About

I am a Computer Science PhD candidate, graduating from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. I am advised by Prof. Lu Feng in the Link Lab. My research is at the intersection of Formal Methods and Reinforcement Learning; I am interested in the development of safer and more reliable machine learning by leveraging formal method techniques.

Outside of research, you can find me horseriding 🦄, building lego sets 🧱 or baking 🥧.

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Dissertation

ElSayed-Aly, I. (2024). Safe Sequential Decision Making in Uncertain Environments (Doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia). Link

Publications

ElSayed-Aly, I., Parker, D., & Feng, L. (2024). Distributional Probabilistic Model Checking. In Proceedings of the 16th Nasa Formal Methods Symposium. Link

ElSayed-Aly, I., Bharadwaj, S., Amato, C., Ehlers, R., Topcu, U., & Feng, L. (2021, May). Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning via Shielding. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (pp. 483-491). Link

Le, T., Elsayed-Aly, I., Jin, W., Ryu, S., Verrier, G., Al Rahat, T., … & Tian, Y. (2020). Evaluating the Dedicated Short-range Communication for Connected Vehicles against Network Security Attacks. In VEHITS (pp. 37-44). Link

Posters

ElSayed-Aly, I., & Feng, L. (2022). Logic-based Reward Shaping for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.08881. Technical Report

Best Presentation Award

Le, T., ElSayed-Aly, I., Jin, W., Ryu, S., Verrier, G., Al Rahat, T., … & Tian, Y. (2019). Poster: Attack the Dedicated Short-Range Communication for Connected Vehicles. In Poster presented at the 40th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. Link

ElSayed-Aly, I., & Tian, Y. (2019). Security Analysis of a New Generation of Home Robots

Poster presented at the CRA-W Grad Cohort Workshop 2019

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Education

PhD in Computer Science - Defended and graduating in May 2024!

Advised by Prof. Lu Feng. University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA, USA

• UVA Computer Science Fellowship
• Raven Society Inductee, Fall 2021. Website
• Dissertation Title: Safe Sequential Decision Making in Uncertain Environments.

Master of Science in Computer Science - 2021

3.97/4.0 - Highest Honors. University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA, USA

Relevant Courses:

• Reinforcement Learning
• Machine Learning
• Autonomous Mobile Robots
• Defense Against the Dark Arts (Computer Security)

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science - 2017

3.9/4.0 - Highest Honors. The American University in Cairo - Cairo, Egypt

• Top French Baccalaureate Scholarship
• Academic Achievement Scholarship
• Student Exchange Scholarship to Roanoke College, USA

Baccalauréat Général - 2013

17.71/20 - Highest Honors. Lycée Français du Caire - Cairo, Egypt

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Research & Teaching Experience

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Spring 2020-2021

CPS: Formal Methods, Safety, Security. University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA, USA

• Helped explain the course material in office hours, helped guide students’ critical thinking about relevant papers and gave guest lectures

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Fall 2019-2020

Artificial Intelligence. University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA, USA

• Set up an autograder, helped explain the course material in office hours and gave guest lectures

Summer@EPFL Research Intern - Summer 2016

Lab of Security and Cryptography. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) - Lausanne, Switzerland

• Developed an algorithm that leverages the use of the most significant bit in ASCII-encoded plain text messages to find pairs of messages encrypted by the One Time Pad that use the same key
• Presented my research progress weekly in the format of paper presentation to peers in my lab

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant - Spring, Summer & Fall 2015

The American University in Cairo - Cairo, Egypt

• Communicated core concepts to students through review sessions and labs
• Organized educational activities to foster programming and debugging skills
• Courses: Programming Fundamentals, Digital Design Lab, and Computer Organization & Assembly

Private Tutor - 2013-2016

Mentored a special needs student in Math, Biology and French - Cairo, Egypt

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Volunteer Experience

Computer Science Grad Student Group (CSGSG) - 2019 & 2020

University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA, USA

• Organized and orchestrated a virtual Research Symposium for the Computer Science Department
• Organized events to foster community between Computer Science students and faculty

Workshop Mentor - 2018-2021

Computers4Kids - Charlottesville, VA, USA

• Organized computer skills workshops for underprivileged middle school and high school kids
• Workshops included basic computer security challenges, 3D model building (Blender), temperature-changing lamps(using Arduinos), building remote control cars from scratch, fun coding projects, and recording and editing mini-movies

Volunteer - 2014 - Present

101 and the Red Sea Project - Cairo, Egypt 101 organizes local fundraising campaigns for multiple Egyptian charities. The Red Sea Project organizes events to educate locals and foreigners to the importance of preserving marine life in the Red Sea.

• Helped teach English and organize a play for a special needs orphanage and refugees
• Designed artwork for multiple fundraising campaigns to benefit special needs schools and refugees

Public Relations Head - Spring, Summer & Fall 2014

Student Union. The American University in Cairo - Cairo, Egypt

• Helped organize a literacy community service project to teach English and Arabic literacy to campus employees
• Designed logos and banners for the campaign