to address real-world engineering challenges.

Marcos Zampieri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology at George Mason University. He received his PhD from Saarland University, where he was affiliated with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

His research focuses on computational linguistics and natural language processing, with emphasis on the collection and analysis of large-scale text datasets from diverse sources, including social media and news. He develops robust NLP methods for understanding complex language patterns in real-world data.

Within ISEAI, his work contributes to analyzing unstructured data for threat characterization, situational awareness, and policy development in critical infrastructure environments, supporting AI-driven approaches to security and resilience.

Dr. Zampieri has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and has co-edited numerous volumes, special issues, and workshop proceedings.

Myeong Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology at George Mason University. His research focuses on the design, governance, and economic implications of digital platforms and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.

His work examines how organizations adopt and operationalize AI while managing trust, incentives, and system-level efficiency. He studies how platform design and algorithmic mechanisms influence user behavior, data reliability, and the robustness of digital ecosystems.

Within ISEAI, his research contributes to understanding the governance and economic dimensions of AI-enabled systems, with particular relevance to data integrity, decision-making, and the secure and trustworthy deployment of AI in critical infrastructure.

Sanchari Das is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology at George Mason University. Her research integrates security and privacy, AI/ML, and human-computer interaction to develop resilient, user-centered socio-technical systems.

She leads the Center for AI, Privacy, and Security (CAPS Lab) and the Secure Realities Lab, focusing on privacy-preserving and explainable technologies. Her work has been published in top-tier venues including USENIX Security, NDSS, ACM CCS, CHI, and CSCW.

Within ISEAI, her research contributes to the design of trustworthy and human-centered AI systems, addressing privacy, usability, and explainability challenges critical to the secure deployment of AI in infrastructure environments.