Faculty

Francis Parisi is a data scientist and clinical professor of computer science with expertise in statistical learning. He joined Pace University after a long career in credit and risk management.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Extreme value theory
• Markov decision processes
• Time series analysis
• Statistical climatology
• Credit default modeling
• Financial risk modeling

EDUCATION

• PhD, Southern California University for Professional Studies, 2003
  Management of Engineering & Technology
• MS, Colorado State University, 1998
  Statistics
• BA, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 1977
  Philosophy

Paul Benjamin earned his doctorate in computer science from NYU. He worked for six years in industry before entering academia. Currently, he is the director of the Pace PhD program in computer science and the founder and director of the Robotics Lab.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Robotics
• Artificial intelligence (application of artificial intelligence to networks)
• Cybersecurity
• Data Mining
• Application of semigroup theory to theory formulation

EDUCATION

• PhD, New York University, 1985
  Computer Science
• MS, New York University, 1982
  Computer Science
• BFA, Carnegie Mellon University, 1976
  Music
• MS, Carnegie Mellon University, 1975
  Mathematics
• BS, Carnegie Mellon University, 1973
  Mathematics

AWARDS AND HONORS

• Pace University, 2010 – U.S. Patent 60/654,415 – System for Intrusion Detection and Vulnerability Assessment in a Computer Network using Simulation and Machine Learning
• Pace University – CS NY, January 1, 2006 – Spring 2006 Course Release to write grant proposals
• Reengineering LLC, February 1, 2004 – U.S. Patent 6,691,132 – Semantic Encoding and Compression of Database Tables
• New York University, September 1, 1983 – Graduate Research Assistant

Sung-Hyuk Cha grew up in Seoul, Korea and received his PhD in computer science from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2001. During his undergraduate years at Rutgers, he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Golden Key National Honor Society. He graduated with high honors in computer science. While completing his master’s degree, he developed Fast Image Template and Dictionary Matching Algorithms under the guidance of Professor Martin Farach. From 1996 to 1998, he worked in the area of medical information systems—including PACS, teleradiology, and telemedicine—at Information Technology R&D Center, Samsung SDS. During his PhD years, he was affiliated with the Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR). His major contributions at CEDAR include a dichotomy model to establish the individuality of handwriting, distance measures on histograms and strings, a nearest neighbor search algorithm, and an apriori algorithm, supervised by Professor Sargur N. Srihari.

Cha has been a faculty member in the computer science department at Pace University since 2001. His main interests include computer vision, data mining, and pattern matching and recognition. He is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the Society for Imaging Science and Technology, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the IEEE’s Computer Society.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Document analysis
• Pattern recognition
• Machine intelligence
• Data mining
• Distance measures
• Pattern matching algorithms

EDUCATION

• PhD, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2001
  Computer Science
• MS, Rutgers University, 1996
  Computer Science
• BS, Rutgers University, 1994
  Computer Science

AWARDS AND HONORS

• Center for Community Outreach – Faculty Leadership Award
• Pace University, December 5, 2019 – Provost’s Open Educational Resource Grant

Christelle Scharff is a professor of computer science at Pace University. She has a PhD in symbolic artificial intelligence from INRIA, the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation. Her research interests include automated deduction and theorem proving, data mining, global software development, and more. Scharff has more than a decade of experience in higher education, teaching computer science both domestically and abroad at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia. She has published extensively in the field, including scholarly articles, books, and conference literature.

Scharff has received numerous awards and honors from Pace University, the US State Department, and the American Institute for Public Service. She was awarded grants from the National Science Foundation, IBM, Microsoft, VentureWell, and Google and was a Fulbright scholar in Senegal in 2012 and 2019. Among other professional and academic organizations, Scharff is a current member of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Pace University’s Center for Advancement of Formal Methods Education (CAFME).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Programming (Distributed and parallel implementations on distributed memory machines)
• Theoretical computer science
• Artificial Intelligence: Automated deduction and theorem proving; Simplification Strategies and detection of redundant information; Efficient implementation of automated deduction and theorem proving; Formal software verification; Deep learning
• Global software development; Socialization in Distributed Teams; Software Testing
• User-centered design in mobile application development; Mobile for Development (M4D); ICTD (Information and Communication Technology for Development); Digital literacy

EDUCATION

• PhD, Universite Henri Poincare and French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, 1999
  Computer Science
• MS, Universite Henri Poincare, 1995
  Computer Science
• BS, Universite Henri Poincare, 1993
  Computer Science

AWARDS AND HONORS

• Fulbright, US State Department, October 2019 – Fulbright Scholar
• Pace University, October 1, 2016 – Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship Fellow
• American Institute for Public Service, October 1, 2015 – Jefferson Award for Public Service, Pace University Bronze Medal Award
• Fulbright, US State Department, October 1, 2012 – Fulbright Scholar
• Pace University, October 1, 2012 – Pace University Presidential Release Time Award