STUDENTS
University of Florida
Anna Crowder
PhD Student
Advised by: Kevin Butler
Research Interests
Censorship measurement and user experiences with deepfake audio
Anna is currently in her second year of pursuing a PhD at the University of Florida. She grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before venturing off to college. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Harding University. After completing her undergraduate studies, Anna’s passion for service and exploration led her to join the Peace Corp, where she spent two impactful years as a teacher in Ghana. Upon her return, Anna was so inspired to merge her background in computer science with her passion for humanitarian efforts.
Anna’s motivation drove her to further her education and pursue a PhD. Anna is eager to combine her technical expertise with her drive for human interest work, as she strives to make a positive difference in the world.
Kevin Childs
PhD Student
Advised by: Kevin Butler
Research Interests
Security and Privacy, Societal impact of technology
Kevin Childs received his undergraduate degree at North Carolina State University where he contributed research relating to fitness tracking applications. Motivated by a friend who was stalked through Strava, He led a team to discover that their heatmap platform could reveal the home addresses of highly active users in remote areas. While at NC State he was also a member of the ACC Champion Swimming and Diving team and is now actively training for an Ironman Triathlon.
Azim Ibragimov
Research Assistant
Advised by: Eakta Jain
Research Interests
Biometrics, Privacy, and Computer Vision
Azim Ibragimov is currently pursuing his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Eakta Jain. His research interests center on biometrics and the privacy implications of various sensing modalities. This includes the recognition of individuals based on fingerprints, gait, speech, body movements, and eye movements — as well as the development of techniques that allow individuals to limit or control their identifiability in such systems. He is currently investigating privacy concerns associated with Virtual Reality headsets such as the Meta Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro. Prior to this, he earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida under the supervision of Dr. Sudeep Sarkar. In his spare time, he enjoys visiting Starbucks.
Bernardo Medeiros
Research Assistant
Advised by: Kevin Butler
Research Interests
Tech and policy, human-centered computing, location sharing
Bernardo earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and government from Georgetown University in 2024 and is pursuing his PhD at the University of Florida under the supervision of Dr. Kevin Butler. He is interested in exploring the intersection of technology, privacy, and policymaking, with a particular focus on applying human-centered research methods to examine use of location sharing applications and their impacts on vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Magdalena Pasternak
PhD Student
Advised by: Kevin Butler
Research Interests
Cybersecurity
Magdalena is a PhD student at the University of Florida. Her research focus involves security with large language models, deepfake detection, machine learning, and leveraging electromagnetic signals for obfuscated malware classification.
Carson Stillman
Research Assistant
Advised by: Kevin Butler
Research Interests
Embedded systems security, and Electromagnetic Side-Channels Analysis
Carson is currently pursuing his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Kevin Butler at the University of Florida. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. His current projects include signal analysis for Electromagnetic control-flow attestation. His hobbies include watching movies, reading, cooking, and hiking.
Kevin Warren
Research Assistant
Advised by: Patrick Traynor
Research Interests: Voice Security, Deepfake Detection, Dataset Evaluation, and Meta-Analysis
Kevin graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Computer Science Engineering. He is continuing his studies at UF pursuing his PhD under the advisement of Dr. Patrick Traynor. At the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity (FICS), he is working on detecting audio deepfakes and evaluating the processes researchers use for detection including dataset construction, metric evaluation, and reproducibility. In his free time, Kevin likes to play volleyball, disc golf, and board games with friends.
Ethan Wilson
Advised by: Eakta Jain
PhD Student
Research Interests
Computer graphics, computer vision, machine learning, privacy and security
Ethan’s main research focus is in designing and evaluating generative algorithms for protecting facial privacy in video. He also explores other privacy solutions, such as adaptive personal space boundaries in virtual reality (VR) and operations to de-identify recorded VR motion data in real-time. In these projects, he leverages prior experience in game development to build highly immersive virtual scenes. Ethan is a recipient of the Generation NEXT scholarship and UF Graduate Research Preeminence Award. Ethan received a B.S. in Computational Media at Georgia Tech in 2019, graduating with highest honors.
University of Washington
Kentrell Owens (he/him)
PhD Student
Advised by: Franziska Roesner & Yoshi Kohno
Research Interests
Computer security & privacy; human-computer interaction; surveillance; tech policy & law
Kentrell is a 3rd year PhD student who is still trying to figure things out. Through his research, he attempts to do impactful computer security/privacy research that fulfills his senses of curiosity, justice, and/or hope. He has previously published work on the risks of using smartphone applications for electronic monitoring (e.g., as a condition of probation/parole), surveillance of the communication of incarcerated people and their families, manipulative design patterns, and web authentication.
Miranda Wei (she/her)
PhD Student
Advised by: Franziska Roesner & Yoshi Kohno
Research Interests
Sociotechnical approaches to security and privacy; structural (dis)empowerment; gender; race; social media; critical and feminist theory; surveillance; hate and harassment
Miranda Wei is a PhD student at the University of Washington, where she is a member of the Security and Privacy Research Lab as well as the Tech Policy Lab. Her doctoral research focuses on the application of sociotechnical lenses to security and privacy research, particularly as it relates to gender, structural (dis)empowerment, or modern technologies. She has studied security behaviors, data privacy, social media, and hate and harassment. Her work has been published in 12 peer-reviewed papers and recognized with two best paper honorable mentions. She received a BA in political science from the University of Chicago and an MS in computer science from the University of Washington.