CRCS Privacy and Security Lunch Seminar

Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Time: 12:00pm-1:30 pm
Place:  Maxwell Dworkin 221

Speaker:  Frank Stajano, University of Cambridge

Title: Smart Civil Engineering Infrastructure

Abstract:  The goal of our project is to instrument bridges, tunnels and other large and long-lived civil engineering infrastructure items with sensors that can monitor their natural deterioration. In so doing, we develop an integrated system and discover that commercial offerings of wireless sensor networks are still geared towards research prototypes: they are currently not yet mature for deployment in practical application scenarios.

The contributions of this presentation fall into two categories: our engineering solutions to a variety of problems including sensor hardware, radio propagation, node deployment, system security and data visualization; and our insights into the problems that are still open when dealing with practical uses of wireless sensor networks. These problems must be addressed to enable widespread adoption of WSNs outside the research lab.

Bio: Frank Stajano is a tenured faculty member at the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. He is the author of _Security for Ubiquitous Computing_ (Wiley, 2002). His early results on authentication in ad-hoc networks (the Resurrecting Duckling) and on location privacy (the mix zones) are frequently cited. His research interests cover various aspects of systems security, ubiquitous computing, wireless communications and human factors and are driven by the goal of protecting the citizens of the electronic society. He has given over 30 invited or keynote talks in Europe, Asia and America. Before receiving academic tenure Dr Stajano spent almost 10 years in industry as a research scientist (Toshiba, AT&T, Oracle, Olivetti) and continues to consult for industry, which keeps his research focused on practical applications. He was elected a Toshiba Fellow in 2000. Outside computers he writes books about comics and he practices and teaches kendo (Japanese swordsmanship): his students have recently won first place in the 2009 national inter-university championship.