Ph.D. Computer Science
Cloud-native edge systems, SDN, multi-view visibility forecasting (fully funded).
National CERT · Cloud, HPC & Cybersecurity Leadership
Muhammad Ahmad Rathore
Technical Program Director · National CERT – Pakistan
Leading Pakistan's national vulnerability disclosure and AI-enabled security programs. 15+ years directing cross-functional teams across cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, and HPC operations in the US, Canada, South Korea, and Pakistan.
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Years leading programs
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€36.5M · Asi@Connect
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OF@TEIN open-source platforms
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Q1 journal publications
About
I am Technical Program Director at National CERT – Pakistan, leading national-scale cybersecurity programs, AI-enabled vulnerability management, VDP, and proactive cyber defense. I previously served as Assistant Professor at NUST (SEECS), Islamabad. My career spans data center modernization, cloud migrations, and HPC operations across the US, Canada, South Korea, and Pakistan.
Previously Cloud & HPC Operations Manager at the University of New Hampshire and Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University (Feinberg School of Medicine), building GPU-accelerated digital pathology platforms with Kitware. Earlier research includes Asi@Connect / OF@TEIN federated edge systems and ML for cybersecurity at the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity (UNB).
Skills & tools
- Kubernetes
- OpenStack
- AWS
- Terraform
- Prometheus
- Grafana
- ELK
- NVIDIA DALI / Triton / TensorRT
- Python
- TypeScript
- Solidity
- Cisco / Check Point / Barracuda NG
- CEH
Leadership & operations
- Program management
- Vendor management
- Team supervision
- Capacity planning & budgeting
- Risk & compliance
- Stakeholder communication
Research interests
- Cloud-native
- Edge computing
- Machine vision
- High Performance Computing
- Systems monitoring
- Cybersecurity
Education & credentials
M.Sc. Information & Communication Systems Security
Network security and cryptography.
B.S. Computer Science (Hons), Software Engineering
Undergraduate foundation in software engineering.
Certifications
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Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
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CCNA Training
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NERCOMP Workshop Series for New Managers
Experience
Technical Program Director
- Lead national-scale cybersecurity programs and digital security platforms.
- Drive AI-enabled vulnerability management, VDP, and proactive cyber defense.
- Advance indigenous cybersecurity capabilities, automation, and national cyber resilience.
Cloud and HPC Operations Manager
- Managed research HPC clusters with 2,200+ CPU cores, 225TB+ Lustre storage, and 180+ TFLOPS GPU capacity.
- Directed hybrid cloud migrations (AWS, Kubernetes, OpenStack) and automation (Terraform, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
- Delivered compliant infrastructure aligned with HIPAA, CMMC, and ISO 27001; capacity planning and budgeting.
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Built a GPU-accelerated, cloud-based framework with Kitware for whole-slide pathology analysis.
- Optimized AI inference and MLOps using NVIDIA DALI, cuCIM, Triton, and TensorRT.
- Key projects: HistomicsML, HistomicsUI, HistomicsTK, TritonClient.
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Developed open-source interfaces for Uniswap-style decentralized token exchange.
- Stack: AWS (S3, EC2), TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Solidity, Rust.
- Projects: GISTSWAP, DelioswapV3 custom contracts.
Ph.D. Researcher · Networked Intelligence Lab
- Fully funded Ph.D. on cloud-native edge computing, SDN, systems visibility, and orchestration.
- Technical member on Asi@Connect / TEIN projects across 10 countries; Kubernetes & OpenStack operations.
- Thesis: forecasting SmartX multi-view spatio-temporal visibility for cloud-native edge boxes.
Scientific Officer
- Taught Software Engineering, Network Security, and OOP; supervised undergraduate projects.
- Supervised IEEE Computer Society, COMSATS Wah campus.
Researcher
- ML models for IBM QRadar SIEM; URL datasets (ISCX-URL2016); CICFlowMeter / CIC-AB tooling.
- Published “Detecting malicious URLs using lexical analysis” (344 citations on Google Scholar).
Senior Software Developer (Security)
- Secure VoIP/mail systems for 1,000+ users; AD/DNS/DHCP/ISA; Barracuda NG, Cisco SSL VPN, Check Point.
- Risk/vulnerability assessment and secure Microsoft Exchange with endpoint protection.
Leadership
Scope, ownership, and stakeholder management across national and university programs.
Program & team leadership
Direct cross-functional teams spanning offensive security, platform engineering, and research computing. Own hiring input, technical mentorship, and day-to-day prioritization for staff working across national cyber defense and university research infrastructure.
Budget & infrastructure ownership
Owned capacity planning, budgeting, and vendor management for research cloud and HPC infrastructure, running Agile/Scrum delivery while optimizing cost and resource utilization and keeping senior leadership informed on program status.
Compliance & risk accountability
Directly accountable for audit-readiness and risk posture across three compliance frameworks, translating regulatory requirements into infrastructure and process changes engineering teams could execute against.
Stakeholder & policy coordination
Bridge technical delivery with policy and government stakeholders on national-scale cybersecurity programs. Prior technical coordination spanned Asi@Connect / TEIN infrastructure across 14 sites in ten countries.
Teaching
Assistant Professor
Former faculty role: Computer Networks, Applications of ICT, and Cloud Computing; curriculum design and LMS delivery. Completed a six-week Teaching Excellence Training Workshop.
Adjunct Faculty
Taught CMPL 530 (Python Programming I) and CMPL 637 (Python Programming II) to classes of ~30 students, covering automation, infrastructure scripting, and data-handling with NumPy/pandas. View course details on Coursicle →
Scientific Officer / Lecturer
Software Engineering, Network Security, OOP; undergraduate project supervision.
Workshop
Hands-on SDN/NFV and cloud-integrated infrastructure for international stakeholders.
Projects
National VDP / Cyber Patriot & NVIMS
National vulnerability disclosure and AI-enabled vulnerability management programs.
HistomicsML / UI / TK
GPU-accelerated digital pathology platforms for WSI analysis, interactive UI, and quantitative tooling.
OF@TEIN / Asi@Connect
Federated cloud-native edge playground across 14 sites in 10 countries — visibility, orchestration, and monitoring.
GISTSWAP / DelioswapV3
Open-source Uniswap-style DEX front ends and custom Solidity contracts on AWS.
Awards & Recognition
Formal prizes and fellowships, plus selected outcomes from collaborative research.
Awards & Fellowships
Fully funded Ph.D. scholarship
Competitive doctoral scholarship covering the full Ph.D. program in Computer Science.
Open-Source Summit Fellowship
Selected fellowship support to participate in Linux Foundation Open-Source Summit events.
Wu Memorial Graduate Bursary
Awarded in Canada for academic excellence during graduate research.
Impact Award — UNB TME Student Pitch Competition
Won the Impact Award for KnowYourChild, presented at UNB's annual Technology Management & Entrepreneurship student pitch competition, alongside Muhammad Saad Amjad and Rizwas Ali.
Notable Outcomes
Co-author, Kitware digital pathology research
Co-authored Kitware's published work on HistomicsStream, an NIH-funded whole-slide image reader for TensorFlow that delivered a 65% runtime performance improvement, developed with Northwestern University, Wake Forest School of Medicine, and Emory University.
Selected publications
8 Q1 journals and 8+ conferences · 400+ citations · h-index 8 · i10-index 5 · Google Scholar profile
- IF 7.1 Rathore, Usman, Risdianto et al. — "Distributed Edge-native Computing with Intelligence-Enabled Microservice Orchestration," Internet of Things (Elsevier), 2026
- Conference Mamun et al. — "Detecting malicious URLs using lexical analysis," ICNSS 2016 344 citations
- IF 7.6 Amgad, Rathore, Cooper — MuTILs / PanopTILs tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte model, npj Breast Cancer (Nature), 2024
- IF 4.6 Risdianto, Usman, Rathore — intent-based network management, Future Internet, 2024
- IF 10.9 Zeb, Rathore et al. — AI-enabled NextG networks with edge intelligence, IEEE Wireless Communications, 2023
- SCIE Farooq Azam Rathore, Muhammad Ahmad Rathore — "The Emerging Role of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare," Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2023
- IF 1.8 Ahmad, Kim — SmartX multi-view spatio-temporal visibility, Computer Science and Information Systems
Contact
Based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Open to collaboration on cybersecurity programs, cloud/HPC operations, and research.
- Personal[email protected]
- Official[email protected]
- Mobile+1 (224) 529-8791
- Pakistan(+92) 322 9822 773
- LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/mahmadr
- ScholarGoogle Scholar profile
- GitHubgithub.com/ahmadrathore
- CERTpkcert.gov.pk