Zhonghao Liao

Assistant Professor | Milwaukee School of Engineering

Milwaukee, WI, UNITED STATES

Zhonghao Liao has expertise in the areas of cybersecurity and distributed systems.

Education, Licensure and Certification (3)

Ph.D.: Computer Engineering, Iowa State University 2024

M.S.: Computer Engineering, Iowa State University 2022

B.E.: Automation, Jilin University, China 2014

Biography

Zhonghao Liao has expertise in the areas of cybersecurity and distributed systems. He has served as a guest lecturer and/or teaching assistant for a blend of five graduate and undergraduate courses, covering a variety of subjects, including distributed systems, operating systems, information system security, and more. Leveraging his research background, Liao is particularly enthusiastic about designing and teaching an advanced course titled Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technologies. This course aims to bridge theoretical knowledge with practical application, covering critical areas such as cryptographic primitives, consensus protocols, and decentralized application development. Furthermore, it will delve into cutting-edge topics like privacy enhancements on blockchains, blockchain vulnerabilities, Zero-knowledge Proofs, and Decentralized Finance.

Beyond Liao's commitment to teaching, he is deeply invested in mentoring students and advancing research in areas pivotal to our digital future, specifically Hardware-assisted Security and Verifiable Distributed Computing. Liao's approach to research mentoring involves guiding students through the complexities of real-world problems, fostering critical thinking, and encouraging innovation and collaboration. These projects will leverage hardware security primitives to enhance service reliability within zero-trust architectures and develop systems for auditable and verifiable computing in distributed settings.

Areas of Expertise (4)

Verifiable Computing

Blockchain

Hardware-assisted Security

Applied Cryptography and Zero-knowledge Proofs

Accomplishments (3)

Professional Advancement Grants (professional)

2021 Iowa State University

Graduate Student Professional Development Support (professional)

2021 Iowa State University

International Student Scholarship (professional)

2016 Iowa State University

Affiliations (2)

IEEE Communications Magazine : Journal Reviewer
IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology : Journal Reviewer

Selected Publications (4)

AgBIS: A Blockchain-enabled Crop Insurance Platform Against Adverse Selection, Moral Hazard, and Insurance Frauds

2023 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (Blockchain)

2023 Crop insurance is widely adopted to help farmers stabilize incomes and mitigate uncertainties. However, current crop insurance systems face significant challenges, including adverse selection, moral hazard, and insurance frauds, further exacerbating the difficulties associated with cost, program sustainability, and market failures.

RUDBA: Reusable User-Device Biometric Authentication Scheme for Multi-service Systems

2021 IEEE International Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security and Trust (HOST)

2021 The authentication and verification of user and device identities require cost-effective solutions. Two emerging approaches, biometric authentication and devices’ fingerprint, allow users and devices to prove their identity efficiently and securely. Furthermore, users are inclined to register multiple services with the same secret information.

The Cell Dependency Analysis on Learning SRAM Power-Up States

2018 Asian Hardware Oriented Security and Trust Symposium (AsianHOST)

2018 The authentication and verification of a device requires strong and cost-effective digital fingerprint based solutions. The power-up state of Static Random Access Memory (SRAMs) has been widely used for a variety of authentication and identification purposes, such as SRAM-based Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Random Number Generators (RNGs), which form the basis for many cryptographic algorithms and protocols.

The impact of discharge inversion effect on learning SRAM power-up statistics

2017 Asian Hardware Oriented Security and Trust Symposium (AsianHOST)

2017 The authentication and verification of devices require lightweight and cost-effective solutions such as the use of fingerprints of the components contained in the device. The power-up state of Static Random Access Memory (SRAMs) has a significant effect on some security and authentication applications, such as SRAM Physical Unclonable Function (PUFs) and Random Number Generation (RNG).