About Me
I am a member of the teaching faculty in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the associate director of the Digital Forensics Lab in CICS, and co-president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors, the labor union that represents faculty and librarians on the UMass Amherst campus.
- File and network forensics
- Anonymity systems
- Computer science pedagogy
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PhD, Computer Science, 2008
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MS, Computer Science, 2003
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BS, Computer Science, 2000
Contact
- liberato@cs.umass.edu
- +1 413 545 3061
- 140 Governors Drive, Room 318, Amherst, MA 01003
- Office hours, Spring 2025: by appointment
Teaching
In Spring 2024 I taught CICS 210: Data Structures.
In Fall 2023 I taught CICS 210: Data Structures.
In Spring 2023 I taught CICS 210: Data Structures.
In Fall 2022 I taught COMPSCI 230: Computer Systems Principles.
In Spring 2022 I taught COMPSCI 186: Using Data Structures and COMPSCI 590K: Advanced Digital Forensics Systems.
In Fall 2021 I taught two first year seminars, CICS 191FY1-19: CS Major RAP, and FFYS 191CICS1: Computational Thinking for the Complete Novice.
In Spring 2021 I taught COMPSCI 186: Using Data Structures (face-to-face, in an otherwise mostly online semester at UMass).
In Fall 2020 I taught COMPSCI 186: Using Data Structures as a purely online course.
In Spring 2020 I taught COMPSCI 590K: Advanced Digital Forensics Systems. I was a finalist for a Distinguished Teaching award.
In Fall 2019 I taught COMPSCI 186: Using Data Structures and CICS 191CMPS2: CS Major RAP First Year Seminar.
In Spring 2019 I taught COMPSCI 186: Using Data Structures, COMPSCI 365: Digital Forensics, and COMPSCI 590F: Advanced Digital Forensics. I was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching award, and I received the College Outstanding Teaching award.
In Fall 2018 I taught COMPSCI 186: Using Data Structures and COMPSCI 391L: Computer Crime Law. I was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award.
In Spring 2018 I taught COMPSCI 365/590F: Digital Forensics and INFOSEC 690F: Fraud Detection.
In Fall 2017 I taught COMPSCI 190D: Using Data Structures and COMPSCI 391L: Computer Crime Law, and was a finalist for a Distinguished Teaching Award.
In Spring 2017 I taught COMPSCI 190D: Using Data Structures and COMPSCI 365/590F: Digital Forensics.
In Fall 2016 I taught COMPSCI 190D: Using Data Structures and COMPSCI 391L/591L: Computer Crime Law, and was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award.
In Spring 2016 I taught COMPSCI 290NW: A Networked World.
In Spring 2015 I taught CMPSCI 187: Programming with Data Structures and was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award.
In Fall 2014 I taught both CMPSCI 290NW: A Networked World and CMPSCI 383: Artificial Intelligence.
I taught CMPSCI 453: Computer Networking in Spring 2014.
Along with Brian Levine, I taught a course on Computer Crime Law (CMPSCI 391LI) in Fall 2011.
I taught classes on Computer and Network Security at Trinity College (CPSC415, Fall 2008), Connecticut College (COM325, Spring 2008) and Wesleyan University (COMP360, Fall 2007), where I was a visiting assistant professor. I was the instructor for Architecture and Assembly Language at UMass in the summer of 2001.
Service
In AY 2024–2025, I chair our College’s Introductory Course Sequence committee.
I help coordinate and administer UMass’s CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service.
I administer the UMass Trace Repository. Send us your data!
I have been a member of the UMass Academic Honesty Board since AY 2015.
I am a Faculty Senator, and a member of the Faculty Senate’s Academic Matters Council. I also serve on the AMC Policy and Calendar Subcommittees.
I am a co-president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors, the labor union that represents faculty and librarians at UMass Amherst, and a member of our bargaining team.
Recent Posts
Update 2022-08-04: I’m told that UMass changed its Azure authentication policy in late June, and Thunderbird now once again works out-of-the-box with UMass’s Office 365 mail service.
Every fall I get emails from prospective undergraduates asking questions about UMass and our programs in CICS.
These questions and requests are usually one or more of the following:
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How would you rate the X at UMass, where X is one or more of:
- undergraduate life
- the undergraduate CS program
- the faculty in CS
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Tell me why I should I choose UMass over other schools.
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Will I get to take a class with a particular professor?
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Will I get a top internship/job placement?
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Will I get to do undergraduate research?
This post is a collection of my thoughts on these topics.
(In particular, it is not a reflection of UMass’s or CICS’s official positions on these questions, which you can learn more about here and here, respectively.)
Publications