Alex X. Liu

Alex X. Liu
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1266

I received my Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin. My special research interests are in networking and security. My general research interests include systems, distributed computing, dependable and high-assurance systems, etc.

Research Assistantship Available:

I am currently looking for highly motivated Ph.D. students to work with me on exciting and practical network and security problems. My research is mainly on applying algorithmic approaches to solving practical network and security problems. If you want to become a professor in the future, I can help you as my research is algorithm intensive. If you want to become a CTO or a high-tech entrepreneur, I can help you as my research is highly practical. If you are interested in working with me, please feel free to send me an email message that includes: (1) your resume, (2) undergraduate and graduate transcripts (with official ranking), (3) GRE (ToEFL) scores, (4) all your publications in pdf files.

Recent Professional Activities

TPC member, 2009 The IEEE Infocom
TPC member, 2009 The 44th IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)
TPC member, 2009 The 10th International Symposium on Stabilization, Safety, and Security of Distributed Systems(SSS)
TPC member, 2008 The First IEEE International Workshop on Information and Data Assurance (WIDA - in conjunction with IPCCC)
TPC member, 2008 The 28th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS)
TPC member, 2008 The IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom)
TPC member, 2008 The 43rd IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)
TPC member, 2008 The IEEE Network Special Issue on Implications and Control of Middleboxes in the Internet
Publication chair, Internet Technologies, Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering (ICST)
TPC member, 2008 The 4th international workshop on security in systems and networks (SSN-in conjunction with the 22st IEEE IPDPS)
TPC member, 2007 The 15th IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols (ICNP)
TPC member, 2007 The 27th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS)
TPC member, 2007 The 16th International Conference on World Wide Web (WWW)
TPC member, 2007 The 16th International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN)
TPC member, 2007 The 3rd international workshop on security in systems and networks (SSN-in conjunction with the 21st IEEE IPDPS)
TPC member, 2007 The International workshop on Performance Modeling and Evaluation in Computer and Telecommunication Networks (PMECT)

Selected Conference Publications

Collaborative Enforcement of Firewall Policies in Virtual Private Networks [PDF]
Alex X. Liu and Fei Chen
in Proceedings of the Annual ACM SIGACT-SIGOPS Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC) , Toronto, Canada, August 2008.
Average review score = (4 + 4 + 4)/3 = 4 out of 5.
Acceptance rate: 40/132 = 30%

XEngine: A Fast and Scalable XACML Policy Evaluation Engine [PDF]
Alex X. Liu, Fei Chen, JeeHyun Hwang, and Tao Xie
in Proceedings of the International Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems (Sigmetrics) , Annapolis, Maryland, June 2008.
Average review score = 8.7 out of 10. Ranked 2nd among all submissions.
Acceptance rate: 36/201 = 18%
Full version is available here: [PDF]

Algorithmic Approaches to Redesigning TCAM-Based Systems [PDF]
Chad R. Meiners, Alex X. Liu, and Eric Torng
in Proceedings of the International Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems (Sigmetrics) , Annapolis, Maryland, June 2008. (extended abstract)
Acceptance rate: (36 full papers + 21 short papers)/201 =28.4%

All-Match Based Complete Redundancy Removal for Packet Classifiers in TCAMs [PDF]
Alex X. Liu, Chad R. Meiners, and Yun Zhou
in Proceedings of the 27th Annual IEEE Conference on Computer Communications (Infocom), Phoenix, Arizona, April 2008.
Average review score = (4 + 4 + 4)/3 = 4.
Acceptance rate: 236/1160 =20.3%

Firewall Compressor: An Algorithm for Minimizing Firewall Policies [PDF]
Alex X. Liu, Eric Torng, and Chad Meiners
in Proceedings of the 27th Annual IEEE Conference on Computer Communications (Infocom), Phoenix, Arizona, April 2008.
Acceptance rate: 236/1160 =20.3%
TCAM Razor: A Systematic Approach Towards Minimizing Packet Classifiers in TCAMs [PDF]
Chad R. Meiners, Alex X. Liu, and Eric Torng
in Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols (ICNP), pages 226-275, Beijing, China, October 2007.
Acceptance rate: 32/220=14.5%
A Model of Stateful Firewalls and its Properties [PDF]
Mohamed G. Gouda and Alex X. Liu
in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN), Yokohama, Japan, June 2005.
Acceptance rate: 78/319=24.5%
Diverse Firewall Design [PDF]
Alex X. Liu and Mohamed G. Gouda
in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN), pages 595-604, Florence, Italy, June 2004.
Acceptance rate: 83/377=22.0%
William C. Carter Award
Firewall Design: Consistency, Completeness and Compactness [PDF]
Mohamed G. Gouda and Alex X. Liu
in Proceedings ofthe 24th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS), pages 320-327, Tokyo, Japan, March 2004.
Acceptance rate: 72/406=17.7%

Selected Journal Publications:

Diverse Firewall Design [PDF]
Alex X. Liu and Mohamed G. Gouda
IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS), Vol. 19, No. 8. August 2008 (Conference version appeared in DSN-2004 and won William C. Carter Award)
SPP: An Anti-phishing Single Password Protocol [PDF]
Mohamed G. Gouda, Alex X. Liu, Lok M. Leung, and Mohamed A. Alam
Journal of Computer Networks (Elsevier), Vol. 51, No. 13, pages 1389-1286, September, 2007
Structured Firewall Design [PDF]
Mohamed G. Gouda and Alex X. Liu
Journal of Computer Networks (Elsevier), Vol. 51, No. 4, pages 1106-1120, March 2007
Key Bundles and Parcels: Secure Communication in Many Groups[PDF]
Eunjin Jung, Alex X. Liu, and Mohamed G. Gouda
Journal of Computer Networks(Elsevier), Vol. 50, No. 11, pages 1781-1798, August 2006

Selected Funding: