Associate Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
University of Florida
Email: farimah@ece.ufl.edu
Phone: (352) 392-0910
Address: 1889 Museum Road
Gainesville, Florida, 32611
Office: Malachowsky Hall, 4200C
Dr. Farimah Farahmandi is the Walden C. Rhines Endowed Professor for Hardware Security in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Florida and the Director of the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research (FICS).
An internationally recognized researcher in hardware security, semiconductor security, and AI-driven cybersecurity, Dr. Farahmandi’s research focuses on hardware security verification, formal methods, fault-injection attack analysis, and post-silicon validation and debug. Her work has resulted in 8 books and more than 140 publications and has been sponsored by leading companies and government agencies.
As Director of FICS, Dr. Farahmandi aims to expand partnerships across academia, industry, and government to strengthen cybersecurity research, innovation, and workforce development throughout Florida. Prior to becoming Director, she served as the Associate Director of FICS.
For her contributions, Dr. Farahmandi has received 11 Best Paper and nomination awards, including recognition at HOST, VLSI-SoC, ASP-DAC, PAINE, ITC, and DATE. She was also recognized with the ACM/IEEE DAC Under 40 Innovators Award (2024), the Best Assistant Professor Award at the University of Florida (2024), the Pramod Khargonekar Excellence Award for the Best Assistant Professor Going Through the Tenure Process (2025), the Excellence in Service Award (2023), and the Excellence in Research Award (2022) from the UF ECE Department. She is also a recipient of the prestigious SRC Young Faculty Award (2022) and the NSF CAREER Award.
Her contributions have led to 9 book chapters, 12 issued or pending patents, and sustained sponsorship from agencies including NSF, SRC, ONR, AFRL, DARPA, Nimbus Services, Analog Devices, AFWERX, Dynetics, Battelle, ARM, NSF Engine, ANSYS, Synopsys, Cisco, Monolithic Power Systems, and many more. Beyond her research, she actively contributes to the academic community. Dr. Farahmandi serves as an Associate Editor of IET Computers & Digital Techniques and participates in the technical and organizing committees of leading IEEE and ACM conferences. She co-founded a new workshop called “CAD for Security (CAD4Sec)” which she served as Program Chair in 2022, 2023, and 2025. The workshop focuses on security verification solutions for SoCs offered by those in academia and industry. It brings more than 100 experts together to discuss the latest discoveries in this field. She is also leading the “CAD4Sec Web Portal” (http://cad4security.org/) which offers community solutions, benchmarks, educational/training resources, competitions, and more.
Dr. Farimah Farahmandi received her Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) from the University of Florida in 2018 and currently directs the Security Assurance Lab at UF. Previously, she also served as the Associate Director of the Edaptive Computing Inc. Transition Center (ECI-TC) at the University of Florida.
Here is the description of the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering about her:
Most Recent Professional News
ECE ‘star Gator’ Farimah Farahmandi wins 40 Under 40 alumni award
UF ECE proudly celebrates Dr. Farimah Farahmandi, recipient of the 40 Under 40 Alumni Award. A leader in hardware security, her inspiring journey and impactful contributions continue to shape the future of engineering research and education.