Curriculum Vitae
Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Northern Illinois University, specializing in software engineering with applications in software security, software vulnerability detection, attack-defense co-evolution, and software testing. Actively seeking research positions starting Summer 2026.
Education
Ph.D. in Computer Science
2021--PresentNorthern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL, USA
Advisor: Dr. Mona Rahimi
Thesis: Predicting future cyber attacks in software by identifying attack-defense co-evolution patterns
GPA: 3.975/4.0
Summary: This research focuses on how security vulnerabilities and their fixes co-evolve over time, particularly on the unintended reintroduction of vulnerabilities during the fixing process. By analyzing open-source software repositories, it identifies vulnerability-reintroducing patterns across semantic, syntactic, and contextual dimensions of code changes, and develops techniques to predict future vulnerabilities based on the risky fix patterns discovered. This work integrates deep learning, machine learning, large language models (LLMs), and a range of software engineering techniques in the application domain of software security to enable more effective and proactive vulnerability prediction solution.
Master of Science in Computer Science
2017--2019Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL, USA
GPA: 3.75/4.0
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computer Science & Engineering
2004--2009University of Dhaka
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Research & Professional Experience
Research Aide Technical (Summer Intern)
Summer 2025Argonne National Laboratory
Lemont, IL
Graduate Research Assistant
2021--PresentNorthern Illinois University, Reliable AI-enabled Software Engineering Laboratory (RAISE)
DeKalb, IL
Graduate Research Assistant
2018--2019Florida State University, E-Crime Investigative Technologies Laboratory (ECIT)
Tallahassee, FL
Software Engineer
2010--2017BASIC Bank Limited, ICT Division
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Teaching Experience
Graduate Teaching Assistant
2021Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL, USA
Lecturer
2020Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Graduate Teaching Assistant
2017--2018Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL, USA
Publications
View the complete publication list on Google Scholar
AI-Based Software Vulnerability Detection: A Systematic Literature Review
2025Authors: Samiha Shimmi, Hamed Okhravi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.10280
preprintEnhanced Detection of Code Vulnerability with Synergy Between Data-Driven, Rule-Based, and Unsupervised Learnings
2025Authors: Hibah Mohammed Ghouse, Samiha Shimmi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Engineering and Cybersecurity of Critical Systems (EnCyCriS) @ ICSE 2025
publicationSoftware Vulnerability Detection Using LLM: Does Additional Information Help?
2024Authors: Samiha Shimmi, Yash Saini, Mark Schaefer, Hamed Okhravi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: Workshop on AI for Cyber Threat Intelligence (WAITI 2024) @ ACSAC 2024
workshopVulSim: Leveraging similarity of Multi-Dimensional neighbor embeddings for vulnerability detection
2024Authors: Samiha Shimmi, Ashiqur Rahman, Mohan Gadde, Hamed Okhravi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: 33rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX 2024)
conferenceOn Association of Code Change Types and CI Build Failures in Software Repositories
2024Authors: Samiha Shimmi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: European Journal of Information Technologies and Computer Science (Ej-Compute 2024)
journalSoftware Repositories for Patternizing Attack-and-Defense Co-Evolution
2022Authors: Samiha Shimmi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: MSR4P&S, 1st International Workshop @ ESEC/FSE 2022
workshopLeveraging Code-Test Co-evolution Patterns for Automated Test Case Recommendation
2022Authors: Samiha Shimmi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Automation of Software Test (AST 2022)
conferencePatterns of Code-to-Test Coevolution for Automated Test Suite Maintenance
2022Authors: Samiha Shimmi, Mona Rahimi
Venue: IEEE International Conference on Software Testing (ICST 2022)
conferenceAnalysis of iOS SQLite Schema Evolution for Updating Forensic Data Extraction Tools
2020Authors: Samiha S. Shimmi, Gokila Dorai, Umit Karabiyik, Sudhir Aggarwal
Venue: International Symposium on Digital Forensics and Security (ISDFS 2020)
conferenceResearch Posters
Process-Based Predictors of Vulnerability Re-Introductions
2025Super Computing, St. Louis (SC25)
Predicting Future Cyber Attacks in Software by Identifying Attack-Defense Co-evolution Patterns
2025ALCF student poster session (ALCF, Argonne)
VulSim: Leveraging similarity of Multi-Dimensional neighbor embeddings for vulnerability detection
2024Greater Chicago Area Systems Research Workshop (GCASR 2024)
Talks & Presentations
From Detection to Prediction: Multi-Dimensional Embedding Similarity for Software Security
2025CS seminar series, Mathematics and Computer Science division, Argonne National Laboratory
Lemont, IL, USA
Software Vulnerability Detection Using LLM: Does Additional Information Help?
2024Workshop on AI for Cyber Threat Intelligence (WAITI 2024)
Hawaii, USA (presented online)
VulSim: Leveraging similarity of Multi-Dimensional neighbor embeddings for vulnerability detection
202433rd USENIX Security Symposium 2024 (USENIX 2024)
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Patterns of Code-to-Test Coevolution for Automated Test Suite Maintenance
2023IEEE International Conference on Software Testing (ICST 2023)
Dublin, Ireland
Software Repositories for Patternizing Attack-and-Defense Co-Evolution
2022MSR4P&S, 1st International Workshop @ (ESEC/FSE 2022)
Singapore (presented online)
Leveraging Code-Test Co-evolution Patterns for Automated Test Case Recommendation
20223rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Automation of Software Test (AST 2022)
(presented online)
Patterns of Code-to-Test Coevolution for Automated Test Suite Maintenance
2022IEEE International Conference on Software Testing (ICST 2022)
Online
Analysis of iOS SQLite Schema Evolution for Updating Forensic Data Extraction Tools
2020International Symposium on Digital Forensics and Security (ISDFS 2020)
(presented online)
Awards & Honors
Trudy Nicholls Graduate Scholarship in Computer Science
Computer Science Department, Northern Illinois University
Smerge Family Endowment - Liberal Arts Scholarship
Graduate School, Northern Illinois University
Travel Grant
Grad Cohort for Women - CRA-WP Workshop 2018
Academic & Professional Service
Program Committee Member
CIKM 2024 Conference (long research paper track, short research paper track)
Program Committee Member
CIKM 2023 Conference (demo track)
Student Volunteer
2nd International Conference on AI Engineering Software Engineering for AI (CAIN)
Student Volunteer
Requirement Engineering Conference (RE)