Dr. Ivan Puddu is a Researcher affiliated with the Institute for Information Security at ETH Zürich. His work focuses on advancing cybersecurity, particularly in the realms of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), hardware security, and privacy-preserving technologies. He explores vulnerabilities in modern computing systems, including attacks on enclave-based security mechanisms and side-channel exploits. His research also addresses distributed systems, blockchain, and FPGA-accelerated architectures, aiming to enhance system sovereignty and data integrity. Notable contributions include studies on code confidentiality in TEEs, disaggregated memory systems, and mitigating security threats in low-power networks.
Yan Chen is a Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University's Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He leads the Northwestern Lab for Internet and Security Technology (LIST) and the Center for Ultra-scale Computing and Information Security. His research focuses on cybersecurity, network measurement, and distributed systems security. Chen holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (2003), M.S. from SUNY Stony Brook, and B.E. from Zhejiang University. Research interests include securing networking systems, intrusion detection, cloud-native platforms, and mobile security. Notable awards include the DOE Early CAREER Award (2005), Air Force Young Investigator Award (2007), and ACM ASPLOS'18 Most Influential Paper Award. His work has been cited over 17,000 times with an h-index of 62 (2024). Key contributions include the LIST lab's advancements in APT detection, provenance tracking in microservices, and security frameworks like FlowCog. He advises numerous Ph.D. students and has graduated over 20 researchers now in academia and industry.
Peter F. Halpin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education. He holds a PhD in Psychology (Theory and Methods) from Simon Fraser University and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on psychometric methodology, educational measurement, and statistical approaches to analyzing collaborative learning and teacher practices. Halpin has been recognized with awards including the National Academy of Education/Spencer Fellowship and NYU's High Merit Distinction in Research. Key research areas include developing statistical models for small group collaborations, analyzing educational technology data, and improving measurement tools for early childhood development (e.g., IDELA assessments). His work bridges theoretical psychometrics with applied educational research, addressing challenges in global education measurement and program evaluation. Halpin has authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles and contributed to open-source software projects like the scirt and hawkes R packages. He has advised numerous graduate students and led grants totaling over $2 million, including IES-funded studies on collaboration assessment and UNESCO-linked projects measuring educational outcomes in low-resource settings. Halpin also serves on editorial boards for journals like Psychometrika and Journal of Educational Measurement , and has presented globally at venues including the Psychometric Society and NCME conferences.
Caroline Trippel is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Her research focuses on ensuring correctness and security in computer systems through formal methods, with particular emphasis on hardware verification, memory consistency models, and mitigating vulnerabilities like Spectre/Meltdown. She previously worked at Facebook’s FAIR SysML group before joining Stanford. Education: PhD in Computer Science, Princeton University BS in Computer Engineering, Purdue University Her work has influenced the RISC-V ISA memory consistency model and produced tools like CheckMate, which automatically synthesizes hardware exploits for security verification. She explores privacy-preserving ML, ML-driven hardware optimizations (e.g., neural recommendation), and datacenter reliability. Her research has earned awards including the 2020 ACM SIGARCH Dissertation Award and NVIDIA Fellowship. Key contributions include: Formal analysis of RISC-V memory models Exploitation synthesis frameworks (CheckMate) Hardware-software contracts for security Defenses against microarchitectural side-channel attacks Current projects include: VeriCoder: LLM-enhanced RTL code verification Multi-μPATH synthesis for security validation Near-data processing (RecSSD) for recommendation systems
Laurie Williams serves as a Goodnight Distinguished University Professor in the Computer Science Department within the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University. She co-directs both the NCSU Secure Computing Institute and the NC State Science of Security Lablet, demonstrating deep institutional leadership in cybersecurity research. With over 260 refereed publications, her work establishes her as a prominent figure in software security academia. Her research spans critical areas including software security, agile development practices (particularly continuous deployment), software reliability, and software supply chain security. Williams focuses on practical security solutions addressing modern challenges like malicious dependencies in open-source ecosystems, AI-generated code vulnerabilities, and runtime protection mechanisms. Her work bridges theoretical security principles with industry-relevant applications. Recent publications reveal strong trends toward software supply chain security, with multiple 2024-2025 papers addressing vulnerability exploitability, malicious commit detection, and metrics-driven security control selection. Her research increasingly incorporates machine learning for threat detection while maintaining focus on human factors in secure development practices. IEEE Fellow (2018) National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2004) ACM SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award (2009) Multiple IBM Faculty Awards (2002-2012) NCSU Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award (2015-2016) Williams leads multiple major NSF-funded projects including the $5.7M SaTC Frontiers grant on secure software supply chains and the Science of Security Lablet with $3.6M in DoD funding. Her research emphasizes practical industry impact through collaborations with Cisco and Laboratory for Analytic Sciences. She actively mentors through the NCSU Research Leadership Academy and maintains significant educational outreach in software security. Her laboratory work centers on the Secure Computing Institute and Science of Security Lablet, where her team develops frameworks for vulnerability prediction, supply chain risk assessment, and secure development methodologies. Current projects focus on machine learning integrity, cognitive modeling for security decisions, and empirical analysis of build/deployment logs for anomaly detection.
Associate Professor Dan Dongseong Kim is Deputy Director of UQ Cybersecurity and an Associate Professor at The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. Previously, he held permanent academic positions at The University of Canterbury (UC), New Zealand (2011-2018) as a Senior Lecturer and Lecturer. His research focuses on Cybersecurity and Dependability for AI, IoT, Autonomous Vehicles, Cloud Computing, and Moving Target Defenses (MTD). Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Engineering from Korea Aerospace University Postdoctoral Research at Duke University (2008-2011) Visiting Scholar at University of Maryland (2007) Dan's work explores Graphical Security Models , Moving Target Defense for proactive resilience, and AI-Driven Cybersecurity with emphasis on adversarial robustness and interpretable models. His recent publications (2024-2025) span journals like IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing and conferences such as DSN , addressing automated defense, evolving attacks, and hardware-aware security frameworks. He has advised 15 Ph.D. graduates, including researchers now at institutions like RMIT University, La Trobe University, and CSIRO's Data61. Current supervision includes projects on Automated Penetration Testing , AI-Based Intrusion Response , and Moving Target Defense . Dan's research is funded by agencies including the Republic of Korea's Agency for Defence Development and US Army Research Lab . His professional roles include Associate Editor for IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials and Steering Committee Chair for IEEE PRDC .
Dr. John Hastings is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Dakota State University, part of the Beacom College of Computer & Cyber Sciences. With nearly 35 years of experience, he specializes in teaching and curriculum development in computer science, combining academic rigor with industry insights from his roles as an AI/ML engineer, team leader, and business owner. Education: Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Wyoming M.S., Computer Science, University of Wyoming B.S., Computer Science, University of Wyoming Research interests include machine learning, AI applications in natural language processing (LLMs), generative AI, computer vision, ecological/environmental AI, AI in games, and gamification in education. Recent publications focus on cybersecurity challenges, AI ethics, and insider threat detection. His work has been recognized with awards such as the AAAI’s Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI) Award and an International IPM Award for Excellence related to the CARMA AI tool. Teaching emphasizes active learning and practical skills, including courses on programming, data structures, AI, and cybersecurity. He advocates for gamification in education to enhance student engagement and success.
Luca Carloni is a Professor of Computer Science and Department Chair at Columbia University's Columbia Engineering. He leads the System-Level Design Group, focusing on heterogeneous system-on-chip (SoC) architectures, networks-on-chip (NoC), and embedded systems. Carloni holds a Laurea Summa Cum Laude in Electronics Engineering from the University of Bologna and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley. His work emphasizes specialized hardware design, energy-efficient computing, and FPGA-based prototyping. Research interests include system-level design methodologies for SoCs, embedded accelerators, and quantum computing hardware. He has pioneered frameworks like Embedded Scalable Platforms (ESP) and tools like MosaicSim for rapid SoC prototyping. Carloni has received numerous awards, including the NSF CAREER Award (2006), IEEE Fellow (2017), and multiple best paper awards at DATE and CloudCom conferences. He has served on editorial boards of IEEE Transactions on CAD and ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing , and chaired key conferences like EMSOFT and ESWeek. His research addresses challenges in heterogeneous architectures, power management, and the intersection of machine learning with embedded systems. Current projects explore quantum control systems, brain-computer interfaces, and energy-efficient datacenter computing.
Arrvindh Shriraman is an Associate Professor and Program Director of Software Systems at Simon Fraser University's School of Computing Science in Surrey. His research focuses on energy-efficient software, multicore memory systems, and optimizing hardware/software interfaces for parallel programming. He holds a Ph.D. (2010) and M.S. (2006) in Computer Science from the University of Rochester, and a B.Eng. (2004) from the University of Madras. He teaches courses on parallel programming and energy-conscious software design. His research interests include synchronization mechanisms for domain-specific architectures, cache optimization, and FPGA-based acceleration. He has contributed to frameworks like Mu-grind for HLS-generated RTL instrumentation and TAPAS for parallel accelerator generation. Notable projects include RANGE-BLOCKS for synchronization in domain-specific systems and TapeFlow for gradient computation in neural networks. His work emphasizes real-time verification of autonomous systems and safety-critical trajectory planning for underwater vehicles. Shriraman collaborates closely with the Tangent Lab, exploring cutting-edge solutions in hardware-software co-design and embedded systems. His teaching and research bridge theoretical computer science with applied engineering challenges, addressing scalability, efficiency, and safety in modern computing systems.
Shih-Chii Liu holds the rank of Privatdozent (Associate Professor) in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zürich. He is affiliated with the Institute of Neuroinformatics , a joint institute between the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. His research focuses on neuromorphic engineering, bio-inspired neural hardware, and edge computing systems, emphasizing energy-efficient algorithms and sensor technologies. Key research areas include neuromorphic sensors for real-time data processing, sparsity-aware neural networks, and adaptive computing architectures for edge devices. His work spans applications such as speech enhancement, wearable health monitoring, and bio-inspired keyword spotting systems. He leads the Sensors Research Group, which develops neuromorphic systems integrating novel sensors, spiking neural networks, and low-power hardware accelerators. Recent projects include the DeltaKWS low-power keyword spotting IC, EFLOP computational cost metrics for spiking networks, and NeuroBench benchmarking frameworks for neuromorphic systems. His contributions emphasize bridging biological neural principles with practical engineering solutions for IoT and embedded systems. Liu teaches courses such as Neuromorphic Engineering I and collaborates on cross-disciplinary projects involving neuroprosthetics, smart wearables, and multimodal sensor fusion. His work is characterized by hardware-software co-design approaches to tackle challenges in real-time, low-latency, and energy-constrained computing environments.
Tom Conte is an academic leader with a joint appointment in the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering and School of Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology. As the founding director of the Center for Research into Novel Computing Hierarchies (CRNCH), he specializes in computer architecture and compiler optimization. His work focuses on manycore architectures, energy-efficient microprocessor design, and embedded system architectures. Prior to Georgia Tech, he directed the Center for Embedded Systems Research at North Carolina State University. He holds IEEE Fellow status and served as 2015 President of the IEEE Computer Society, co-leading the IEEE Rebooting Computing Initiative since 2011. Dr. Conte earned his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware (1986), followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1988 and 1992). His research has been recognized with prestigious awards including the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core Member award and the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award (1996). His research interests span quantum computing, 3D chip architectures, energy-efficient processing, and post-Moore computing innovations. He has pioneered initiatives like the Superstrider architecture and CREEPY energy-efficient processing frameworks. Recent work includes advancements in quantum programming languages (e.g., Qwerty) and hybrid quantum-classical systems. Awards: IEEE Fellow, Young Alumni Achievement Award, CAREER Award Leadership: IEEE Computer Society President (2015), CRNCH Director Key Projects: Rebooting Computing Initiative, Superstrider Architecture His lab’s contributions include novel compiler optimizations for manycore systems, smart NIC offloading techniques, and thermodynamically inspired computing models. Conte’s work bridges academic research with industry needs through interdisciplinary collaborations and standardization efforts.
Prof. Dr. Christian Rossow is a faculty member at CISPA – Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Dortmund, Germany. He also serves as a professor at Saarland University and an honorary professor at TU Dortmund. His research focuses on network security , system/software security , and cyber attacks and countermeasures . His recent publications include work on CSS exploitation for browser fingerprinting, Spectre mitigations on ARM, DDoS attack analysis, and hardware-assisted security extensions. Christian Rossow regularly serves as a PC member and track chair for top cybersecurity conferences like ACM CCS and USENIX Security . He advises multiple PhD students and leads a research group exploring foundational and practical security solutions.
Russell Tessier is a Professor and Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, affiliated with the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences. His research focuses on reconfigurable computing, FPGA architectures, and hardware security, with notable contributions in CAD algorithms for FPGAs, embedded systems, and multi-tenant FPGA vulnerability analysis. Education: B.S.C.S.E., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1989) M.S. and Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1992 and 1999) Research Interests: Dr. Tessier's work spans FPGA security (e.g., side-channel attacks, power distribution vulnerabilities), reconfigurable cloud computing, and hardware acceleration for applications like SAR imaging and machine learning. His lab, the Reconfigurable Computing Group, develops open-source FPGA cores (e.g., FlexGrip GPGPU, DE4 NetFPGA) and explores cutting-edge security countermeasures. Awards and Honors: Chancellor's Leadership Fellow (2015-2016) NSF Information Technology Research Grant Lilly Teaching Fellow (2002-2003) Multiple College of Engineering Excellence Awards Grants and Projects: Active funding includes NSF SaTC grants on reconfigurable cloud security and NASA support for snowpack measurement systems. His research also addresses FPGA-based solutions for cybersecurity, such as intrusion detection and power-side channel mitigation. Labs and Teams: Leads the UMass Reconfigurable Computing Group, which collaborates on open-source FPGA tools, security frameworks, and embedded system designs. The group maintains platforms like the DE4 NetFPGA and FlexGrip architecture.
Abdullah Muzahid is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University (since August 2024), previously serving as an Assistant Professor there since August 2018. Prior, he held an Assistant Professor role at the University of Texas at San Antonio (2012-2018). He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2012), focusing on architectural support for debugging concurrency bugs under Prof. Josep Torrellas. Education: Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2012) M.S., Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009) B.S., Computer Science and Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (2005) Research Interests: His work spans Computer Architecture , Systems , and Artificial Intelligence , with focus on multiprocessor architecture, parallel programming, debugging, and applying machine learning to system optimization. Recent projects include cache indexing via entropy estimation, DNN training acceleration, and hardware-software co-design for security. Awards: NSF CAREER Award (2017) Excellence in Research Award (UTSA, 2015 & 2017) W. J. Poppelbaum Award (UIUC, 2012) Intel Ph.D. Fellowship (2011) Grants & Advising: He leads NSF-funded projects on robust deep learning and stream processing systems. Advised 5 PhD graduates and currently mentors 4 PhD students. Served on program committees for ISCA, HPCA, MICRO, and as NSF panelist. Labs/Teams: Active in Texas A&M’s Computer Architecture group, collaborating on machine programming, hardware security, and AI-driven systems optimization.
Jelena Mirkovic serves as Principal Scientist at USC Information Sciences Institute (USC/ISI) and Research Associate Professor at the University of Southern California's Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science. She has held faculty positions at USC since 2010, progressing from Research Assistant Professor to her current role as Research Associate Professor since 2017, while also serving as Project Leader at USC/ISI. Her educational background includes: PhD in Computer Science from UCLA (2003) MS in Computer Science from UCLA (2000) B.Sc. in Computer Science from University of Belgrade, Serbia (1998) Mirkovic's research spans network security, human-centered attacks, and cybersecurity experimentation infrastructure. Her work focuses on critical security challenges including botnets, denial-of-service attacks, IP spoofing, vulnerability scanning, and user-centric privacy. She has pioneered methodologies for security experiments and led major infrastructure projects including the DETER testbed and SPHERE (Security and Privacy Heterogeneous Environment for Reproducible Experimentation). Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent innovation across multiple security domains. Her work demonstrates strong technical depth in DDoS defense systems (particularly DNS protection), binary vulnerability analysis, privacy-preserving systems, and security experimentation infrastructure. A notable trend is her focus on bridging theoretical security concepts with practical implementation through large-scale testbeds and real-world data analysis. Her significant scientific achievements include: IEEE Senior Member distinction Best paper award at IEEE COMSNETS 2023 for DNS DDoS defense research Mirkovic has secured substantial research funding as Principal Investigator or Co-PI on numerous grants from NSF, DHS, and other agencies. Current major projects include SPHERE (Security and Privacy Heterogeneous Environment for Reproducible Experimentation), DISCERN (Datasets to Illuminate Suspicious Computations), and modernizing DeterLab education infrastructure. She has successfully led multiple REU sites focused on cybersecurity education and workforce development. She directs the STEEL (Security Research Lab) at USC/ISI, which develops innovative security solutions through interdisciplinary research in network security, human factors in security, and cybersecurity experimentation infrastructure. The lab emphasizes practical implementations that address real-world security challenges while advancing theoretical understanding of security systems.
