{"682394":{"#nid":"682394","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Celebrates 2025 Ph.D. Graduates in Cybersecurity and Privacy","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Cybersecurity and Privacy at Georgia Tech is proud to recognize the accomplishments of five doctoral students who finished their doctoral programs in Spring 2025. These scholars have advanced critical research in software security, cryptography, and privacy, collectively publishing 34 papers, most of which appear in top-tier venues.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAmmar Askar\u003C\/strong\u003E developed new tools for software security in multi-language systems, including a concolic execution engine powered by large language models. He highlighted DEFCON 2021, which he attended with the Systems Software and Security Lab (SSLab), as a favorite memory.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZhengxian He\u003C\/strong\u003E persevered through the pandemic to lead a major project with an industry partner, achieving strong research outcomes. He will be joining Amazon and fondly remembers watching sunsets from the CODA building.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStanislav Peceny\u003C\/strong\u003E focused on secure multiparty computation (MPC), designing high-performance cryptographic protocols that improve efficiency by up to 1000x. He\u2019s known for his creativity in both research and life, naming avocado trees after famous mathematicians and enjoying research discussions on the CODA rooftop.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQinge Xie\u003C\/strong\u003E impressed faculty with her adaptability across multiple domains. Her advisor praised her independence and technical range, noting her ability to pivot seamlessly between complex research challenges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYibin Yang\u003C\/strong\u003E contributed to the advancement of zero-knowledge proofs and MPC, building toolchains that are faster and more usable than existing systems. His work earned a Distinguished Paper Award at ACM CCS 2023, and he also served as an RSAC Security Scholar. Yang enjoyed teaching and engaging with younger students, especially through events like Math Kangaroo.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFaculty mentors included Regents\u2019 Entrepreneur Mustaque Ahamad, Professors Taesoo Kim and Vladimir Kolesnikov, and Assistant Professor Frank Li, who played vital roles in guiding the graduates\u2019 research journeys.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/scp-community\/hats-off-to-our-ph-d-graduates\/\u0022\u003ELearn more\u003C\/a\u003E about the graduates and their mentors on the 2025 Ph.D. graduate microsite.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFive Ph.D. students from Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy graduated in Spring 2025, contributing significant research in software security, cryptography, and privacy with 34 published papers. Highlights include Ammar Askar\u2019s concolic execution tools, Zhengxian He\u2019s industry collaboration, Stanislav Peceny\u2019s advances in multiparty computation, Qinge Xie\u2019s adaptability across domains, and Yibin Yang\u2019s award-winning work on zero-knowledge proofs. Faculty mentors played key roles in supporting their success.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Five Ph.D. students from Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy graduated in Spring 2025, contributing significant research in software security, cryptography, and privacy with 34 published papers. "}],"uid":"36253","created_gmt":"2025-05-14 13:39:06","changed_gmt":"2025-07-28 14:46:04","author":"John Popham","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677068":{"id":"677068","type":"image","title":"viz_cyber-grads-2025spr.jpg","body":null,"created":"1747229955","gmt_created":"2025-05-14 13:39:15","changed":"1753713919","gmt_changed":"2025-07-28 14:45:19","alt":"Graphic of a research table","file":{"fid":"261405","name":"viz_cyber-grads-2025spr.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/28\/viz_cyber-grads-2025spr.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/28\/viz_cyber-grads-2025spr.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":285910,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/28\/viz_cyber-grads-2025spr.jpg?itok=kauHT553"}}},"media_ids":["677068"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/scp-community\/hats-off-to-our-ph-d-graduates\/","title":"Hats Off to Our Ph.D. Graduates! "}],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"660367","name":"School of Cybersecurity and Privacy"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"166847","name":"students"},{"id":"676","name":"graduates"},{"id":"913","name":"PhD"},{"id":"17181","name":"PhD Students"},{"id":"365","name":"Research"},{"id":"188776","name":"go-research"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"110271","name":"website"},{"id":"1124","name":"academic excellence"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJP Popham, Communications Officer II\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Computing | School of Cybersecurity and Privacy\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jpopham3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}