J. Todd McDonald

Dr. J. Todd McDonald is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of South Alabama's School of Computing. He serves as Director of the Center for Forensics, Information Technology, and Security (CFITS) and has held academic roles including Associate Professor (2011-2014) and Assistant Professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology (2006-2009). His education includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Florida State University (2006), MS in Computer Engineering from AFIT (2000), MBA from University of Phoenix (1996), and BS from the U.S. Air Force Academy (1990).

Research Interests: Focus on software/hardware protection (obfuscation, watermarking), malware analysis, secure embedded systems, and cybersecurity. Notable projects include Phase-Space Analysis for seizure prediction, CAN network security, and development of the Program Encryption Toolkit (PET) for circuit protection research.

Publications: Over 80 peer-reviewed articles in journals/conferences (e.g., IEEE, ACM) covering topics like side-channel analysis, malware detection, and cybersecurity frameworks. Recent work includes 2025 research on embedded system anomaly detection and 2021 studies in Android malware classification.

• Awarded Best Poster (IEEE HOST 2016) and Best Paper (CISR 2014)
• Managed NSF Scholarship for Service program ($6M+ funding)
• Advised 20+ graduate students in cybersecurity and software protection
• Led USA's DayZero Cyber Defense Competition teams (5th NCCDC 2017)

Labs/Teams: SPERG (System Protection & Exploitation Research Group), CFITS directorship, and leadership in SSPREW workshop series. Active in developing cybersecurity education curricula and industry partnerships.