Jianwei Niu

Jianwei Niu is a Professor of Computer Science and Dean of University College at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo and a B.S. from Jilin University. Her research focuses on cybersecurity, privacy compliance, formal methods, and software engineering. Dr. Niu’s work emphasizes rigorous specification and verification techniques to ensure software dependability, particularly in mobile and healthcare privacy policy analysis, secure information sharing, and access control systems.

Education:

• Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Waterloo (2005)
• B.S., Computer Science, Jilin University

Research Interests:

Dr. Niu’s research bridges formal methods with practical cybersecurity challenges. Key areas include:

• Privacy Policy Analysis: Mapping natural language policies to code for compliance verification (e.g., mobile apps, healthcare systems).
• Formal Verification: Developing frameworks to ensure software systems meet security and privacy guarantees.
• Secure Information Sharing: Designing group-centric models to balance data accessibility and confidentiality.

Grants & Awards:

• NSF CNS-0964710: $1.16M for privacy policy enforcement frameworks (2011–2016)
• NSA/CMU Subcontract: $220K for mobile privacy policy analysis (2014–2017)
• Best Paper Awards (2012, 2015)

Advising & Teaching:

• Advises Ph.D. students in privacy, formal methods, and cybersecurity.
• Teaches courses like Software Engineering (CS3773), Software Specification & Verification (CS6133), and Requirements Analysis (CS645).

Labs & Collaborations:

Leads projects at the intersection of academia and industry, collaborating with institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft. Her work supports secure healthcare systems, mobile app privacy, and policy-driven software development.