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STUDENTS


University of Florida


Headshot of Anna Crowder, PhD Student at University of Florida, smiling.

Anna Crowder

PhD Student and Research Assistant

Advised by: Kevin Butler

annacrowder@ufl.edu

Research Interests

Censorship measurement data analysis, harms associated with generative AI, and availability of Computer Security research artifacts

Anna is currently in her final year of her PhD. She grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before venturing off to college where she earned a B.S. in Computer Science 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 Mathematics teacher in Ghana. Upon her return, Anna wanted to pursue a graduate degree which brought her to the Florida Institute of Cybersecurity Research (FICS) at the University of Florida. 

Kevin Childs

PhD Student

Advised by: Kevin Butler

k.childs@ufl.edu

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

a.ibragimov@ufl.edu

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

b.broetopontimed@ufl.edu

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

mpasternak@ufl.edu

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

carson.stillman@ufl.edu

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.

Ethan Wilson

PhD Student

Advised by: Eakta Jain

ethanwilson@ufl.edu

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.

Headshot of Ekin Ercetin, PhD Student at University of Florida, smiling.

Ekin Ercetin

PhD Student

Advised by: Eakta Jain

ekin.ercetin@ufl.edu

Research Interests


Non-photorealistic rendering, privacy, and utility evaluation


University of Washington


Headshot of Yael Eiger, PhD Student at the University of Washington, smiling.

Yael Eiger

PhD Student

yeiger@cs.washington.edu

Research Interests


carceral system; technology in surveillance and monitoring; sentencing algorithms and “risk assessments”; qualitative and quantitative methods (network measurement, reverse engineering, ethnography, surveys, user studies); deceptive design; justice-system polity and case law; consumer protection

My research is concerned with the carceral system and how technology is increasingly implemented for surveillance, monitoring, sentencing algorithms, “risk assessments”, etc. I use qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate these technologies, including network measurement, reverse engineering, ethnography, surveys, and user studies. I am also interested in related interdisciplinary topics like deceptive design, justice-system policy/case law, and consumer protection. I also teach classes in prisons around the Puget Sound.

Headshot of Natalie Grace Brigham, PhD Student, University of Florida

Natalie Grace Brigham

PhD Student

nbrigham@cs.washington.edu

Research Interests


Security and privacy; Human-computer interaction; AI ethics

Grace studies how to better understand and mitigate the sociotechnical harms of emerging technologies, particularly AI systems. Her work has focused on AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery, the use of generative AI in journalism, the impacts of biased outputs on humans, and more.


Oregon State University


PRISM student profile placeholder with large white initials “VH” centered on a navy background, PRISM logo at top left, role “PRISM Student Researcher” below, and “Safety and Society Lab” at the bottom.

Vaughn Hamilton

Research Associate, Safety and Society Lab

vaughn.j.hamilton@gmail.com

Advised by: Elissa Redmiles

Research Interest

security and privacy of vulnerable and marginalized populations; qualitative interview studies; technical analysis; and ethics work.

 

Scholars


University of Florida


Kevin Warren

Research Assistant

Advised by:  Patrick Traynor

kwarren9413@ufl.edu

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. 


Indiana University Bloomington (IUB)


Dr. Mattea Sim

Postdoctoral Scholar

matsim@iu.edu

About

Mattea Sim is a postdoctoral scholar at Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology in 2022 and has since worked with the Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Facial Expression Lab at IU and the Security & Privacy Research Lab at UW. Mattea’s current research focuses on inclusive computing practices at the interface of social psychology and computer security.

 


University of Washington


Kentrell Owens (he/him)

Postdoc, Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy

Advised by: Franziska Roesner & Yoshi Kohno

kentrell@cs.washington.edu

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)

Postdoctoral Fellow at Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University, and Incoming Assistant Professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Advised by: Franziska Roesner & Yoshi Kohno

weimf@cs.washington.edu

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.