Yasra Chandio
PhD Student @ UMass Amherst
Email:
ychandio@umass.edu
I am Yasra, a Ph.D. student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst working with Prof. Fatima M. Anwar in the area of networked embedded systems. I also actively collaborate with Prof. Victoria Interrante (University of Minnesota), Prof. Luis Garcia (University of Utah), and Joseph DeGol (Microsoft).
I seek to understand the fundamental problems in Mixed Reality (MR) platforms and devices that can potentially cause physical or cognitive discomfort for a user. My interests are twofold: (1) I am keen on exploring stealthy attack surfaces that malicious entities can exploit for physical harm, alongside addressing internal SLAM/visual tracking vulnerabilities through a domain-specific approach; (2) I aim to enhance cognitive safety by more accurately quantifying 'presence' in MR, suggesting that user interaction metrics, such as reaction times, can serve as a reliable indicator of presence and its impact on cognitive safety.
Before starting my Ph.D., I received an MS in Computer Science from Binghamton University (State University of New York). During my time at Binghamton University, I worked with Prof. Guanhua Yan in the area of LTE and 5G security and collaborated with Prof. Aditya Mishra , in the smart grids domain. Before relocating to the USA, I was at LUMS working on designing IoT systems for energy-efficient built environments with Prof. Hamad Alizai.
I am also a proud Computing Research Association Education (CRA-E) graduate fellow. I will serve on the committee for the next two years (2022-2024) to promote Computing Research in North America. I contribute as a co-editor to CRA Undergraduate Research Highlights.
Apart from my family and work, I love cooking, beaches, and crime shows. I taught myself bread baking in the pre-COVID era (way before it was "cool"). In my free time, I love to read books. Currently, I am reading Think Again by Adam Grant .
Recent News
- 12/2023: Our work on understanding the impact of conditioning on Presence and reaction time in MR is accepted at IEEE VR'24.
- 11/2023: Our work on quantifying Presence in MR is featured in UMASS website, ScienceDaily, BBC , and getting social media traction.
- 11/2023: Our work on exploring stealthy attach surfaces in Mixed Reality is accepted at IEEE AIxVR'24.
- 09/2023: Our work on quantifying Presence in Mixed Reality is accepted in IEEE TVCG.
- 06/2023: Selected to participate in the 10th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (an opportunity provided exclusively to outstanding young researchers in mathematics and computer science).
- 05/2023: Excited to join UMASS ECE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee.
- 04/2023: Our paper on jointly managing electrical and thermal energy is accepted at ACM e-Energy’23.
- 03/2023: Ph.D. milestone: I passed my Ph.D. Qualifying Exam at UMASS, ECE.
- 11/2022: Received Best PhD Forum Presentation Award at ACM SenSys'22.
- 07/2022: Excited to be part of UMASS Turing Summer Program as an instructor.
- 06/2022: Happy to be serving as a member of the Shadow Program Committee in SenSys , 2022.
- 04/2022: Featured in UMASS, College of Engineering website. Check it out here
- 03/2022: Happy to announce that I am Computing Research Association (CRA)-E(ducation) Graduate Fellow for next two years.
- 03/2022: Excited to announce that I am a finalist at Three Minute Thesis(3MT) at UMASS, Amherst. Watch my finalist talk here
- 02/2022: Attending Grad Cohort for Women by CRA as a scholar in April 2022.
- 02/2021: Excited to be part of Google CSRMP in 2021.
- 07/2019: Selected as Grace Hopper Scholar.
Adapted from a template by Matei Zaharia. Photo by Noman Bashir.