The Student Leadership Council (SLC) at the Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3) plays a vital role in connecting our nationwide, cross-institution student community with CS3 administration, faculty, and industry partners. These student leaders strengthen communication across the center, support the advancement of CS3’s research and mission, and expand leadership and professional development opportunities for their peers.
In this installment of our interview series, we highlight Stepan Mazokha, Industry Co-Lead of the SLC and Postdoctoral Fellow in Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University. His current research is focused on wireless sensing, localization, and device re-identification.
Stepan’s research explores the challenge of bringing advanced wireless-sensing methods from theoretical development into real-world deployment. Building on his doctoral work, he is currently focused on productionalizing techniques for Wi-Fi localization and Wi-Fi device re-identification. These methods have the potential to innovate urban sensing, mobility analytics, and smart-infrastructure systems. Expanding on that research, Stepan is now pursuing several new directions that merge radiofrequency (RF) localization with computer vision techniques. Additionally, adapting device fingerprinting approaches from the Wi-Fi domain into emerging 5G systems.
While Stepan’s research is technologically rigorous, he is equally committed to cultivating a rich personal life outside the lab. One fun fact about him is that, for more than a decade, he has practiced the guitar. Recently, he has also been curating a classical literature library at home and exploring local hiking paths, embracing both intellectual and outdoor pursuits.
At this stage of his academic career, Stepan is driven by a clear goal: translating the original vision from his and his advisor’s PhD research into technologies that make tangible impact. His ambition is not only scholarly, but also deeply community-oriented. Stepan hopes to see the methods and findings developed over the last five years directly adopted by the West Palm Beach community and beyond, ensuring that research outcomes meaningfully benefit the public.
“As I move through my postdoctoral work and into the next stage of my research career,” he notes, “I want to ensure that the techniques we developed are not just theoretical contributions but practical solutions that communities can use.”
For Stepan, serving as Industry Co-Lead on the SLC has offered a unique vantage point into the broader ecosystem of CS3 research and academic collaboration. He describes the experience as an invaluable opportunity to understand not only the technical dimensions of the center’s many projects, but also the managerial and organizational structures that support them.
“To me, the SLC provides an ‘X-ray’ of how academia works from the inside,” he explains. “It allows me to engage deeply with the research interests of our student community while also seeing the operational side of academic organizations.” This dual perspective, both technical and managerial, has enriched his understanding of how large-scale research centers function.