CV
Saleh Khalaj Monfared
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)
Atwater Kent Laboratories — Vernam Lab
100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609
Email: skmonfared@wpi.edu
Research Interests
Hardware-Assisted Verifiable AI: confidential computing, TEEs, time-lock puzzles, cryptographic proofs of inference/training, secure model deployment, scalable workload attestation.
Microelectronics Supply Chain Security & Assurance: IP protection, counterfeit detection/avoidance, hardware Trojan detection, reverse engineering, hardware-enforced governable AI chips.
Physical Attacks & Defense: digital sensors for detection/response against optical/laser-assisted probing and reverse engineering; back-scatter SCA for IP verification and integrity checks.
High-Performance Computing: architecture-aware acceleration, GPU-based acceleration, parallelism for complex algorithms.
Hypervisor-Level Security: transparent debugging for kernel/root analysis and reverse engineering; hypervisor-assisted anti-anti-debugging.
Education
- Ph.D., Electrical & Computer Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA, USA — 2022–present
- M.S., Telecommunications Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran — 2021
- B.S., Electrical Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran — 2018
Professional Experience
- Research Assistant, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA, USA — 2022–present
- Teaching Assistant, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA, USA — 2022–2024
- Research Scientist, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran — 2018–2022
- Teaching Assistant, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran — 2020–2021
- Research Assistant, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran — 2019–2020
- Teaching Assistant, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran — 2017–2018
Honors & Awards
- Student Scholarship Winner, Hardwear.io Program — USA, 2025
- Google Cloud Research Grant — USA, 2025
- FAR.AI Technical Innovations for AI Policy Travel Award — USA, 2025
- ACM Membership Award — 2023
- WPI Graduate Student Travel Award — 2022
- ACM CCS Student Travel Award — 2022
Scholarship
Book Chapter
- R. M. Ansari, M. A. Anvari, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, S. Gorgin, “Linear Discriminant Analysis,” in Dimensionality Reduction in Machine Learning, Elsevier, 2025.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications
- T. Mosavirik, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, M. Saadat Safa, S. Tajik, S. Shokrollahi, “Silicon Echoes: Non-Invasive Trojan and Tamper Detection using Frequency-Selective Impedance Analysis,” IACR TCHES (CHES 2023), 2023.
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, S. Shokrollahi, “DARVAN: A Fully Decentralized Anonymous and Reliable Routing for VANETs,” Journal of Computer Networks, 2022.
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, O. Hajihassani, V. Mohsseni, M. S. Kiarostami, D. Rahmati, S. Gorgin, “A High-Throughput Parallel Viterbi Algorithm via Bitslicing,” ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing (TOPC), 2021.
- O. Hajihassani, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, S. H. Khasteh, S. Gorgin, “Fast AES Implementation: A High-Throughput Bitsliced Approach,” IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS), 2019.
Peer-Reviewed Conference & Workshop Publications
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, M. Saadatsafa, S. Tajik, “ChipletPing: On-die Digital Impedance Sensing for Chiplet and Interposer Verification,” GOMACTech 2025.
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, K. Mitard, D. Forte, S. Tajik, “Hardware Moving Target Defenses against Post-Silicon Side-Channel Leakages,” GOMACTech 2025.
- M. S. Karvandi, S. Meghdadizanjani, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, E. van der Kouwe, A. Slowinska, “hwdbg: Debugging Hardware Like Software,” EuroSec 2025.
- F. Khojasteh Dana, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, S. Tajik, “Logical Maneuvers: Detecting and Mitigating Adversarial Hardware Faults in Space,” SpaceSec 2025.
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, K. Mitard, A. Cannon, D. Forte, S. Tajik, “LaserEscape: Detecting and Mitigating Optical Probing Attacks,” ICCAD 2024.
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, D. Forte, S. Tajik, “RandOhm: Mitigating Impedance Side-channel Attacks using Randomized Circuit Configurations,” ICCAD 2024.
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, T. Mosavirik, S. Tajik, “LeakyOhm: Secret Bits Extraction using Impedance Analysis,” ACM CCS 2023.
- M. S. Karvandi, M. H. Gholamrezaei, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, et al., “HyperDbg: Reinventing Hardware-Assisted Debugging,” ACM CCS 2022.
- M. R. Daneshvaramoli, M. S. Kiarostami, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, et al., “A Study on Non-Overlapping Multi-Agent Pathfinding,” FICC 2022.
- M. S. Karvandi, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, D. Rahmati, S. Gorgin, “A TSX-Based KASLR Break: Bypassing UMIP and Descriptor-Table Exiting,” CRiSIS 2021.
- M. S. Kiarostami, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, M. R. Daneshvaramoli, et al., “Unlucky Explorer: A Complete Non-Overlapping Map Exploration,” WSoSE 2021.
- M. S. Kiarostami, M. R. Daneshvar, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, et al., “On Using Monte-Carlo Tree Search to Solve Puzzles,” ICCTA 2021.
- Saleh Khalaj Monfared, O. Hajihassani, S. Meghdadi, M. Kiarostami, D. Rahmati, S. Gorgin, “BSRNG: A High-Throughput Parallel BitSliced Approach for Random Number Generators,” ICPP Workshops 2020.
- M. R. Daneshvaramoli, M. S. Kiarostami, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, et al., “Decentralized Communication-less Multi-Agent Task Assignment with Cooperative MCTS,” ICCAR 2020.
- M. S. Kiarostami, M. R. Daneshvar, Saleh Khalaj Monfared, D. Rahmati, “Multi-Agent Non-Overlapping Pathfinding with Monte-Carlo Tree Search,” IEEE CoG 2019.
Full list with links: see the Publications page.
Presentations & Lectures
- ChipletQuake: On-die Digital Impedance Sensing for Chiplet and Interposer Verification — Poster, NEHWS 2025, MA, USA.
- LaserEscape: Detecting and Mitigating Optical Probing Attacks — Oral, ICCAD 2024, NJ, USA.
- RandOhm: Mitigating Impedance Side-channel Attacks using Randomized Circuit Configurations — Oral, ICCAD 2024, NJ, USA.
- LeakyOhm: Secret Bits Extraction using Impedance Analysis — Oral, NEHWS 2024, MA, USA.
- HyperDbg: Reinventing Hardware-Assisted Debugging — Talk, ACM CCS 2022, CA, USA.
- Evolution of Practical Side-Channel Attacks: From Hardware to Software — Lecture, OffSec 2021.
- Two-day workshop on GPU Programming Models and Applications — Lecture, IPM, 2019.
- Two-day workshop on Many-Core Programming & Cryptocurrencies — Lecture, IPM, 2018.
- Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Telegram TON — Lecture, K. N. Toosi Univ., 2018.
Teaching & Mentorship
Teaching Assistantships (WPI)
- ECE 2029: Introduction to Digital Circuit Design — Lab Instructor (~90 students), Spring 2023
- ECE 2029: Introduction to Digital Circuit Design — Lab Instructor (~50 students), Winter 2023
- ECE 2049: Embedded Computing in Engineering Design — Lab Instructor (~70 students), Fall 2022
- ECE 2029: Introduction to Digital Circuit Design — Lab Instructor (~20 students), Spring 2022
Professional Service
Journal Reviewer
IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems (TCHES 2024); Journal of Cryptographic Engineering (JCEN 2024); The Computer Journal (Oxford, 2024); ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems (JETCS 2024).
Conference Reviewer
Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium (2024); Asian Hardware Oriented Security and Trust Symposium (AsianHOST 2024).
Languages
- English: full professional proficiency
- Persian: native
Media Coverage
- ChipletQuake: On-die Digital Impedance Sensing for Chiplet and Interposer Verification — Chiplet-Marketplace: https://chiplet-marketplace.com/whitepaper/chipletquake-on-die-digital-impedance-sensing-for-chiplet-and-interposer-verification
- On-Chiplet Framework for Verifying Physical Security and Integrity of Adjacent Chiplets — Semiconductor Engineering: https://semiengineering.com/on-chiplet-framework-for-verifying-physical-security-and-integrity-of-adjacent-chiplets/
- Chip Industry Week in Review — Semiconductor Engineering: https://semiengineering.com/chip-industry-week-in-review-84/
References
Available Upon Request.