I am an Associate Professor (without indefinite tenure) at
Carnegie Mellon University's
Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
I am also co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of
FuguUX,
an early-stage start-up dedicated to improving web usability.
At CMU, I direct the
SPUD (Security, Privacy, Usability and Design) Lab.
Our work, at the intersection of HCI, AI and cybersecurity, is oriented around answering:
How can we design systems that empower people with improved agency over their personal data and experiences online?
Some key research directions include:
AI Privacy for Practitioners:
Privy (CHI HM)
AI Privacy Taxonomy (CHI BP)
Barriers to AI Privacy Work (USENIX SEC DP)
Designing for AI Privacy (CSCW HM)
Human-AI Teaming for Usable S&P:
AI Privacy Risk Estimates (CHI)
Imago Obscura (UIST)
Informed Disclosure Decisions (CSCW)
Evaluating Language Model Privacy:
Agent Decisions Reveal Bias (FAccT)
VLM Geolocation Privacy (EMNLP)
VLM Contextual Integrity (ICLR)
Human-centered Adversarial ML:
Subversive AI (NeurIPS workshop)
Human-acceptability of Anti-Facial Recognition (CSCW)
Data Defenses against LLMs (pre-print)
Privacy Collective Action & Governance:
Orchestrating Distributed Collectives (CHI)
Taxonomy of Lived Privacy Harms (FAccT)
Privacy for the People (IEEE S&P Mag)
Physically-intuitive Privacy and Security:
Smart Webcam Cover (IMWUT)
Powering for Privacy (USENIX SEC)
On-demand RFID (USEC)
A few of my papers have been recognized with awards : a best paper at UbiComp (2013) and CHI (2024), a distinguished paper at SOUPS (2020) and USENIX Security (2024), five best paper honorable mentions at CHI (2016, 2017, 2020, 2024, 2026), a best paper honorable mention at CSCW (2021), and an honorable mention for the NSA's Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper (2014). My lab's work has been generously supported by the NSF, Facebook, Georgia Tech, and CMU. My work has also been covered by the popular press, including features on The Atlantic, The Financial Times and Dark Reading.
Not Recruiting
Prospective Ph.D. Students
While I am not currently looking for new Ph.D. students, I encourage you to apply to the
HCII Ph.D. program
at Carnegie Mellon and mention my name in your application. I'm afraid that I am unlikely to respond
to cold e-mails due to time constraints.
