Dear colleagues, alumni and friends,  

As the year ends, we would like to celebrate the accomplishments of our faculty, staff and students by sharing some of the highlights from this past semester.  

Firstly, I would like to congratulate our outstanding faculty for their continued efforts to bring excellence to our department. Prabhat Mishra, Ph.D., received an invention of the year award from UF Innovate Tech Licensing. Emmanuel Dorley, Ph.D., was elected to the Fulbright National Board, and Eakta Jain, Ph.D., was elected as the chair of the Association for Computing Machinery SIGGRAPH executive committee. I am also proud to announce that I was appointed to the National Science Board by President Biden. 

Additionally, I would like to showcase our faculty members that are doing groundbreaking research in their respective areas. Christina Boucher, Ph.D., is part of a collaborative research grant, with a colleague from the University of Minnesota, from the National Institutes of Health working to help us better understand antimicrobial resistance. Patrick Traynor, Ph.D., and Kevin Warren, a Ph.D. student, are developing new ways to detect deep fake audio. The United Nations also ratified a framework created by Kevin Butler, Ph.D., to protect people using cash apps. I am excited to watch this research grow and develop and can’t wait to see what is in store for our department. 

Finally, I would like to congratulate our UF Student Information Security Team on a first-place finish at the Southeast Regional Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition and would like to wish them the best of luck when they compete at the global competition in January.   

Your continued support is critical to our success, and I would like to ask that you join me in congratulating these incredible faculty members and students on their accomplishments this year. 

Sincerely,  

Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D.
The Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Professor
UF Distinguished Professor
CISE Department Chair