I am an associate professor of Computer Science at Columbia University, specializing in the development of privacy architectures for the web, mobile devices, and smart cities. My work focuses on creating comprehensive, practical solutions to enhance data privacy in these environments. My most recent papers indicate most closely the domain of my focus at any given time.
Current students:
Graduated students for whom I was primary advisor:
Past student co-authors:
I joined Columbia in Fall 2011 after finishing my Ph.D. in Computer Science (CS) at the University of Washington. I did my undergraduate in my home country, Romania, at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, also majoring in CS. I am now part of the Columbia Software Systems Lab, an energetic group of professors and students working on highly relevant challenges in today’s cutting-edge technologies, such as mobile devices, cloud computing, and distributed systems.
For my research in cloud and mobile data privacy, I received an Alfred P. Sloan Faculty Fellowship, a Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship, an NSF CAREER award, a ‘‘Brilliant 10’’ Popular Science nomination, an Early Career Award in Cybersecurity from the University of Washington Center for Academic Excellence, the Honorable Mention for the 2013 inaugural Dennis M. Ritchie Doctoral Dissertation Award, a William Chan Dissertation Award, two best paper awards at top systems conferences, and the first Google Ph.D. Fellowship in Cloud Computing.
I am looking for new Ph.D. students, as well as Columbia project students. If you are a highly motivated person, you have solid coding experience (particularly systems building experience), and you are interested in doing distributed systems research, please email me your resume and tell me about your research interests.
I am not looking for interns or other short-term visitors. So please do not contact me about such opportunities, unless I have explicitly contacted you, your advisor, or your school.
Please see the MS advising section for office hours and appointments.