Alvaro A. Cardenas

Alvaro A. Cardenas is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), affiliated with the Erik Johnson School of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously, he held positions at the University of Texas at Dallas and conducted research at UC Berkeley and Fujitsu Laboratories. His research focuses on cybersecurity and privacy in emerging technologies, particularly cyber-physical systems like autonomous vehicles, drones, and SCADA systems controlling critical infrastructure.

Education:

• Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from University of Maryland, College Park
• B.S. in Computer Science from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia

Research Interests:

• Security of Industrial Control Systems
• Smart Grid and IoT Security
• Cyber-Physical System Exploitation
• Resilience in Critical Infrastructure
• Formal Verification of Safety-Critical Systems

Awards:

• NSF CAREER Award
• 2018 Faculty Excellence in Research Award
• Eugene McDermott Fellow Endowed Chair
• IEEE TCSEC Distinguished Service Award
• Best Paper Awards at ACM CPS & IoT Security, IEEE Smart GridComm, and U.S. Army Research Conference

Grants & Funding: Supported by NSF, ARO, AFOSR, NSA, NIST, MITRE, DHS, DoT, Google, Phoenix Technologies, and Intel. Research emphasizes practical defenses against cyber threats in critical systems.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Cyber-Physical Systems Security Research Group at UCSC, focusing on innovative solutions for securing emerging technologies.