Ali Shafahi

Ph.D. Candidate.
University of Maryland
Computer Science Department
3108, Iribe Center, College Park, MD 20742.
ashafahi[at]cs[dot]umd[dot]edu
https://www.github.com/ashafahi

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science @ University of Maryland working with Prof. Tom Goldstein. I hold a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering/Operations Research from University of Maryland under the supervision of Prof. Ali Haghani. Prior to that, I received my bachelor's degree from Sharif University of Technology. My research focuses on using optimization to solve important problems in machine learning and operations research. Recently, I have been studying adversarial machine learning with the goal of making AI systems more secure, robust, and interpretable. My work has applications in Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, and Secuirty. Due to my background in Operations Research, I am also interested in developing algorithms and models that can be used to improve the operation of large systems. My research has an emphasis on solving real world problems with impacts in business, and has received both academic and media recognition. You can find my CV here.

News

Jan-2020 Our work on efficient PGD attacks (WitchCraft) is accepted at ICASSP 2020.
Jan-2020 I am on the job market this year!
Dec-2019 Two papers accepted to ICLR 2020.
Nov-2019 One paper accepted to AAAI 2020.
Sep-2019 One paper accepted to NeurIPS 2019.
Jul-2019 One paper accepted to BMVC 2019.
Apr-2019 One paper accepted to ICML 2019.
Dec-2018 One paper accepted to ICLR 2019.
Sep-2018 One paper accepted to NeurIPS 2018.

Research Interests

- Machine Learning (Deep Learning, Adversarial Learning, Security and Robustness, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing)
- Operations Research (Large-scale optimization, Transportation, Project Management)
- Statistical Pattern Recognition

Selected Machine Learning Publications

Breaking Certified Defenses: Semantic Adversarial Examples With Spoofed Robustness Certificates
A. Ghiasi, A. Shafahi, T. Goldstein
ICLR 2020
PDF

Adversarially Robust Transfer Learning
A. Shafahi*, P. Saadatpanah*, C. Zhu*, A. Ghiasi, C. Studer, D. Jacobs, T. Goldstein
ICLR 2020
PDF

Universal Adversarial Training
A. Shafahi*, M. Najibi*, Z. Xu*, JP. Dickerson, LS. Davis, T. Goldstein
AAAI 2020
PDF

Adversarial Training for Free!
A. Shafahi, M. Najibi, A. Ghiasi, Z. Zhu, JP. Dickerson, C. Studer, LS. Davis, G. Taylor, T. Goldstein
NeurIPS 2019
PDF / PyTorch Code / Tensorflow Code / Video Clip / Project Page

Batch-wise Logit-Similarity: Generalizing Logit-Squeezing and Label-Smoothing
A. Shafahi, A. Ghiasi, M. Najibi, F. Huang, JP. Dickerson, T. Goldstein
BMVC 2019
PDF

Transferable Clean-Label Poisoning Attacks on Deep Neural Nets
C. Zhu*, R. Huang*, A. Shafahi, H. Li, G. Taylor, C. Studer, T. Goldstein
ICML 2019
PDF

Are Adversarial Examples Inevitbale?
A. Shafahi, R. Huang, C. Studer, S. Feizi, T. Goldstein
ICLR 2019
PDF / Poster

Poison Frogs! Targeted Clean-Label Poisoning Attacks on Neural Networks
A. Shafahi*, R. Huang*, M. Najibi, O. Suciu, C. Studer, T. Dumitras, T. Goldstein
NeurIPS 2018
PDF / GitHub / Poster / Project Page

Operations Research Journal Publications (visit google scholar for full list.)

SpeedRoute: Fast, Efficient Solutions for School Bus Routing Problems
A. Shafahi*, Z. Wang*, A. Haghani
Transportation Research Part B: methodological 2018
PDF

Project Selection and Scheduling for Phase-able Projects with Interdependencies among Phases
A. Shafahi, A. Haghani
Automation in Construction 2018
PDF

Balanced Scheduling of School Bus Trips using a Perfect Matching Heuristic
A. Shafahi, S. Aliari, A. Haghani
Transportation Research Record 2018
PDF

Solving the School Bus Routing Problem by Maximizing Trip Compatibility
A. Shafahi, Z. Wang, A. Haghani
Transportation Research Record 2017 / Best Paper Award of Network Modeling Commitee (TRB's ADB-30)
PDF

Awards and Honors

- Stella Dafermos Best Paper Award, best paper award of TRBs Network Modeling committee -- 2017
- Merit Fellowship, University of Maryland -- 2017, 2018
- Outstanding Graduate Assistant, University of Maryland -- 2016
- Stanley R. Zupnik Fellowship, University of Maryland -- 2015
- Exceptional Talent Award, Sharif University of Technology -- 2009