Team

LAB Director

Email: vshah22@gmu.edu

Vijay K. Shah, PhD

Vijay K. Shah currently serves as the director of NextG Lab@GMU. He is an Assistant Professor in the Cybersecurity Engineering (CYSE) Department in the School of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University, Virginia, USA. Prior to joining Mason, he was a Research Assistant Professor in the Bradley Department of ECE at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA and was affiliated with Wireless@Virginia Tech Research Lab. 

Dr. Shah is also a faculty member of Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), a Virginia state-wide initiative to foster 5G wireless, autonomous systems, data and cybersecurity research. For more information, do check out his personal website: https://mason.gmu.edu/~vshah22/ 

Current PostDoc

Email: dron@gmu.edu

Dara Ron (Spring 2024 -)

Dara Ron obtained his B.S. degree from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) in 2017, and Ph.D. degrees from Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea in 2023. Following his Ph.D. graduation, he served as a short-term researcher in the Autonomous Intelligent Networks and Systems (AINS) Lab at Chung-Ang University. Currently, Dr. Ron holds the position of a postdoctoral research fellow in the NextG Wireless Lab at George Mason University, Fairfax, United States. His research interests include 5G/nextG wireless networks, NR positioning, stochastic modeling, machine learning, and O-RAN testing.

Email: sseth6@gmu.edu

Sayanta Seth (Spring 2024 -)

Sayanta Seth earned his B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering (with a minor in Computer Science) in 2016 from India; and MS and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida in 2018 and 2023, respectively. He specializes in mmWave beamsteering optimization, coalition set formation among directional software defined radio nodes and dynamic spectrum sharing, management and access problems. He served as a graduate research assistant in the Networks and Wireless Systems Lab at the University of Central Florida. Throughout his career, he has served as chairs in distinguished IEEE conferences like DySPAN and MILCOM. He has reviewed several research papers submitted at top IEEE conferences and trasnsactions. He has won several IEEE travel grants and several fellowships for outstanding research from the University of Central Florida. Currently, Dr. Seth holds the position of postdoctoral research fellow at the NextG Wireless Lab at George Mason University and is actively working on 5G/NextG wireless networks with a focus on cybersecurity and cellular-satellite co-existence in the FR3 band and mmWave beam forming. 

Current PhD Students

Email: vanapana@gmu.edu

Vikramreddy Anapana (Spring 2022 -)

Vikramreddy Anapana is currently a PhD student in the NextG Wireless Lab at George Mason University. He obtained his M. Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur in 2014. His research interests include 6G wireless communications, mmWave communications and beamforming, signal processing, digital system design, antennas and applied electromagnetics, and machine learning.

Email: tniloy@gmu.edu

Ta-seen Niloy (Spring 2022 -)

Ta-seen Reaz Niloy is PhD student in the NextG Wireless Lab at George Mason University. She obtained her B.Sc in electrical and electronic engineering from American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), in 2020. She was awarded Magna Cum Laude Award and Dr. Anwarul Abedin Leadership Award, Deans Award on Capstone Project all at 19th convocation of AIUB. She is the winner of 6th Inspiring Women Award 2021 in the category of "Leaders of Tomorrow" organized by Bangladesh Brand Forum. Her research interests focus on the design, analysis and implementation of 5G/Next-G wireless systems in the 12-GHz satellite band.

Email: sdhungel@gmu.edu

Sarik Dhungel (Fall 2022 -)

Sarik Dhungel is a PhD student in the NextG Wireless Lab at George Mason University. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Institute of Engineering (IOE), Western Region Campus, Nepal. His research interests include 5G-based indoor positioning, network slicing, and AI driven cellular radio access networks.

Email: achiejin@gmu.edu

Azuka Chiejina (Summer 2023 -)

Azuka is currently a Ph.D. student in the NextG Wireless Lab@GMU. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering with first-class honors from the University of Benin in Nigeria. Azuka's research interests revolve around simulation and prototyping next-generation cellular networks, Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) systems, and exploring adversarial machine learning for wireless networks.

Email: pgajjar@gmu.edu

PrANShAV Gajjar (Fall 2023 -)

Pranshav is a PhD student in the NextG Wireless Lab at George Mason University. He is an Amgen Scholar (Kyoto University), and an MSRF Fellow, and has recently completed his B. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Nirma University. His current research interests include privacy preserving machine learning and transformer architectures for wireless communication networks.

Email: skwakye@gmu.edu

Sebastian Kwakye (Fall 2023 -)

Sebastian is currently a PhD student in the NextG Lab@GMU. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunication Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; 2022. His research interests are in the areas of Space/Non-Terrestrial Communication Networks.

Email: aganiyu@gmu.edu

Abiodun Ganiyu (Spring 2024 -)

Abiodun is currently a PhD student in the NextG Wireless Lab at George Mason University. He obtained his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering with a First-Class Honors from the University of Benin, Nigeria. He was awarded Deans Award, H.O.D. Award and Nigerian Society of Engineers’ Award for the best graduating student in the faculty of engineering. His research interests focus on the next-generation of cellular networks, Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) security, privacy & testing and wireless network security.

Undergraduate Students

Nathan Stephenson (Summer 2022 -)

Nathan Stephenson is an undergraduate student at George Mason University pursuing a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a minor in Music Technology. His research interests include software and hardware development for 5G/Next-G wireless systems involving simulations, DevOps, cybersecurity, geopositioning, and machine learning.

Luis Nino Walder (Spring 2023 -)

Luis Nino Walder is an undergraduate student at George Mason University pursuing a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a concentration in Robotics. His research interests include UAV/drones, hardware integration, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

Nicolas Ammann (Fall 2023 -)

Nicolas Ammann is an undergraduate student at George Mason University pursuing a B.S. in Cybersecurity Engineering. His research interests include 5G and Next-G wireless systems, AI and ML security, and embedded systems.

Faisal Yusufzai (Spring 2024 -)

Faisal Yusufzai is an undergraduate student at George Mason University pursuing a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science. His research interests include Satellite/Non-Terrestrial Communication Networks and artificial intelligence.

Haris Khalid (Spring 2024 -)

Haris Khalid is an undergraduate student at George Mason University pursuing a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a concentration in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. His research interests include robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and embedded systems applications.

Pranav Choori (Spring 2024 -)

Pranav Choori is an undergraduate student at GMU, pursuing a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering. His research interests include 5G and Next-G wireless communication systems, signal processing, embedded systems, and nano-scale electronics.

High School Students

Alumni