Dr. Lily Popova Zhuhadar

• The 2024 GFCB Faculty Award for Research and Creativity 
• The 2024 GFCB Faculty Award for Service
• The 2023 GFCB Faculty Award for Research and Creativity 
• The 2022 MBA Innovative Pedagogy Award
• The 2022 GFCB Faculty Award for Teaching 
• The 2021 GFCB Faculty Award for Student Advisement
• The 2020 GFCB PRIDA Award 
• The 2018 GFCB Faculty Award for Research and Creativity 
• The 2017 GFCB PRIDA Award
• The 2015 GFCB Dean Merits’ Award
• The 2014 WKU Office of Sponsored Programs Award for the Most Prolific Grant Proposer by College.

Professional Certifications

• Stanford Medical Statistics Certificate, Stanford School of Medicine,
  San Jose, CA, August 2020

• MIT Certificate in Data Science and Big Data Analytics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, December 2017 (documentation) 

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, in Computer Science and Computer Engineering, University of Louisville, December 2009

• Master in Computer Science, Western Kentucky University, May 2004

Google Scholar Statistics

As of December 1, 2024, Dr. Lily Zhuhadar is ranked among the top 8 most-cited researchers at Western Kentucky University on Google Scholar, with 7,090 citations. Her research journey exemplifies a relentless pursuit of excellence, making significant contributions to analytics, semantic web, machine learnings, and artificial intelligence. She holds an i10-index of 30, underscoring the impact and influence of her scholarly work. You can explore Dr. Lily Zhuhadar’s research contributions and citations on her Google Scholar profile here: Google Scholar - Dr. Lily Zhuhadar.

For more details about the WKU Top Cited Researchers, visit this webpage: Google Scholar - WKU.

Area of Expertise

Dr. Lily Zhuhadar's expertise lies at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Semantic Web, and Ontologies, with a strong focus on:

• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KRR): Formalizing knowledge using ontologies and logical inference to enhance machine understanding.
• Semantic AI: Integrating machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and knowledge graphs for intelligent decision-making.
• Ontological AI: Developing and applying ontologies for data interoperability, automated reasoning, and intelligent knowledge management.
• AI for the Semantic Web: Utilizing automated reasoning, rule-based systems, and linked data to enhance structured knowledge representation.
• Linked Data & Knowledge Graphs: Designing AI-powered knowledge graphs that connect and infer relationships between vast datasets.
• Explainable AI (XAI) in Semantic Computing: Advancing transparent and interpretable AI systems through ontological reasoning.

Her research applies these methodologies to big data analytics, digital transformation, and intelligent systems, driving innovations in business intelligence, cybersecurity, and IT strategy.

Biography

Dr. Zhuhadar is a Professor of Analytics and Information Systems and serves as the Director of the WKU Center for Applied Data Analytics (CADA), which supports faculty, students, and the regional community through education, research, and practical collaboration.

In the 2022-23 academic year, Dr. Zhuhadar secured $101,191.11 in research funding, with 35% of these funds allocated to student awards, fostering academic and professional development. More details can be found on the Center’s website: WKU CADA.

Her applied research focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration with scholars across the USA and Europe, addressing contemporary big data challenges through advanced data mining methodologies.

Between 2014 and 2024, Dr. Zhuhadar has submitted more than 30 grant proposals, both internally and externally, ranging from $3K to $2M, demonstrating her strong commitment to securing funding for impactful research.

Mentorship

Over the past decade, Dr. Zhuhadar has mentored over 100 undergraduate students through their capstone projects, fostering hands-on learning and research excellence. She has also advised 19 recipients of Undergraduate Research Grants and played a pivotal role in securing 7 Graduate Assistantships through grant funding. Collectively, these efforts have provided $102,500 in student support, advancing research opportunities and academic growth.

More details on her mentorship can be found at:

• Awarded Grants for Graduate Students: WKU CADA Graduate Grants
• Collaboration with Undergraduate Students: WKU CADA Undergraduate Grants

Research Training Workshops

Dr. Zhuhadar has led comprehensive research training workshops covering a diverse range of topics in data science, analytics, and research methodologies. These workshops provide high-impact educational value to WKU faculty and students and are offered at no cost. For more details and access to recordings, visit links below:

• 2nd Annual SAS Workshops
• Effective Data Visualization Techniques Workshop
• WKU Data Analytics Awareness Webinar Series with Altair
• Demystifying Data Analytics

• How to Accelerate AI Adoption for Industrial Processes
• Unlocking AI/ML Potential for Engineering Designs and Manufacturing Simulations
• Enable Data Science and Analytics Education

• Longitudinal Data Analysis Seminar
• Data Cleaning Seminar
• Sentiment Analysis Seminar
• Designing Effective Survey Seminar

Broadening the Participation of Underrepresented Groups in STEM

Publications

The impact of her research is evident through her contributions to more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and national/international conference proceedings. She has published in many top-tier journals, including Computers in Human Behavior (Elsevier),  Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing (Springer), Journal of the Knowledge Economy (Springer), and Social Network Analysis and Mining (Springer). These publications have significantly impacted her ranking on Google Scholar (link). 

Dr. Zhuhadar is a member of several prestigious associations, including The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), The IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE), The AACSB International, the Association for Information Systems (AIS), the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

AI & Cloud-based Platforms

Dr. Zhuhadar has an extensive track record of developing AI algorithms on cloud-based platforms. Here are some of her previous successes in designing these types of platforms:

From 2016 to 2019, Dr. Zhuhadar developed a Cloud-based Semantically Enriched Decision Support System to investigate the offshore databases leaked in the Panama Papers. She utilized Amazon Web Services to host the GraphDB server and linked it to approximately 2.7 billion DBPedia/GeoNames nodes/entities (refer to [1, 2]).

Between 2005 and 2015, she developed the HyperManyMedia¹ (HMM) platform. HMM was the first MOOC platform at WKU and is considered the first worldwide Recommender System for Semantically Enriched Open Learning Resources. More than 800,000 students enrolled in HMM, contributing to over 30 articles, most of which are indexed in ACM and IEEE digital libraries (refer to [3-16]).