Dapeng Wu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
2009 Awardee

Wu uses biology to study computer worms in mobile networks. Since the birth of computer worms, our understanding of them has drawn an analogy to biological epidemics. A critical aspect of network security research is a description of the contact network through which the epidemic spreads. Wu studies the behavior of contact-based epidemics and proposes a randomized complexity-theoretic view of such epidemics. By leveraging the knowledge in biological epidemics, he will develop a formal model to explain the outbreak behavior of worms in mobile networks. The result from this research is expected to push the frontier of the area of bio-inspired network security.
Wu uses network security and complexity theory to study biological cyanide poisoning. He draws an analogy between biological cyanide poisoning and security attacks in self-organizing mobile ad hoc networks. This new analytic approach leads to a new view of biological threats from the perspective of network security and complexity theory. Since the existing biology has limited success in explaining whole-organism-level structures, functions, and behaviors due to the sheer complexity of a whole organism (e.g., trillions of cells in a human body), his research is expected to provide a critical tool in understanding structures, functions, and behaviors at the whole organism level.