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Professor Christof Paar is a Research Professor at Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Computer Science, where he leads the Embedded Security group. His work bridges theoretical cryptography with practical implementation security for embedded systems, with a strong emphasis on real-world security challenges. Professor Paar's research focuses on multiple critical areas of security including hardware security, side-channel attacks, hardware trojans, physical-layer security, wireless security, and reverse engineering. His work is characterized by a strong practical orientation, often demonstrating real-world vulnerabilities and developing practical countermeasures. He has made significant contributions to understanding and improving the security of cryptographic implementations in resource-constrained environments. His publication record shows a consistent output of high-quality research, with particular emphasis in recent years on physical-layer security, wireless security, hardware reverse engineering, and hardware trojan detection. His work spans both theoretical contributions to cryptographic engineering and practical demonstrations of security vulnerabilities in real systems. Professor Paar's educational impact is substantial, having co-authored the widely used textbook 'Understanding Cryptography' and offering numerous courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. His group actively engages students through Bachelor and Master projects, providing hands-on experience with cutting-edge security research topics. His lab, the Embedded Security group, appears to maintain an active research program with multiple ongoing projects in hardware and embedded systems security. The group collaborates internationally and publishes regularly in top security venues, maintaining a strong presence in the cryptographic engineering community.

• Cryptography
• Hardware Security
• Embedded Systems Security
• +7 more

Shing-Chi Cheung is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), School of Engineering. He founded the CASTLE research group and co-founded the International Workshop on Automation of Software Testing (AST) in 2006. His leadership includes serving as General Chair of FSE 2014 and chairing multiple APSEC conferences. His research focuses on software quality enhancement through program analysis, testing, debugging, and AI techniques, targeting Android apps, open-source software, deep learning systems, smart contracts, and spreadsheets. Current projects include metamorphic testing frameworks, binary analysis tools, and vulnerability detection systems for emerging technologies. His publication portfolio demonstrates consistent contributions to software engineering since 2016, with recent work emphasizing AI-integrated testing methodologies, smart contract security, and deep learning system reliability. Key trends show increasing focus on cross-language analysis, data visualization quality, and compiler-level verification for modern software stacks. Distinguished Member of the ACM Fellow of the British Computer Society Editorial board member: Science of Computer Programming (SCP), Journal of Computer Science and Technology (JCST) Former editorial board member: IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (2006-2009), Information and Software Technology (2012-2015) Four patents in China and the United States Cheung actively mentors through the CASTLE research group and serves on program committees for major conferences including ICSE, ESEC/FSE, and ISSTA. His work bridges academic research with practical applications through industry collaborations and tool development. He has contributed to numerous workshops and symposia as steering committee member and program chair.

• Software Engineering
• Program Analysis
• Software Testing
• +7 more

Chao Zhang is a Tenured Associate Professor at Tsinghua University, specializing in software security, system security, data security, and AI security. He leads the VUL337 research group and serves as the coach of the Blue-Lotus CTF team. His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Peking University (2008-2013), a B.S. in Mathematical Science from Peking University (2004-2008), and a postdoctoral position at UC Berkeley (2013-2016). Dr. Zhang's research focuses on Software Security , System Security , Data and AI Security , Program Analysis , and Vulnerability Discovery . His work spans binary code analysis, fuzzing techniques, blockchain security, and AI security. His recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on developing novel frameworks for vulnerability detection, binary code analysis, and securing AI systems against adversarial attacks. His publication trends show a consistent focus on practical security solutions with increasing attention to AI security challenges. Over the past decade, he has published extensively in top security conferences including IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, CCS, NDSS, and ISSTA, with a significant acceleration in publications since 2020. Tencent CSS TSec Professional Prize (2nd place, 2019) Tencent CSS TSec Breakthrough Prize (1st place, 2018) DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge CFE, 2nd in exploiting (2016) DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge CQE, 1st in defense (2015) Microsoft BlueHat Prize Contest's Special Recognition Award (2012) 5th place in Defcon CTF 2017 2nd place in Defcon CTF 2016 5th place in Defcon CTF 2015 Dr. Zhang leads the VUL337 research group at Tsinghua University, which focuses on vulnerability discovery and security analysis. He also serves as the coach of the Blue-Lotus CTF team and is a member of the V group of LiST. His research has received significant attention in the security community, with numerous publications in top-tier security venues and practical contributions to vulnerability discovery and mitigation techniques.

• Software Security
• System Security
• Data Security
• +6 more

Gang (Gary) Tan is a Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Pennsylvania State University, co-directing the Institute for Networking and Security Research (INSR). His research bridges computer security, formal methods, and programming languages to develop practical solutions for software vulnerabilities and AI fairness. Education: B.E. in Computer Science from Tsinghua University Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University Dr. Tan specializes in applying compiler techniques and formal verification to security challenges, with seminal work on cache side-channel attacks and fairness in machine learning. His Security of Software (SOS) Group develops frameworks that integrate theoretical guarantees into real-world systems, emphasizing measurable security outcomes and ethical AI. Recent projects focus on quantifying bias in neural networks and mitigating speculative execution vulnerabilities. Analysis of his 2021-2025 publications reveals a strategic pivot toward AI security, where he pioneers methods for fairness testing (e.g., information-theoretic debugging) and repair (e.g., NeuFair). Concurrently, his security work evolves from foundational side-channel research (SpecSafe, 2021) toward hardware-software co-design solutions, demonstrating consistent innovation across theoretical and applied domains. Scientific Awards: James F. Will Career Development Professorship NSF CAREER Award Google Research Award (two instances) Distinguished Reviewer Award at 2018 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy Outstanding Research Award at Penn State Ruth and Joel Spira Excellence in Teaching Award Best Paper Award at PLDI 2024 Dr. Tan leads the SOS Group with funding from NSF (including CAREER), DARPA (ISAT study group membership), and industry partners like Google. His grants support interdisciplinary projects spanning secure compilation, fairness engineering, and hardware security, while his teaching excellence award reflects commitment to pedagogy in core systems courses. He co-directs Penn State's Institute for Networking and Security Research (INSR), fostering collaboration between systems, security, and AI researchers. The SOS Group maintains active partnerships with industry security teams and contributes to open-source tools for vulnerability detection, with recent work expanding into fairness certification for machine learning pipelines.

• computer security
• formal methods
• programming languages
• +3 more

Sébastien Bardin is a Senior Researcher and CEA Fellow at the Software Safety and Security Laboratory of Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) in Paris-Saclay, France, with affiliation to University Paris-Saclay. He leads significant research initiatives including the BINSEC group on binary-level security analysis (since 2012) and the QBricks group on quantum program verification (since 2020), and served as Head of the Software Quantum Program at CEA LIST from 2021-2023. His research focuses on formal methods and automatic program analysis with applications in software security. Key areas include binary-level security analyses such as vulnerability detection & assessment, reverse engineering, and malware deobfuscation, as well as quantum programming and verification. His methodological expertise spans symbolic execution, abstract interpretation, software model checking, and SMT solving. Bardin's publications demonstrate consistent impact across top venues in security and formal methods, with notable papers at ESOP, CAV, ICSE, NDSS, and S&P. His work on robust symbolic execution, directed fuzzing, and binary-level analysis has established him as a leading researcher in security-oriented program analysis. Recent publications show growing emphasis on quantum program verification alongside continued contributions to binary security analysis. Scientific Awards: ICSE 2021 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award RTAS 2021 Best Paper Award CAV 2021 Selected Paper CEA Fellow (2021-present) ACM Senior Member (2021-present) Bardin actively mentors PhD students and has advised numerous researchers who have received recognition including GDR Sécurité and GDR GPL PhD awards. His service to the community is extensive, with leadership roles in GDR Sécurité, RESSI, and organizing major conferences including CAV 2023 (sponsor co-chair) and FIC 2023 (scientific program chair). He also contributes to multiple program committees across security and formal methods venues.

• Program Analysis
• Formal Methods
• Security
• +5 more