Ertem Esiner
Research Lead at Illinois ARCS and Adjunct Assistant Professor at SUTD
M.Sc. (KU) · Ph.D. (NTU)
Lead ScientistPrincipal Investigator (6)Adjunct Assistant ProfessorApp DeveloperUPE/ACM AwardSINGA ScholarVehbi Koç ScholarGalatasaray AlumnusPatentsPublications
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About
I am the research lead at Illinois ARCS (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at CREATE), PI to multiple research projects, and serve as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at SUTD in Singapore, teaching AI for cybersecurity and Blockchain. My work focuses on cryptography, cybersecurity, AI for cybersecurity, cyber-physical systems, and resilient internet infrastructure, bridging academic research with deployable industry outcomes. I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, my M.Sc. and B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Koç University, and my baccalaureate from the most influential high school in Turkey, Galatasaray Lycee, Istanbul.
Professional Experience
Current Positions
Lead Research Scientist and Research Lead
Illinois Advanced Research Center at Singapore (IARCS / CREATE), Singapore
2018 – Present
- Chairing weekly all-hands meetings of our center with the University of Illinois faculty, and leading technical discussions with researchers and engineers to advance project goals and foster inter-team collaboration.
- Leading the end-to-end transition of research outputs into deployable, real-world solutions aligning with stakeholder requirements, targeting smooth adoption by external partners and real-world use.
- Chairing weekly technical meetings for the research team, providing direction on priorities and monitoring progress.
- Advising TSCP-DC faculty and executive management on emerging opportunities for new non-core research projects, and leading efforts to acquire support for those projects.
- Advising TSCP-DC faculty and executive management on potential research collaborations with other universities and industry with a presence in Singapore.
- Overseeing the research program, monitoring key performance indicators, and ensuring alignment to the expectations.
- Providing ongoing support and guidance to researchers, ensuring they have timely access to resources, expertise, and strategic direction for successful project outcomes.
- Coordinating the preparation of evaluative materials.
- Serving on the Illinois ARCS Policy and Process Review Committee, reviewing and recommending updates to policies on e.g., research integrity, ethics, intellectual property, and technology transfer.
- Trained 7 researchers, 5 engineers, and numerous undergraduate/M.Sc. students/interns.
Previously titled: Postdoctoral Researcher (2018), Research Scientist (2020), Research Scientist and Coordinator (2020), Senior Research Scientist and Coordinator (2023), at ADSC before it became Illinois ARCS in 2023.
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore
2026 – Present
Courses taught
AI for Cybersecurity · Blockchain
Past Positions
2014
Visiting Researcher
Technische Universität Darmstadt and Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
2010
Software Development Intern
IBM Türk, Istanbul, Turkey
- Built websites using Ajax, JSP technologies, and DB2.
2009
Business Analyst Intern (SMS&P Department)
Microsoft Türkiye, Istanbul, Turkey
- Worked as the assistant of a business analyst.
- Conducted data mining (C#, ADO.NET) and tool creation (C#).
Education
2017
Post-doc
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2013 – 2017
Ph.D. in Computer Science and EngineeringThesis
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Area of interest: Distributed Systems, Cryptography, Security, and Privacy
- Thesis: "Versioning, Integrity, and Access Control for Collaborative Applications over Hosted Data."
2011 – 2013
M.Sc. in Computer Science and EngineeringThesis
Koç University, College of Engineering, Istanbul
- GPA: 3.85/4.00
2007 – 2011
B.Sc. in Computer Engineering
Koç University, College of Engineering, Istanbul
- Major GPA: 3.8/4.0
- Vehbi Koç Scholar for three semesters
- First in Koç University history to earn three Track Certificates: Software Engineering; Distributed, Parallel and Concurrent Systems; and Network and Multimedia
2002 – 2007
French Baccalaureate | Science and Mathematics
Galatasaray Lycée, Istanbul
- Admits only the top 0.03% of 800,000 high school entrance exam participants
Research Grants
Trustworthy and Secure Cyber-Plexus for Digital Communities (TSCP-DC)
Research Lead (Illinois ARCS) · Ongoing
As Research Lead at Illinois ARCS, I lead TSCP-DC to advance trustworthy and secure cyber-plexus systems for digital communities and critical infrastructure contexts such as power and building systems. The project extends the earlier TSCP foundation and drives work across four thrusts (cyber-plexus protection, trust assurance, system analysis, and evaluation) to translate rigorous cybersecurity research into deployable methods, practical engineering outcomes, and resilient Smart Nation aligned operations.
Future Internet Resilience Exchange (FIREx)
Principal Investigator (Illinois ARCS) · 2025 – Present
FIREx builds an open marketplace for DDoS defense so organizations can procure filtering services competitively across independent providers, instead of relying on a few vertically integrated vendors. The project combines tokenized service entitlements, market-based matching, and interoperable filtering infrastructure to make large-scale protection more transparent, scalable, and cost-efficient.
Plug & Play Security Engine
Principal Investigator · April 2023 – March 2026
Designed and led development of a modular security engine for cyber-physical systems that enforces policy controls (for example integrity and confidentiality), auto-generates executable policies from system-risk analysis, and exposes deployment-ready API integration paths for operational environments.
Future Internet Resilience Economics (FIRE)
Co-Principal Investigator · April 2023 – September 2024
FIRE investigated market mechanisms for internet resilience, enabling service procurement beyond neighboring networks by combining path-aware architecture concepts with software-defined networking and accountable coordination mechanisms.
Automated Security Policy Generation for IIoT
Principal Investigator · Oct 2022 – Apr 2023
Built an automated policy-generation pipeline for industrial control systems that translates system context and risk profiles into enforceable security policies, reducing manual policy engineering effort and improving response speed.
Augmented Security Technology for IIoT
Principal Investigator · Oct 2021 – Oct 2022
Developed and validated a lightweight security API for industrial IoT and SCADA environments that enforces real-time policy controls across multi-hop deployments for critical infrastructure systems.
Secure and Accountable Data Exchange
Principal Investigator · Oct 2021 – Apr 2023
Established trust foundations for deregulated and distributed energy ecosystems by designing secure and accountable data-exchange mechanisms for multi-party, software-defined grid operations.
Publications
Auto-fetched from Google Scholar
Selected Publications
All Publications
Patents
2025Esiner E., Tefek U., Chen B., Mashima D., Hu Y-C., Precomputation-based Multicast Message Authentication. US Patent Application No. US 2025/0106026 A1. LINK US
2025Esiner E., Chen B., Mashima D., Nicol D.M., Kalbarczyk Z., Lin W., A security device and method of provenance verification. U.S. Patent No 12,177,336 B2. LINK US
2025Esiner E., Chen B., Mashima D., Nicol D.M., Kalbarczyk Z., Tefek U., Message Authentication. US Patent Application No. US20220376923. LINK US
2024Esiner E., Chen B., Mashima D., Nicol D.M., Kalbarczyk Z., Tefek U., Message Authentication. Singapore Patent No. 11202201199Y. LINK SG
2024Esiner E., Chen B., Mashima D., Nicol D.M., Kalbarczyk Z., Lin W., A security device and method of provenance verification. Singapore Patent No. 11202201142W. LINK SG
2021Esiner E., Tefek U., Chen B., Mashima D., Hu Y-C., Precomputation-based Multicast Message Authentication. 10202102026P, Provisional.
Teaching
Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
Adjunct Assistant Professor
| Term | Course |
|---|---|
| 2026 | AI for Cybersecurity |
| 2026 | Blockchain |
Nanyang Technological University
Teaching Assistantship
| Term | Course |
|---|---|
| 2016 Spring | Cryptography and Network Security |
| 2015 Fall | Operating Systems |
| 2015 Fall | Inventions and Innovations in Computing |
| 2015 Spring | Cryptography and Network Security |
Koç University
Teaching Assistantship
| Term | Course |
|---|---|
| 2013 Spring | Algorithm Design and Analysis |
| 2012 Fall | Discrete Mathematics |
| 2011 Spring | Computer Networks and Security |
| 2011 Fall | Advanced Programming (C / C++) |
| 2011 Summer | Mobile Programming (Objective-C) |
Koç University
Tutorial Assistantship (Student-Assistant)
| Term | Course |
|---|---|
| 2011 Spring | Advanced Programming (C / C++) |
| 2010 Fall | Data Structures and Problem Solving using Java |
| 2010 Spring | Advanced Programming (Java & C++) |
| 2009 Fall | Advanced Programming (C/C++) |
| 2009 Spring | Programming with Java for Engineering Std. |
| 2008 Fall | Programming with Java for CE |
Awards & Honors
2019Honored by being featured as a notable researcher from CREATE.
2013 – 2017SINGA Scholarship for Ph.D. (Singapore International Graduate Award).
2012Winner of WOWZAPP 2012 (Worldwide Hackathon for Windows), Istanbul, Turkey.
2012UPE/ACM Award winner of the year.
2011 – 2013Vehbi Koç Scholarship for M.Sc. at Koç University. Full tuition fee waiver & housing & food allowance & living stipend.
2011Best Engineering Senior Project of the year, with B. Çaputçu and E. Atbaş.
2009 – 2011Vehbi Koç Scholar (above honor roll), three times during undergraduate studies.
2007 – 2011First in Koç University history to earn 3 Track Certificates: "Software Engineering", "Distributed, Parallel and Concurrent Systems", "Network and Multimedia".
2002Ranked 152nd in Nationwide High School Entrance Exam (Science) among 800,000 competitors. Qualified to study in Turkey's rank 1 high school (Galatasaray).
High School and University Activities
2013Organization of 2 Programming Contests in Koç University (İstanbul and Turkey-wide respectively).
2012 – 2013Exchange mentorship: Responsible for exchange students while they were at Koç University.
2011 – 2012Chair of ACM Student Chapter at Koç University.
2010Mentorship (Koç University): Responsible for 12 first-year Computer Engineering students during orientation and their first semester at the university.
2010 SummerAttended the UPEM (National Programming Contest) in METU as the leader of Koç Univ. team.
2009 – 2010One of the founding members of the informatics club.
2009Academic Assistance Club (as instructor); organized reviews for exams.
2005 – 2006Literature Club (editor of the literature periodical “YALIM”) and Computer Club chief.
2002 – 2007Table Tennis Club member & Table tennis license upgraded to young male & Captain of the team & Chief of the Club & Volunteer trainer of the Table Tennis Team & Medals.
Apps & Side Projects
2026 – Present
ETasks
Built and maintain a free task planner for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, with Google Tasks sync, alarms, and shared lists.
2024 – Present
Find My Bus - SG
Built and maintain a free iOS companion app for Singapore bus and MRT commuters.
2022 – Present
Park Mandalin Hotel Food Menu
Built and maintain the food menu (with restaurant dashboard for editing) for Hotel Park Mandalin.
Drawings
A small selection of personal sketches, hand-drawn in Procreate on iPad.
Spider-Man
Potter
A scene for a friend's book
Joker
Duel of the cuties
Indiana Jones
Saitama
Spartan
James BondContact me
Feel free to reach out for research collaborations, speaking invitations, or other professional inquiries.
Structured profile for search and AI tools
MACHINE-READABLE PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Name: Ertem Esiner
Location: Singapore (Permanent Resident)
Email: e.esiner@iarcs-create.edu.sg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esiner
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tYs48KgAAAAJ&hl=en
PRIMARY ROLES AND TITLES
- Lead Research Scientist and Research Lead, Illinois Advanced Research Center at Singapore (IARCS / CREATE), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at CREATE, Singapore (2018–Present).
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore (2026–Present); teaches AI for Cybersecurity and Blockchain.
- Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-PI on multiple competitive research grants in Singapore (see grants section on resume).
RESEARCH DOMAINS AND KEYWORDS
Cryptography; cybersecurity; AI for cybersecurity; cyber-physical systems (CPS) security; industrial IoT (IIoT) and SCADA; distributed systems; data integrity and provenance; resilient internet infrastructure; DDoS defense and marketplace models for security services; automated security policy generation; translational and deployable research; research leadership; program management; stakeholder alignment; grant acquisition; mentoring researchers and engineers.
EDUCATION (SUMMARY)
- Post-doc, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2017–).
- Ph.D. Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2013–2017).
- M.Sc. Computer Science and Engineering, Koç University, Istanbul (2011–2013).
- B.Sc. Computer Engineering, Koç University (2007–2011).
- French Baccalaureate (Science), Galatasaray Lycée, Istanbul.
PUBLICATIONS AND IP
- Peer-reviewed publications: full list via Google Scholar (ID tYs48KgAAAAJ); venues include IEEE and ACM transactions and conferences on smart grid, cyber-physical systems, and security.
- Patents: multiple US and Singapore filings/grants in message authentication, provenance verification, and related security mechanisms (see Patents section on resume).
TEACHING
- SUTD: AI for Cybersecurity (2026); Blockchain (2026).
- Prior teaching assistantships: cryptography, operating systems, and related CS courses at NTU and Koç University.
RECRUITING AND SEARCH HOOKS
Suitable for roles including: research director; head of security research; principal scientist; staff researcher; applied cryptography lead; government or national lab R&D; university faculty (tenure-track or adjunct); technical advisor; PI on cybersecurity or infrastructure resilience programs.
END OF PROFILE