Projects

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Previously, I was senior research scientist at the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering. My goal is to help humans perform better in software engineering, software security, and software assurance tasks.

You can contact me using through one of the icons in the bottom left.

Current Projects

Factors Impacting Cyber Security Analyst Performance in the Use of Intrusion Detection Systems
Understanding how IDS accuracy impacts human's ability to correctly identify incidents

Master’s student Will Roden’s thesis project investigates the boundary in human-machine cyberdefense systems, and how human performance in correctly classifying incidents is impacted by the false alarm rate of IDS systems. Publications forthcoming.
Coastal Ecosystem Explorer
(In development) An educational mobile application for visitors to Carolina Beach State Park

A mobile application written by Computer Science undergrad Kinsley Sigmund in partnership with Dr. Amy Taylor and Dr. Dennis Kubasko of the Watson College of Education. The app delivers an interactive explorer map and educational materials about ecosystems, flora, and fauna at Carolina Beach State Park.

Human Factors in Software Development and Security
Improving how humans solve problems in these spaces by developing people-focused tools and processes.

Read more about the MimEc and AWARE projects to help software developers navigate IDEs, and the InViz project to support visual navigation and search of webserver log events in real time.
Computer Science Education
Encouraging diversity and retention in computer science through teaching approaches that appeal to many personality types and learning styles.

See my teaching portfolio and publications on computer science education.

Pocket Security - Smartphone Cybercrime in the Wild
Researching mobile device usage habits at the intersection of the physical and cyber world to prevent crime

Award #161084 from the National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program. Learn more about this project at https://www.pocket-security.org.
Data Protection Policy Effectiveness
Providing company decision-makers with understandable, empirical evidence that indicates where and how their data protection policies are not being followed.

A grant from the Cisco University Research Fund.
NASA Anomaly Analysis
Applying machine learning to spaceflight mission problem reports to find trends and extract lessons learned.

We analyzed thousands of NASA anomaly reports using machine learning, and built a web application to help NASA engineers query the data. Read about it or view the presentation from Mining Software Repositories 2016.
Secure Embedded Systems Engineering
Researching threats and writing security requirements in the automotive industry.
Software Process Improvement and Assurance through Analytics
Improving software process predictability and control through measurement, quantification, and analytics.