Dr. Shuyuan Metcalfe’s research defines and cultivates a broad, forward-looking intellectual space at the intersection of information systems, information science and technology, information behavior, trusted human-computer interaction, and human-centered cybersecurity. Her work foregrounds how trust, intent, and manipulation are formed, communicated, and interpreted in digitally mediated environments where human judgment increasingly coexists with intelligent and autonomous systems. By reframing cybersecurity as a sociotechnical and behavioral challenge, rather than a purely technical one, this research agenda opens expansive opportunities for doctoral inquiry into how individuals, groups, and organizations perceive risk, make sense of information, and coordinate defense within complex, evolving information ecosystems.
The research program supports a wide range of theoretical, methodological, and computational approaches for studying human behavior in digital contexts, including experimental and quasi-experimental design, behavioral and interaction modeling, language- and discourse-based analysis, and data-driven investigation of online and organizational settings. It further explores how emerging technologies—such as generative AI, interactive systems, and intelligent decision aids—are reshaping trust, decision-making, cybersecurity adoption and practice, as well as how collective and organizational processes contribute to cyber resilience. Collectively, this research space provides a flexible and future-oriented foundation for advancing trusted human–machine interaction, behavioral insight, and socially grounded cybersecurity design across institutional, societal, and personal domains. Additional details about Shuyuan’s work can be found on her ORCID, Google Scholar, CV and personal website.
Education
- TrustedCI Fellow, The NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (2021)
- Ph.D., Information Sci. & Tech., Syracuse University iSchool (2009)
- M.Phil., Information Transfer, Syracuse University iSchool (2007)
- M.B.A., Information Systems, University of Hartford (1996)
- B.S., Computer Science, Ohio Dominican University (1993)
Shuyuan is an active member of several leading international academic and professional associations, including the Association for Information Systems (AIS), the American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc. (ISC)², and the Information Systems Audit & Control Association (ISACA). Her engagement with these communities reflects a sustained commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship, professional service, and the advancement of cybersecurity research and practice.
Shuyuan also holds globally recognized professional certifications, including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), underscoring her expertise at the intersection of technical security, risk management, and organizational leadership.
Research Interests
Trusted human-computer interactions; trustworthiness attribution; computer-mediated deception; collective intelligence; deepfakes; cyber forensics; cyberbullying; sociotechnical systems
Teaching Interests
Cybersecurity; information systems; information science; information ethics; cyber defense operations
Publications & Research
Shuyuan founded the iSensor Analytics Lab in 2010 as a forward-looking research environment dedicated to advancing sociotechnical cybersecurity research at the intersection of human behavior and intelligent systems. The lab focuses on human factors in cyberspace—particularly behavioral threats, trust, and deception—positioning human-centered risk as a first-class concern in the design of next-generation cyber defense.
Operating as both a live and virtual laboratory, iSensor Analytics enables controlled yet realistic experimentation grounded in real-world cyber trust and deception scenarios. Through carefully designed simulations, the lab captures rich behavioral, linguistic, and interactional data, creating empirical foundations for understanding how adversarial behavior emerges, evolves, and can be detected within complex digital environments. This experimental infrastructure supports pioneering research on computational behavioral inference and sociotechnical resilience.
A hallmark outcome of this research is Shuyuan’s patented invention, “Online Polygraph: Systems and Methods for Detecting Deception in Computer-Mediated Communication” (U.S. Patent No. 11,714,970; FSU Tech ID 21-020), issued on August 1, 2023. The patent establishes a novel paradigm for automated deception detection, setting the stage for scalable, human-aware cybersecurity systems.
In addition, Shuyuan has developed copyrighted innovations that translate research into societal impact. These include Veracity AI, a truth-disclosure system designed to counter adversarial image manipulation, and Pandemic Self Defense (FSU Tech ID 21-003), a context-aware mHealth intervention that enhances situational awareness and supports individual decision-making during public health crises. Together, these innovations reflect a broader vision of cybersecurity as both a technical and human safeguard—spanning organizational defense, societal trust, and personal resilience. For recent publications, inventions, and ongoing work, please refer to Shuyuan’s her ORCID, Google Scholar, CV and personal website.
Grants & Awards
- Florida State University Seed Award (047041): Multimodal Deepfake Information Manipulation, Analysis and Detection, $99,663, 06/21/24--05/06/26. Role: Principal Investigator.
- 2024-2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar at Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna (Unibo) Facoltà di Informatica e Ingegneria, Bologna, Italy.
- U.S. Air Force STTR Phase II (AF21A-TCSO1 Phase II F2-15465, FA864922P0708): Project Aletheia: Detecting Adversarial Manipulation of Image Data, $750,000, 3/10/22-6/30/23. Role: Principal Investigator.
- Florida State University Collaborative Collision Seed Award (CC-046280): An Examination of the mHealth Mobile Phone App on COVID-19 knowledge and vaccine hesitancy among residents of a Federally Qualified Housing Community, $10,000, 9/1/21-3/1/22. Role: Co–Principal Investigator.
- U.S. Air Force STTR Phase I (AF21A-TCSO1-0185, FA864921P1396): Project Aletheia: A Gamified Truth Disclosure Platform, $50,000, 5/1/21-7/31/21. Role: Principal Investigator.
- Florida State University Collaborative Collision Seed Award (CC-045704): Achieving Economic Normality and Public Health via Deep Learning Modeling and Contact Tracing, $19,519.50, 5/11/20-8/18/20. Role: Co–Principal Investigator.
- Florida Center for Cybersecurity (FC2): Capture-the-Flag (CTF) Scenario-based Cybersecurity Exercises Development, $50,000, 07/01/18-12/31/19. Role: Principal Investigator.
- The Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC) at Tel Aviv University, A machine learning collaborative study of language-action cues in deceptive communication, $79,826 (equivalent to $NIS312,000), 01/01/16-12/15/16. Activity report. Role: Co-Principal Investigator.
- National Science Foundation, I-CORPS: Market Impact Identification of Dyadic Attribution Model for Disposition Assessment Using Online Games, 1505195, $50,000, 12/15/14-12/31/16. Role: Principal Investigator.
- Florida Center for Cybersecurity, FC2: A Sociotechnical Approach to Lawful Interception and Computational Assessment of Information Behavior to Protect against Insider Threat, $25,000, 03/01/15-10/31/16. Role: Principal Investigator.
- Florida State University (ITS-181006): Development and implementation of cybersecurity virtual lab, $21,035, 03/01/15-02/28/16. Role: Principal Investigator.
- National Science Foundation (SaTC-1347113/Ho and 1347120/Hancock), EAGER: Collaborative: Language-action causal graphs for trustworthiness attribution in computer-mediated communication, $199,998, 09/01/13-08/31/15. Role: Principal Investigator.
- Florida State University Planning Grant (PG) Award, $13,000, 12/01/13-11/30/14. Role: Principal Investigator.
- Florida State University First Year Assistant Professor (FYAP) Award, $20,000, 05/10/12-08/06/13. Role: Principal Investigator.
- Drexel University Research and Scholarship Incentive Grants (R-SIG), $5,000, 2010-2012. Role: Principal Investigator.
- (ISC)2 Scholarship, $25,000, 2004-2006. Role: Scholarship Awardee.
- R.O.C. Ministry of National Defense 3-Year Award on VPN, CA, Firewall & Policy Management Technology Transfer, $1M, 1999-2003, ($303,000, 1999-2000 1st year). Role: Technology Director.
Shuyuan brings over twenty years of professional industry experience in information systems security, with a career rooted in building practical, resilient security solutions. Her work has included securing e-commerce systems using public key infrastructure, virtual private networks, and network security technologies, as well as designing role-based access control systems, policy-driven integrated firewalls, and intrusion detection frameworks.
In applied settings, Shuyuan has led and contributed to several large-scale security initiatives. She designed an enterprise information security architecture (EISA), known as SIMPL/E (Secure Information Management Platform and Environment), for a government client, translating complex security requirements into a coherent and sustainable system design. She also collaborated with multidisciplinary teams to establish a Security Operations Center for a military organization and successfully completed a large-scale virtual private network technology transfer project for a military research center.
Across these efforts, Shuyuan’s industry experience reflects a hands-on, collaborative approach to cybersecurity—grounded in real-world problem solving and informed by a deep understanding of how security systems are designed, deployed, and operated in complex organizational environments.
Expertnet Profile