Timothy Trippel selected for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Graduate student Timothy Trippel has been awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to continue his studies in computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan.

Tim is co-advised by Professors Kevin Fu and Todd Austin. His research interests lie in embedded systems and IoT security and privacy for the purpose of building safe and reliable autonomous systems in the future. His most recent work demonstrated how it was possible to spoof output signals from MEMS accelerometers using intentional acoustic interference, and he also provided mechanisms to defend accelerometers from acoustic attacks. His work was featured in The New York Times, NPR’s Science Friday, and is being published in the 2017 IEEE EuroS&P Conference in Paris, France.

With the proliferation of ubiquitous computing and advancements in machine learning, completely autonomous cyber-physical systems are becoming a reality. Autonomous cyber-physical systems are comprised of decision-making software that takes input from large arrays of sensors to control actuators. Such systems already exist and are only becoming increasingly prevalent, e.g. package delivery drones and self-driving cars. He strives to ensure the trustworthiness of the autonomous cyber-physical systems that will drive our cars and deliver our packages.

**************

The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.