Michelle Mazurek

Michelle Mazurek is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2) at the University of Maryland, College Park. She holds affiliations with UMIACS and is an Affiliate Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Her research focuses on human-centered security and privacy, emphasizing real-world user behavior analysis to improve security practices for professionals and end-users. Key areas include developer security education, end-user security behaviors, and encrypted messaging adoption.

Education:

• Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (2014)
• B.S., Computer Science, University of Maryland (2004)

Research Interests: Dr. Mazurek investigates how humans interact with security systems, particularly in professional (e.g., sysadmins, developers) and everyday contexts. Her work addresses challenges like insecure code propagation from online forums, privacy implications of digital tracking, and safety needs of marginalized groups (e.g., sex workers). She leads the Security, Privacy, People (SP2) lab and collaborates with industry partners to design usable security tools.

Awards:

• NSF CAREER Award (2020)
• CyLab Distinguished Alumni Award (2022)
• Best Paper Awards at USENIX Security (2018) and NSA (2016)

Advising & Leadership: Mazurek advises multiple PhD students in computer science and oversees MC2’s postdoctoral fellowship program. Her leadership expands MC2’s interdisciplinary research in areas like blockchain security, post-quantum cryptography, and human-centered approaches. She also fosters collaborations with industry leaders such as Cisco and Northrop Grumman.

Labs & Teams: Directs the SP2 lab within MC2 and participates in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). Past affiliations include CyLab and the Parallel Data Lab (PDL).