Mughees Ur Rehman

I am a MS student in Computer Science at Virginia Tech, where I work in the Data Security and Privacy Lab (DSPL) advised by Prof. Murat Kantarcioglu and am affiliated with Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence & Data Analytics. In Summer 2024, I worked at EPFL in the Network Architecture Lab (NAL) under the supervision of Prof. Katerina Argyraki.

Previously, I completed my BS in Computer Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), where I was member of the Networks and Systems Group, working under the supervision of Prof. Zafar Ayyub Qazi.

My research interest spans AI security, networked systems, and Internet measurements. Currently, I focus on the intersection of networking and security, with the goal of enhancing the accuracy and robustness of network intrusion detection systems.

Education

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
MS in Computer Science (2024 - Present)
CGPA: 4.00/4.00

Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore, Pakistan
BS in Computer Science (2020 - 2024)
CGPA: 3.97/4.00

Publications

• Edge Caching as Differentiation.
  Muhammad Abdullah, Mughees Ur Rehman, Pavlos Nikolopoulos, Katerina Argyraki
  ACM SIGCOMM 2025 (acceptance rate: 16%) — Best Student Paper Award

• Source Code Hotspots: A Diagnostic Method for Quality Issues.
  Saleha Muzammil, Mughees Ur Rehman, Zoe Kotti, Diomidis Spinellis
  ACM MSR 2026 (acceptance rate: 21%)

Academic Service

• USENIX Security 2026 (Artifacts Evaluation Committee Member)
• ACM SIGCOMM 2025 (Artifacts Evaluation Committee Member)
• ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 2025 (Paper Reviewer)

Teaching

• CS 2114: Software Design & Data Structures (Spring 2026, Virginia Tech)
• CS 5740: AI Tools for Software Engineering (Fall 2024 & 2025, Virginia Tech)
• CS 3114: Data Structures and Algorithms (Spring 2025, Virginia Tech)
• CS 473 Network Security (Spring 2024, LUMS)
• CS 582 Distributed Systems & CS 535 Machine Learning (Fall 2024, LUMS)
• CS 100 Computational Problem Solving & CS 210 Discrete Mathematics (Fall 2023, LUMS)

Experience

Analytics 4 Everyone (June 2025 - August 2025), USA
Software Engineering Intern
Software Engineer Team

EPFL (May 2024 - August 2024), Switzerland
Research Intern
Network Architecture Lab (NAL)

Educative, Pakistan (June 2023 - August 2023)
Technical Content Engineer
Answers Team

Awards & Honors

• SIGCOMM 2025 Best Student Paper Award (September 2025)
• Awarded $1,500 CCI Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Grant (2024–2025) to support conference travel and academic development, recognized as a Cyber Innovation Scholar.
• Tapia Conference 2025 Scholar held at Dallas, Texas
• One of the 80 students selected globally for EPFL’s Summer Internship (acceptance rate: 1.3%) (Summer 2024)
• Awarded the LUMS Merit Scholarship, granted to the top 15 students in the batch with the highest academic standing.
• Dean’s Honors List Award, LUMS (2020 - 2024)