Kevin Fu 傅佳偉 Associate Professor, Computer Science Adjunct, Electrical & Computer Engineering Sloan Research Fellow University of Massachusetts Amherst Contact — PGP Key — Bio — CV

I direct the UMass Amherst Security and Privacy Research Lab, better known to insiders as the SPQR Lab.

SPQR Lab Graduate Research Assistants

Benjamin Ransford

Mastooreh "Negin" Salajegheh

Hong Zhang

You

SPQR Lab Undergraduate Researchers

Prospective Graduate Students

I only hire students who have been admitted to the graduate program at UMass Amherst. If you are interested in an RAship, you will first need to apply via the UMass admissions Web site. Please note that the UMass online admissions Web site is rather clunky. Sorry, but our department is required to use the SPIRE system. I am not a big fan of the system either. Maybe as a first-year project you can redesign the system.

My students and co-authors have a diverse background. Most are computer scientists or electrical engineers with a passion for building secure systems and writing scholarly prose. All have creative outlets such as Latin literature, bread making, rock climbing, archery, and photography to name a few. These creative passions are reflected in our way of doing research. Interested in joining us? Apply for the PhD program via the admissions Web site at UMass Amherst. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply.

Why CS at UMass Amherst rocks.

Are you considering graduate school in general? There are many ways to prepare.

• Become intimately familiar with the latest research in your field of interest. Find a researcher you admire, then read his or her papers.
• As an undergraduate, work with graduate students or a professor on a research project. Get a taste of what graduate school is like. Aim to co-author a paper with your supervisors.
• Read books on the life and expectations of the graduate student. A popular book is Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D.
• Apply for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship by December before starting graduate school. If you have a fellowship, you will have much greater flexibility in selecting research topics — no matter what school you attend.
• Read about the research of your potential graduate advisors. Finding a compatible advisor is critical to your success as a graduate student.
• Most research universities will focus on your independent thinking and participation in undergraduate research rather than test scores and class rank. Grades don't matter except as a minimum barrier to entry.
• Be patient. Faculty receive many requests and often cannot respond to each and every query about admissions. Your job is to convince the admissions committee of your strong potential for research excellence. Spend your time improving your personal research statement.

Graduate Student Alums

Thesis Committees

• Dan Holcomb, ECE, 2006-2007
• Lang Lin, ECE, 2007-
• Penny Ridgdill, Math & Stats, 2007-
• Weifeng Xu, ECE, 2006-2007
• Serge Zhilyaev, ECE, 2010

Past Undergraduate Researchers

• Vladislav Yazhbin, 2009
• John Brattin, 2009
• Deepti Sreepathi, 2008
• Eric Price, 2008
• Jean Fredo Louis, 2008
• Mankin Yuen, 2008
• Zak Wirima, 2008
• Shane Clark. Crypto on UHF RFID tags and anonymous credentials, 2007
• Will Morgan. RFID credit cards and the Proxmark3, 2007
• Rene Santiago. Development of undergraduate Electronic Identification Lab (RFID), 2007
• David Eiselen. Batteryless clocks for RFID tags and espresso RFID payment system, 2007
• Timur Alperovich. Anonymous credentials and secure file systems, 2007
• Justin Katsugi. GNU Radio, 2007
• Anthony Swochak. RFID espresso payment system, 2007.
• Mike Ro. RFID security and mobile phones, 2006
• Russell B. Silva. Linux device driver programming for RFID hardware, 2006
• Robert Lynchev. Parasitic content distribution using the all-or-nothing transform, 2005
• Anjali Prakash. Key regression command-line tool (Johns Hopkins, 2004)
• Megumi Ando. Cryptographic reductions (MIT, 2003)
• Rachel Greenstadt. Cookie collection (MIT, 2001)
• Tina Tyan. SFS tools (MIT, 2000)
• Frank Dabek. SFSRO database (MIT, 2000)
• Drew Samnick. Cepheus access control server (MIT, 1999)

High School Mentoring

In my role as the Publications Chair for the National Junior Classical League, I mentor the editor who publishes a quarterly periodical. The student editor has the unique opportunity of producing creative content and managing a scholarly publication far beyond the typical high school experience. Each year, high school students elect an editor from the body of over 40,000 participating students who study Latin, Greek, and classical history. I am elected to this volunteer position by members of the American Classical League for a ten year period within 2004-2014.

• Amber Houston, Florida State University School, Tallahassee, FL (2010-11)
• Olivia Ortiz, Tempe Preparatory Academy, Tempe, Arizona (2009-10, now University of Chicago)
• Jacob Welch, Madison Central High School, Richmond, Kentucky (2008-09, now University of Kentucky)
• Pranish Kantak. Fargo North High School, Fargo, North Dakota (2007-08, now Lehigh University)
• Caitlin Johnston. Crown Point High School, Crown Point, Indiana (2006-07, now Indiana University)
• Rachel Singh. Boston Latin Academy, Boston, Massachusetts (2005-06, now Harvard University)
• Meredith Dempsey. Lexington High School, Lexington, South Carolina (2004-05, now Furman University)