PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Mohammed Zaki

Also known as Mohammed J. Zaki

Mohammed Zaki is a computer scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who develops data mining and machine learning methods, with algorithms for pattern, sequence, and graph mining at the center of his work. He earned a master's degree in 1995 and a Ph.D. in 1998 in computer science at the University of Rochester, and joined the Rensselaer faculty in 1998. An NSF CAREER Award in 2001 supported his scalable, parallel data mining research, and his textbook Data Mining and Machine Learning, written with Wagner Meira Jr., reached a second edition in 2020. He became an IEEE Fellow in 2017, an ACM Fellow with the 2021 class, an AAAS Fellow in 2022, and a SIAM Fellow in 2025. He is Professor and Department Head of Computer Science at Rensselaer, a post he has held since 2022.

Now at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Center for Research Towards Advancing Financial Technologies (CRAFT)
Works
453
Citations
25,513
h-index
68
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1995–1998

    Rochester PhD, Rensselaer faculty

    He earns an M.S. in 1995 and a Ph.D. in 1998 in computer science at the University of Rochester, after a bachelor's degree in computer science and mathematics at Angelo State University. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute adds him to its faculty in 1998, and his early research designs efficient, scalable, and parallel algorithms for association rules, decision tree classification, clustering, and sequence mining.

  2. 2001–2002

    NSF and DOE early-career awards

    The National Science Foundation gives him a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in 2001, a five-year, $300,000 grant for scalable, parallel, and interactive data mining and exploration at Rensselaer. The SPIDER project behind the grant runs 32 Pentium processors in parallel, and in 2002 the Department of Energy adds its Early Career Principal Investigator Award.

  3. 2014–2020

    A data mining textbook

    His textbook Data Mining and Analysis: Fundamental Concepts and Algorithms appears from Cambridge University Press in 2014 and becomes widely used in universities around the world. A second edition, Data Mining and Machine Learning, written with Wagner Meira Jr. of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, follows in 2020 with a new part on regression that covers neural networks and deep learning.

  4. 2017

    An IEEE Fellowship

    IEEE names him a Fellow in 2017 for contributions to knowledge discovery and data mining. His work includes algorithms for item set mining, sequence mining, and graph mining, along with scalable and parallel methods for data mining.

  5. 2021–2022

    ACM and AAAS fellowships

    ACM names him to its 2021 class of Fellows, citing his contributions to data mining algorithms and foundations. AAAS elects him a Fellow in 2022 for distinguished contributions to data mining and machine learning and for service to the academic community.

  6. 2024

    An EDBT Test of Time Award

    In 2024, his research wins the EDBT Test of Time Award, one of several best paper awards and nominations. His output includes around 300 publications and 6 patents.

  7. 2025

    A SIAM Fellowship

    SIAM names him a 2025 Fellow for contributions to data mining, knowledge discovery, and leadership in data science. He is among the first to see the need to mine large-scale data efficiently with multiple computers working together, and he is involved in the SIAM International Conference on Data Mining from its start in 2001.

  8. Since 2022

    Head of RPI computer science

    In 2022, he becomes head of Rensselaer's Department of Computer Science. He also co-directs the NSF IUCRC Center for Research Towards Advancing Financial Technologies (CRAFT), and his research focuses on data mining and machine learning for graph-structured and textual data, with applications in bioinformatics, personal health, and financial analytics.

Career

  1. Since 1998Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteFaculty Member
  2. NowCenter for Research Towards Advancing Financial Technologies (CRAFT)Co-Director
  3. 1983–1998Al-Azhar University

Education

  1. 1998University of RochesterPh.D.
  2. 1995University of RochesterM.S.
  3. Angelo State UniversityBachelor's degree

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. SPADE: An Efficient Algorithm for Mining Frequent Sequences2001 · Machine Learning · 1,858 citations
  2. Scalable algorithms for association mining2000 · IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering · 1,754 citations
  3. Support Vector Machines2020 · Cambridge University Press eBooks · 1,401 citations
  4. New algorithms for fast discovery of association rules1997 · 1,126 citations
  5. CHARM: An Efficient Algorithm for Closed Itemset Mining2002 · SIAM International Conference on Data Mining · 941 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Biographies cs.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Rensselaer Expert in Data Mining Named Fellow of IEEE news.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Rensselaer Researcher Mohammed Zaki Is an AAAS Fellow news.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Zaki wins Early Career Development Award poly.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Data Mining and Machine Learning: Fundamental Concepts and Algorithms: The Free eBook kdnuggets.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Data Mining and Machine Learning: Main Page dataminingbook.info. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Mohammed Zaki Named Fellow of IEEE everydaymatters.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. ACM Honors Mohammed Zaki for Computing Advances news.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. 2022 AAAS Fellows aaas.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  10. Mohammed J. Zaki cs.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  11. RPI's Mohammed J. Zaki Named 2025 SIAM Fellow for Pioneering Contributions to Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery news.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  12. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Computer Science and Physics Departments Appoint New Leaders news.rpi.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.