Sumit (Sam) Jha
Professor, Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE), University of Florida
Education
Research Interests
Research Support & Collaborations
Research supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Department of Energy (DOE), Florida Center for Cybersecurity, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Royal Bank of Canada, and Texas STARs Award.
Research Areas
My research focuses on three interconnected areas that address fundamental challenges in artificial intelligence and machine learning systems.
Developing methods to understand and explain AI decision-making processes, including attribution methods, visualization techniques, and robust explanations for deep neural networks.
Key Focus Areas:
- Neural Stochastic Differential Equations
- Attribution-based Confidence Metrics
- Explainable AI Tools
Research on safety, security, and control mechanisms for AI systems, including adversarial robustness, formal verification, and safe AI deployment strategies.
Key Focus Areas:
- Adversarial Attack Detection
- Formal Verification Methods
- Safe AI Deployment
Creating AI systems that are both computationally efficient and robust to various forms of noise, attacks, and environmental changes.
Key Focus Areas:
- In-Memory Computing
- Hardware Acceleration
- Fault-Tolerant Systems
Transition to Practice
My research program emphasizes rapid transition from fundamental research to operational capabilities. Through partnerships with DARPA, AFOSR, AFRL, ONR, and other DoD agencies, I focus on developing technology readiness level (TRL) advancement pathways that bridge the valley of death between laboratory demonstrations and fielded systems. This approach ensures research innovations achieve meaningful impact in critical national security applications including autonomous systems, cybersecurity, and mission-critical AI deployment.
Selected Publications
Recent publications in top-tier conferences and journals focusing on Interpretability of AI, Control of AI Systems, and Robust & Efficient AI.
Grammar-Forced Translation of Natural Language to Temporal Logic using LLMs
William H. English, Dominic Simon, Sumit Kumar Jha, and Rickard Ewetz
In Proceedings of the 42nd International Conference on Machine Learning, ICML 2025
Metric-Driven Attributions for Vision Transformers
Chase Walker, Sumit Kumar Jha, and Rickard Ewetz
In The Thirteenth International Conference on Learning Representations, ICLR
Explaining ViTs Using Information Flow
Chase Walker, Md Rubel Ahmed, Sumit Kumar Jha, and Rickard Ewetz
In The 28th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, AISTATS
LOGIC: Logic Synthesis for Digital In-Memory Computing
Muhammad Rashedul Haq, Sven Thijssen, Sumit Kumar Jha, and Rickard Ewetz
Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems
Integrated Decision Gradients: Compute Your Attributions Where the Model Makes Its Decision
Chase Walker, Sumit Kumar Jha, Kenny Chen, and Rickard Ewetz
In Thirty-Eighth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AAAI 2024
Latest News
Recent updates on publications, awards, and research milestones.
ICML 2025 Paper Acceptance
Our paper on grammar-based translation from natural language to temporal logic has been accepted at ICML 2025, one of the premier machine learning conferences.
FIU Top Scholar Award 2024-2025
Honored to receive the FIU Top Scholar Award for 2024-2025, recognizing outstanding research contributions and academic excellence.
ICLR 2025 Paper Acceptance
Our paper on metric-driven attributions in vision transformers has been accepted at ICLR 2025, a top-tier conference on learning representations.
Contact Information
Get in touch to discuss research collaborations, academic opportunities, or general inquiries.
Office Hours
Tuesday 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
and by appointment
Office
Room 3106, Malachowsky Hall
CISE Department
University of Florida
1889 Museum Road, P.O. Box 116120
Gainesville, FL 32611
I welcome collaborations with researchers, industry partners, and students interested in:
- Interpretability and Explainability of AI Systems
- Control and Safety of AI Systems
- Robust and Efficient AI Algorithms
- In-Memory Computing and Hardware Acceleration
I am always looking for motivated graduate and undergraduate students to join my research group. If you are interested in pursuing research in AI, machine learning, or computer systems, please feel free to reach out.
Please include your CV, research interests, and relevant coursework or experience when contacting me.