Rakesh Verma received his B. Tech. in Electronics Engineering with highest honors and a Gold Medal from IIT Varanasi (India) and his MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from Stony Brook University, where he was a Catacosinos Fellow. Currently, he is a professor at the University of Houston, award-winning researcher with over 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications in leading venues, author, and educator who has taught courses in Iceland, India and the US and given invited seminars to diverse audiences across the world. In his spare time, he likes to read, work on puzzles, travel, and participate in karaoke singing.