Contact Info
Phone
773-834-3291
Office
Crerar 371

I am the Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at University of Chicago. I received my PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park in 1999. Prior to joining University of Chicago in 2017, I spent 6 years in industry labs (Bell-Labs, NJ and Microsoft Research Asia), and 12 years at University of California at Santa Barbara. At UChicago, I co-direct the SAND Lab (Security, Algorithms, Networking and Data) together with Prof. Ben Y. Zhao.

I was selected as one of the MIT Technology Review’s TR 35 (2005) for my work on Cognitive Radios; my work was featured by MIT Technology Review as one of the 10 Emerging Technologies (2006). I am a fellow of the World Technology Network, an IEEE Fellow (class’15), and an ACM Fellow (2023).

Research

Focus Areas: Mobile Computing, Security and Privacy, Adversarial ML, Networking and Systems

Over my 20 years in research labs and academia, my research has evolved and adapted to target important high impact research problems that match my interests and research background. Both Ben and I subscribe to the practice of focusing on innovative ideas and maximizing impact over incrementalism. In the past, this has covered significant ground in wireless networking, mobile systems, network measurements and security. Most recently, I am focusing my attention on two broad areas: mobile/IoT sensing and its implications on security and privacy (what does the increasing ubiquity of sensors for both wireless RF and audio mean for personal privacy and security), and security & privacy of deep learning systems (how can we design and train deep neural networks to improve security for computer systems while remaining robust against a wide range of powerful adversarial attacks).

Examples of recent research projects: Wearable Microphone Jammer, Image Cloaking for Face Privacy.

Research

AI & Machine Learning

Foundations and applications of computer algorithms making data-centric models, predictions, and decisions

Data & Databases

Systems and algorithms for managing and analyzing data at scale

Security & Privacy

Understanding and defending against emerging threats in our increasingly computational world

Systems, Architecture & Networking

Design and analysis of computing systems: cloud, edge, Internet, quantum, and beyond

Labs & Groups

Systems Group

A vibrant, collaborative research community with diverse, synergistic research interests spanning systems, programming languages and software engineering, software and hardware...

SAND (Security, Algorithms, Networking and Data) Lab

Ben Y. Zhao, Heather Zheng
SAND Lab spans research topics in security, machine learning, networked systems, HCI, data mining and modeling.

News & Events

Three UChicago PhD Students From The Department of Computer Science Named To Forbes 30 Under 30 List

Nov 28, 2023

UChicago Researchers Win Internet Defense Prize and Distinguished Paper Awards at USENIX Security

Sep 05, 2023

UChicago Scientists Develop New Tool to Protect Artists from AI Mimicry

Feb 13, 2023

Professor Heather Zheng Named ACM Fellow

Jan 18, 2023

UChicago CS Students Emily Wenger and Xu Zhang Receive Harper Fellowships

Sep 14, 2022

Three UChicago CS Security Projects Receive Funding From c3.ai Institute

Mar 25, 2022
Nov
02

Yuxin Chen (UChicago) – Machine-Augmented Humans as a Privacy Armor

Nov 02, 2021
May
12

CDAC Data & Technology Outlook: Future of AI and Data Science in Telecommunications

Center for Data and Computing
May 12, 2021

Ten Papers at CHI 2021 Flourish Frontiers of HCI Research at UChicago CS

May 11, 2021

Your Unique Muscle Response Could Become a New Approach to Digital Authentication

Apr 15, 2021

CDAC Rising Stars in Data Science Workshop

Jan 11, 2021

“Bracelet of Silence” Named Finalist in 2020 Fast Company Design Awards

Sep 30, 2020
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