Fahim Anzum

Alberta Innovates and Eyes High Doctoral Scholar · Computer Science Ph.D. Candidate · University of Calgary · fahim.anzum@ucalgary.ca

I am a fourth-year Computer Science Ph.D. candidate and an Alberta Innovates Doctoral Scholar at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. My advisor is Professor Dr. Marina L Gavrilova and we are at the Biometric Technologies Laboratory (BT Lab).

My research is driven by the vision of harnessing users' dynamic behavioral and psychological traits from online social media to build Trustworthy and Explainable AI (TXAI) frameworks, enabling user-centered decision support and human-machine collaboration. I have pioneered novel approaches that fuse interpretable handcrafted features with large language model (LLM)-driven contextual representations, achieving state-of-the-art precision in analyzing social behaviors through emotion detection in social media. Additionally, I have developed an LLM-based social media mining strategy that uncovers Canadians' trust perceptions in healthcare, offering actionable insights for medical institutions. My interdisciplinary research extends to TXAI frameworks for mental health interventions and personalized policy recommendations, bridging AI, psychology, and human-computer interaction. At the BT Lab, I have spearheaded initiatives to embed user trust factors into AI algorithms, prioritizing fairness, transparency, and equity. See my Research Statement and Publications for more details.

My research contributions have been recognized in high-impact Computer Science and transdisciplinary venues, including IEEE Access, Springer Nature, IEEE Cyberworlds, and IEEE Human-Machine Systems. My recent work on a bi-modal architecture for interpretable emotion detection earned the Best Paper Award at the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Human-Machine Systems (ICHMS), highlighting its contribution to advancing Trustworthy Human-Machine Teaming for Effective Decision-Making.


Recent News

Education

University of Calgary

Doctor of Philosophy (Ongoing)
Computer Science
Supervisor: Marina L Gavrilova
July 2025 (Expected)

University of Calgary

Master of Science
Computer Science
Supervisor: Mario Costa Sousa
Co-Supervisor: Usman Alim

CGPA: 4.00/ 4.00

Master's Thesis: Exploring Convolutional Neural Networks and Transfer Learning for Oil Sands Drill Core Image Analysis. [Uri]

August 2021

Military Institute of Science and Technology

Bachelor of Science
Computer Science and Engineering
Supervisors: Muhammad Nazrul Islam, Wali Mohammad Abdullah

CGPA: 3.79/ 4.00

Undergrad Thesis: A New Algorithm to Compute Single Source Shortest Path
in a Real Edge Weighted Graph to Optimize Time Complexity. [IEEE Link]

January 2018

Selected Publications

Please refer to my Scholar page for a full list with citations.

Peer-reviewed Journals and Conferences

  1. F. Anzum and M. L. Gavrilova, "EmoBlend Fusion: Leveraging Handcrafted and Deep Features for Emotion Detection," in 2024 IEEE 4th International Conference on Human-Machine Systems (ICHMS), Toronto, ON, Canada, 2024, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ICHMS59971.2024.10555818. [Best Paper Award] [IEEE Xplore Link]

  2. Z. Wahid, A. H. Bari, F. Anzum and M. L. Gavrilova, "Human Micro-Expression: A Novel Social Behavioral Biometric for Person Identification," in IEEE Access, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3283932. [IEEE Xplore Link]

  3. F. Anzum and M. L. Gavrilova, "Emotion Detection From Micro-Blogs Using Novel Input Representation," in IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 19512-19522, 2023, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3248506. [IEEE Xplore Link]

  4. K. De Chastelain Finnigan, F. Anzum, J. Rokne and M. L. Gavrilova, "Weighted Lexicon-based Sentiment Analysis for Women Career Traits in Information Technology," 2022 IEEE 21st International Conference on Cognitive Informatics & Cognitive Computing (ICCI*CC), Toronto, ON, Canada, 2022, pp. 91-98, doi: 10.1109/ICCICC57084.2022.10101520. [Best Paper Award] [IEEE Xplore Link]

  5. Anzum, F., Asha, A. Z., & Gavrilova, M. L. (2022, September). Biases, Fairness, and Implications of Using AI in Social Media Data Mining. In 2022 International Conference on Cyberworlds (CW) (pp. 251-254). IEEE. [IEEE Xplore Link]

  6. Asha, A.Z., Anzum, F., Finn, P., Sharlin, E. and Costa Sousa, M., 2020, September. Designing External Automotive Displays: VR Prototypes and Analysis. In 12th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (pp. 74-82). [ACM DL link]

Book Chapters

  1. F. Anzum, A.Z. Asha, L. Dey, A. Gavrilov, F. Iffat, AQ. Ohi, L. Pond, M. Shopon, and M. L. Gavrilova (2024), "A Comprehensive Review of Trustworthy, Ethical, and Explainable Computer Vision Advancements in Online Social Media," in IGI Global: A Comprehensive Review of Trustworthy, Ethical, and Explainable Computer Vision Advancements in Online Social Media.

  2. Gavrilova, M. L., Anzum, F., Hossain Bari, A. S. M., Bhatia, Y., Iffath, F., Ohi, Q., ... & Wahid, Z. (2022). A Multifaceted Role of Biometrics in Online Security, Privacy, and Trustworthy Decision Making. In Breakthroughs in Digital Biometrics and Forensics (pp. 303-324). Springer, Cham.

Extended Abstracts

  1. F. Anzum, H. Hamdi, U. Alim, and M. Costa Sousa "Exploring Convolutional Neural Networks and Machine Learning for Oil Sands Drill Core Image Analysis," in Third EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition, vol. 2023, pp. 1-5, 2023. [EarthDoc Online Geoscience Database Link]

Under Review

  1. F. Dehghani, M. Dibaji, F. Anzum ..., M. L. Gavrilova, and M. Bento "Trustworthy and Responsible AI for Human-Centric Autonomous Decision-Making Systems," [Link]

  2. F. Anzum, and M. L. Gavrilova "EmoBlend Fusion: Towards Trustworthy Human-Machine Teaming through Enhanced Emotion Detection in Microblogs.," in IEEE Transactions on Human Machine Systems, 2025.

  3. L. Dey, F. Anzum, U. Charles-Rodriguez, A. H. Bari, J. C. Boucher, A. Bharwani, and M. L. Gavrilova "A Digital Lighthouse: Exploring Health Concerns and Public Trust Using LLM-Driven Opinion Mining from Canadian Reddit Communities" in PLOS One, 2025.

Experience

Sessional Instrutor

Computer Science, University of Calgary
Course Conducted:
  1. CPSC 231: Introduction to Computer Science for Computer Science Majors - I
September 2023 - December 2023

Graduate Research Intern

Suncor Energy Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada
August 2019 - August 2021

Graudate Assistant - Teaching

Computer Science, University of Calgary
Course Conducted:
  1. CPSC 319: Data Structures, Algorithms and Their Application
  2. Data 604: Working with Data at Scale
  3. CPSC 217: Introduction to Computer Science and Multidisciplinary Studies - I
  4. DATA 201: Thinking with Data
January 2020 - Present

Lecturer

Computer Science and Engineering, United International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Course Conducted:
  1. CSI 421: Computer Graphics
  2. CSI 422: Computer Graphics Laboratory
August 2018 - August 2019

Lecturer

Computer Science and Engineering, Primeasia University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Course Conducted:
  1. CSE 427: Graph Theory
  2. CSE 428: Graph Theory Laboratory
  3. CSE 323: Software Engineering
  4. CSE 107: Introduction to Computers
  5. CSE 110: Computer Fundamentals Laboratory
  6. CSE 211: Discrete Mathematics
  7. CSE 415: Computer Networks
June 2018 - August 2018

Awards

  • Academic Achievements:

    • 2021 Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship
      • Organization: Alberta Innovates, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Calgary
      • Year: 2021-2025
    • Eyes High International Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship
      • Organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Calgary
      • Year: 2021-2025
    • International Graduate Tuition Award
      • Organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Calgary
      • Year: 2021-2025
    • Department Research Award
      • Organization: University of Calgary
      • Academic Session: 2020-21
    • Mitacs-Accelerate Graduate Research Internship
      • Academic Institute: University of Calgary
      • Industrial Sponsor: Suncor Energy Inc.
      • Academic Session: 2019-20, 2020-21
    • International Graduate Recruitment Award
      • Organization: University of Calgary
      • Academic Session: 2019-20
    • Visa Differential Scholarship
      • Organization: University of Calgary
      • Academic Session: 2019
    • MIST Commandant's List Award
      • Organization: Military Institute of Science and Technology
      • Academic Sessions: 2015-16, 2016-17
    • Higher Secondary Certificate Scholarship
      • Organization: Ministry of Education, Education Board, Dhaka, Bangladesh
      • Academic Session: 2012
    • Junior School Certificate Scholarship
      • Organization: Ministry of Education, Education Board, Dhaka, Bangladesh
      • Academic Session: 2008

  • Extra-curricular Activites:

    • 21st International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (ICCIT)
      • Role: Organizer
      • Organization: United International University
      • Year: 2018
    • International Telco Warfare
      • Achievement: Champion
      • Event: Net War
      • Organization: East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
      • Year: 2017
    • IUT CSE Fest
      • Achievement: Runner Up
      • Event: App Development
      • Organization: Islamic University of Technology, Bangladesh
      • Year: 2017
    • SUST CSE Carnival
      • Achievement: Second Runner Up
      • Event: Hackathon
      • Organization: Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh
      • Year: 2017
    • National Symposium on "Chemical Weapons Convention for the Peaceful Use of Chemistry"
      • Achievement: Winner
      • Event: Poster Presentation
      • Year: 2017

Certifications

Introduction to TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning

  • Issuing Organization: Coursera
  • Issue Date: April 20, 2020
  • Credential ID: 6EK8CMWJWPGE

Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp

  • Issuing Organization: Udemy
  • Issue Date: April 17, 2020
  • Credential ID: UC-685f6e72-e398-462d-9cdf-666adbd78b9b

Contact

University of Calgary
The Biometric Technologies Lab (BT Lab), ICT 717
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

Email: fahim [dot] anzum [at] ucalgary [dot] ca
Personal Email: anzumbivor [at] gmail [dot] com
Phone: +1-(587)-969-9923
UofC
University of Calgary (During Summer), AB, Canada