CyLab researchers secure Google Academic Research Awards to advance AI-driven security and privacy

Four CyLab researchers have received Google Academic Research Awards (GARA) to support their work that leverages frontier AI models to improve digital privacy, safety, and security.

CyLab faculty members Sauvik Das, Eunsuk Kang, and Nicolas Christin, and postdoctoral researcher Enze Liu, have received GARA to back research that facilitates digital security and privacy through various strategies, including utilizing novel applications of AI, improving AI tooling and benchmarks, and mitigating adversarial usage of AI for harm.

Each GARA recipient received up to $100,000 USD in funding to support their work. In addition, awardees are paired with a Google research sponsor, providing a direct connection to Google’s research community and fostering long-term collaboration.

“We believe that by connecting academia and industry, we can accelerate the pace of discovery and its positive impact on the world,” said Rebecca Hardy, senior program manager at Google.org.

Google started its Academic Research Award Program in 2024 in an effort to support groundbreaking foundational and applied research in computing and technology around the world.

Each funding cycle, Google identifies key research areas and invites proposals from academics who are conducting research in a variety of technologically-focused domains that have societal implications.

The program is open to faculty members at degree-granting institutions who are advising students and conducting research in the field of technology and computing.

CyLab GARA recipient projects

AI Tools to Help Users Make Informed Decisions about Online Information Sharing

PIs:

• Sauvik Das, assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute
• Alan Ritter, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech

Verifiably Secure LLM Agents with a Capability-Enhanced MCP-style Protocol

PI:

• Eunsuk Kang, assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software and Societal Systems Department

Towards In-Context, User-friendly Scam Warnings

PIs:

• Nicolas Christin, department head and professor, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software and Societal Systems Department; professor, Engineering and Public Policy
• Enze Liu, postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute