Assane Gueye
Associate Teaching Professor, CMU-Africa
Co-director, CyLab-Africa
Co-director, the Upanzi Network
Assane Gueye joined Carnegie Mellon University Africa on August 1, 2020. Prior to joining CMU-Africa, he was a faculty member at the ICT Department at the University Alioune Diop of Bambey, Senegal, where he also leads the research group “Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour le Développement” (TIC4Dev). Gueye also holds a guest researcher position with the National Institute for Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA.
Assane completed his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley in March 2011. He received a master’s degree in 2004 in communication systems engineering from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.
His research focuses in two main areas: performance evaluation and security of large-scale communication systems, and information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D). Assane is a Fellow of the Next Einstein Forum (Class of 2016). In 2019 he was nominated as a member of the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) inaugural Fellow Class.
Education
2011 Ph.D, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UC Berkeley
2004 M.S., Communications Systems, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Research Interests
- AI and ML for security
- Applications of security and privacy
- blockchain
- blockchain and cryptocurrencies
- communication systems
- cyber physical systems security and privacy
- energy and critical infrastructure security
- ICT for development
- intrusion and anomaly detection and prevention
- IoT security and privacy
- machine learning
- network security
- privacy
- protocol security
- security
- security education, awareness, and training
- systems security
Media mentions
Dark Reading
Gueye and Kearns quoted on African cybersecurity training
CyLab’s Megan Kearns and CMU-Africa’s Assane Gueye were quoted in Dark Reading about new cybersecurity training initiatives in Africa. Competitions like picoCTF-Africa create accessible opportunities to grow cybersecurity talent.
Security Boulevard
Upanzi Network research covered in Security Boulevard
Research from CMU-Africa's Upanzi Network and Approov was highlighted in Security Boulevard.
CMU Engineering
Helping African fintech companies provide secure services
Carnegie Mellon University Africa’s Upanzi Network in collaboration with Approov have created APKIT, an accessible cybersecurity tool for financial technology developers.
Gueye receives Cybersecurity Excellence Award
CMU-Africa’s Assane Gueye received the Cybersecurity Excellence Award in the category of Academia at the 2025 African Cybersecurity Summit, which is co-hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco, through the General Directorate of Information Systems Security (DGSSI), in collaboration with Smart Africa.
CMU Engineering
An app to detect birth asphyxia in Africa
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University are developing an app called HumekaFL to detect birth asphyxia in newborn babies in developing countries.
Carnegie Mellon University Africa
Improving privacy for digital public goods
Researchers with the Upanzi Network have developed recommendations for the Digital Public Goods Alliance to increase transparency about users’ data privacy.
mosip16.9
Upanzi Network featured for Digital ID Hackathon initiative
CMU-Africa’s Upanzi Network was featured in mosip16.9 for their Digital ID Hackathon. The hackathons are part of a larger initiative to increase the technical capacity of participants, promote innovation, and foster the next generation of thinkers in the field of digital identity.
CMU Engineering
CMU-Africa expands digital public infrastructure initiative
The Upanzi Network will fund research projects in Morocco, Botswana, and South Africa, with plans for additional partnerships.
Carnegie Mellon University Africa
A honeynet infrastructure to battle SMS scammers
Bernard Odartei Lamptey from CMU-Africa's Upanzi Network hopes to combat mobile money scam transactions by collecting more data about smishing in order to develop ways that users can protect themselves.
Carnegie Mellon University Africa
The Upanzi Network and MicroSave Consulting (MSC) announce Digital ID Hackathon Africa
The Upanzi Network and MicroSave Consulting (MSC) have launched a series of regional hackathons for African university students to identify new and innovative use cases of digital ID across the continent.
CyLab Security and Privacy Institute
Navigating digital financial inclusion in Africa
As the presence of mobile phones becomes increasingly widespread in Africa, digital services have allowed for more financial inclusion among low- and middle-income countries within the continent. A group of Carnegie Mellon University researchers led by Karen Sowon, a postdoctoral researcher at CMU’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute, investigated these issues and recently published a paper on "The Role of User-Agent Interactions on Mobile Money Practices in Kenya and Tanzania."
Carnegie Mellon University Africa
picoCTF-Africa inspires participants to learn cybersecurity
picoCTF-Africa, now in its third year, helps participants improve their skills in vital cybersecurity disciplines.