Assistant Professors Adwait Nadkarni and Oscar Chaparro have recently been awarded prestigious CAREER grants by the National Science Foundation, bringing the total value of their joint awards to over $1 million.
While creating strong passwords and keeping software updated are essential steps for consumers to safeguard their data and devices, they may question the stability and security of products and technologies at a higher level. Two projects led by Nadkarni and Chaparro, both assistant professors of computer science, will focus on enhancing smart device security compliance and improving software code change decisions, offering greater assurance.
Nadkarni and Chaparro are the newest recipients of the esteemed CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, which acknowledges early-career faculty leadership in education and research. The total value of their awards surpasses $1 million.
Provost Peggy Agouris expressed her pride in their accomplishments and anticipated further achievements. “As a recipient myself of this honor back in 1997, I recognize the value the CAREER award bestows individually to researchers doing great work early in their careers as well as the distinction lent to the institution,” said Provost Peggy Agouris. “They’ve added two fresh feathers in our cap. I could not be more proud of Adwait and Oscar for this recognition, and I look forward to seeing what they both accomplish next.”
Students at William & Mary will be involved in both projects, providing mentoring opportunities. Nadkarni will develop experiential learning activities to augment security course offerings, while Chaparro’s tools will be integrated into undergraduate and graduate courses.
Evgenia Smirni, Sidney P. Chockley Professor and computer science department chair, emphasized that these awards are a testament to the department’s exceptional research history.
Nadkarni’s project seeks to revolutionize security compliance for smart products by helping laboratories improve evaluations and assisting vendors in selecting appropriate labs. His initiative will develop data-driven methods to ensure testing centers properly identify vulnerabilities and reimagine an effective system for automatic evaluation and actionable feedback.
Chaparro’s project aims to enhance software quality by helping developers make better code change decisions. The project will develop a theory of code change decisions, create algorithms and tools to capture real-time information about software changes, and recommend code modifications based on past experiences. The results will be shared with the broader software development community, fostering a radical shift in development practices.
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