Biography
Dr. Sugunaraj earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2026 from the University of North Dakota. His research advances data-driven machine-learning solutions to secure the bulk power grid, building on prior work in automotive and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) security. His publications can be seen in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE NAPS (conference), IEEE Sensors, IEEE Access, and MDPI.
He has taught and mentored undergraduate and graduate students from courses in the M.S. in Cyber Security and B.S. in Cyber Security programs at the University of North Dakota. He serves as a journal and conference manuscript reviewer for the following publishers: IEEE, MDPI, ElSevier, Oxford Academic, and Frontiers.
-
CSCI 587 – Ethical Hacking (Graduate).
-
CSCI 487 – Penetration Testing (Graduate).
-
EE 740/675 – Intrusion Detection Algorithms (Graduate).
-
EE 611 – Emerging Threats and Defenses (Graduate).
-
CSCI 290 – Cyber Security and Information Assurance (Undergraduate).
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Electrical Engineering - May 2026, University of North Dakota (UND), Grand Forks, ND.
- Master of Science (M.S.) in Electrical Engineering - Dec 2021, University of North Dakota (UND), Grand Forks, ND.
- Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) in Computer Science (Honors) - April 2018, University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai, AE.
- Cybersecurity
- Artificial Intelligence
- Human Factors
Outside my research interests, I read for leisure (e.g., literature such as narrative non-fiction), game on PC when I can, and strength train 3 - 4 times a week. I'm also a culinary enthusiast, and encourage conversations around social/gender psychology, culture, and travel.
For those of you who'd like to converse with me in other languages (for fun - I'm not fluent yet!), I'm currently learning Italian and Norwegian.
-
N. Sugunaraj et al., “Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) Cybersecurity Scenarios, Trends, and Potential Technologies: A Review,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2025.
-
N. Sugunaraj and P. Ranganathan, “An Autoencoder-based Solution to Detect Denial of Service Attack Variants,” in 2025 57th North American Power Symposium (NAPS), 2025, pp. 1–9.
-
T. J. Hassan, J. Jangula, A. R. Ramchandra, N. Sugunaraj et al., “UAS-guided analysis of electric and magnetic field distribution in high-voltage transmission lines (Tx) and multi-stage hybrid machine learning models for battery drain estimation,” IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 82289–82317, 2024.
-
N. Sugunaraj, “Human Factors in the LastPass Breach,” https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2405.01795, 2024.
-
N. Sugunaraj, “Contemplating Secure and Optimal Design Practices for Information Infrastructure From a Human Factors Perspective,” https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2403.07018, 2024.
-
N. Sugunaraj and P. Ranganathan, “Applications for autoencoders in power systems,” in 2024 56th North American Power Symposium (NAPS), 2024, pp. 1–7.
-
N. Sugunaraj, Z. El Mrabet, P. Ranganathan, and W. Semke, “Navigational Dropouts in Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS)—A Short Review,” in 2024 Cyber Awareness and Research Symposium (CARS), 2024, pp. 1–8.
-
A. Skurdal et al., “Correlation of Egg counts, Micro-nutrients, and NDVI Distribution for Accurate Tracking of SCN Population Density Detection,” in 2023 IEEE International Conference on Electro Information Technology (eIT), 2023, pp. 203–210.
-
T. Przybylski, N. Sugunaraj, and P. Ranganathan, “Aircraft communication systems-topologies, protocols, and vulnerabilities,” 2023.
-
N. Sugunaraj, “Machiavellianism and Security: Leveraging Queries at LLMs for Black Hat Operations,” https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ee-pp, 2023.
-
Z. El Mrabet, N. Sugunaraj, P. Ranganathan, and S. Abhyankar, “Random forest regressor-based approach for detecting fault location and duration in power systems,” Sensors, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 458, 2022.
-
Y. Arjoune, N. Sugunaraj et al., “Soybean cyst nematode detection and management: a review,” Plant Methods, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 110, 2022.
-
N. Sugunaraj and P. Ranganathan, “Electronic control unit (ECU) identification for controller area networks (CAN) using machine learning,” in 2022 IEEE International Conference on Electro Information Technology (eIT), 2022, pp. 1–7.
-
N. Sugunaraj, A. R. Ramchandra, and P. Ranganathan, “Cyber fraud economics, scam types, and potential measures to protect US seniors: A short review,” in 2022 IEEE International Conference on Electro Information Technology (eIT), 2022, pp. 623–627.
-
J. P. Mohan, N. Sugunaraj, and P. Ranganathan, “Cyber security threats for 5G networks,” in 2022 IEEE International Conference on Electro Information Technology (eIT), 2022, pp. 446–454.
-
N. Sugunaraj, J. Vrtis, J. Snyder, and P. Ranganathan, “False Data Injection Modeling & Detection for Phasor Measurement Units,” in 2022 North American Power Symposium (NAPS), 2022, pp. 1–6.
-
R. Foote, N. Sugunaraj, and P. Ranganthan, “Low Cost ICS Network Scanning for Vulnerability Prevention,” in Science and Technologies for Smart Cities: 7th EAI International Conference, SmartCity360°, Virtual Event, December 2–4, 2021, Proceedings, 2022, vol. 442, p. 332.
-
Y. Arjoune, S. Peri, N. Sugunaraj, A. Biswas, D. Sadhukhan, and P. Ranganathan, “An instance segmentation and clustering model for energy audit assessments in built environments: A multi-stage approach,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 13, p. 4375, 2021.
-
N. Sugunaraj, “Accurate Threshold Estimation for Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Signatures in Vehicular Environments,” The University of North Dakota, 2021.
-
Z. El-Rewini, K. Sadatsharan, N. Sugunaraj, D. F. Selvaraj, S. J. Plathottam, and P. Ranganathan, “Cybersecurity attacks in vehicular sensors,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 20, no. 22, pp. 13752–13767, 2020.
-
D. Sadhukhan et al., “Estimating surface temperature from thermal imagery of buildings for accurate thermal transmittance (U-value): A machine learning perspective,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 32, p. 101637, 2020.
-
Y. Arjoune, S. Peri, N. Sugunaraj et al., “Thermal imagery based instance segmentation for energy audit applications in buildings,” in 2019 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), 2019, pp. 5974–5976.
- Published research in top-tier journal - https://blogs.und.edu/cem/2025/02/und-student-led-cybersecurity-research-to-protect-modern-energy-earns-spotlight-in-top-tier-journal/
- Finalist at the 2021 3MT Competition - https://und.edu/academics/graduate-school/academic-career-support/3mt.html
- https://blogs.und.edu/cem/2023/11/und-cyberhawks-soar-in-the-national-cybersecurity-showdown/
- Speaker at the 2022 CARS Symposium - https://engineering.und.edu/research/cyber-security/symposium-speakers.html
- https://engineering.und.edu/research/cyber-security/activities-and-news.html
- Poster award - https://engineering.und.edu/research/cyber-security/symposium/2022-cars-highlights.html