Dr. David Hua | Artificial Intelligence | Best Researcher Award

Dr. David Hua | Artificial Intelligence | Best Researcher Award

Ball State University, United States.

Dr. David M. Hua is an Associate Professor at the Center for Information and Communication Sciences, Ball State University. With a rich academic background and over two decades of teaching, Dr. Hua has become a pivotal figure in the intersection of technology education, cybersecurity, and higher education. He is recognized for mentoring student-led innovation and his contribution to emerging tech curricula including offensive security, private cloud infrastructure, and sustainability in IT.

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πŸŽ“ Education

Dr. Hua earned his Ed.D. in Higher Education in 2010 from Ball State University, where he also completed an MBA in Information Systems (2000) and a B.S. in Psychological Science (1991). This diverse academic foundation reflects his commitment to both technical expertise and educational leadership.

πŸ’Ό Experience

Since July 20, 1998, Dr. Hua has served at Ball State University, advancing to the role of Associate Professor. He began as an Assistant Professor in 2000. His teaching spans undergraduate and graduate levels with courses ranging from cybersecurity and network configuration to cloud technologies. Beyond Ball State, his engagements with other institutions and organizations have broadened his interdisciplinary impact on both students and faculty.

πŸ”¬ Research Interests

Dr. Hua’s research interests lie at the crossroads of cybersecurity, AI in mental health surveillance, sustainable IT practices, and technology integration in higher education. He is especially passionate about leveraging machine learning to support mental health outcomes and empower student innovation through data-driven methodologies.

πŸ† Awards & Mentorship

Dr. Hua has been an active mentor in various student projects, honors theses, and national competitions like the National Cyber League. He’s also served on several doctoral committees, contributing to dissertations in educational leadership and adult learning. His efforts have earned him recognition as a dedicated mentor, innovator, and academic leader.

πŸ“š Publication

AI-Driven Mental Health Surveillance: Identifying Suicidal Ideation Through Machine Learning Techniques
πŸ“… 2025 | Big Data and Cognitive Computing
🧾 Cited by: 3 articles (as of early 2025)
πŸ‘‰ DOI: 10.3390/bdcc9010016

Mrs. Golshid Ranjbaran | Artificial Intelligence | Best Researcher Award

Mrs. Golshid Ranjbaran | Artificial Intelligence | Best Researcher Award

University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Golshid Ranjbaran is a PhD Candidate in Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan (USASK), specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Interpretability. With a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering and a Master's in Artificial Intelligence from the Science and Research Branch in Iran, he has accumulated several awards, including the Best Paper Award at the IKT Conference in 2021 and Best Researcher at ITRC in 2022. Golshid's research is aimed at advancing AI methodologies and improving machine learning models for real-world applications. He was also a research associate at the Data Science & Big Data Lab in Seville, Spain, in 2023. 🌐

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Education πŸŽ“

Golshid holds a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering and a Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence from the Science and Research Branch in Iran. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan (USASK), Canada, where he focuses on AI, machine learning, and interpretability, aiming to bridge the gap between theoretical advancements and practical applications.

Experience 🏒

Golshid has been awarded several prestigious positions and accolades, including a research position at the Data Science & Big Data Lab in Seville, Spain (2023), and was recognized as the Best Researcher at ITRC (2022). He has also contributed to various consultancy projects and industry collaborations, such as working on AI systems at ITRC, smart meters algorithms, and data governance in Iran.

Research Interests πŸ”

Enhancing model interpretability through methods like SHAP.

Exploring sentiment analysis for stock market prediction.

Developing augmented techniques for unbalanced tasks in the financial domain.

Improving network security through Moving Target Defense technology.

Investigating Federated Learning for wearable health devices and ontology-based text summarization for efficient information processing.

Awards πŸ†

Best Paper Award at the IKT Conference (2021)

Best Researcher Award at the Iran Telecommunication Research Center (ITRC) (2022)

Research Position at the Data Science & Big Data Lab in Seville, Spain (2023)

Nomination for the Gala GSA Award at the University of Saskatchewan (2025).

Selected Publications πŸ“š

C-SHAP: A Hybrid Method for Fast and Efficient Interpretability – Applied Sciences (Q2 Journal), Published 2025.

Leveraging Augmentation Techniques for Tasks with Unbalancedness within the Financial Domain – EPJ Data Science (Q1 Journal), Published 2023.

Investigating Sentiment Analysis of News in Stock Market Prediction – International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Research, Published 2024.

Unsupervised Learning Ontology-Based Text Summarization Approach with Cellular Learning Automata – Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, Published 2023.

Analyzing the Effect of News Polarity on Stock Market Prediction – Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Information and Knowledge Technology (IKT), Published 2021.