Human-Centered Cybersecurity

Our Team

Kerrianne Buchanan is a Social Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She works on projects seeking to improve human-system interaction by leveraging her background in cognitive and social psychology. Currently she conducts research to support NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) and Human-Centered Cybersecurity programs. She has a master’s degree in Applied Cognition in Neuroscience and a Ph.D. in Psychological Sciences from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Yee-Yin Choong is a Human Factors Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group at NIST. She conducts research on human factors and usability aspects of human-technology interactions in the fields of online security and privacy with a focus on youth and parents, artificial intelligence (AI), public safety communication technology, and biometrics usability. Prior to joining NIST in 2006, she practiced human factors and usability engineering in e-commerce in the private sector for 10 years. Yee-Yin received her M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering with a specialization in Human Factors, from Purdue University.

Clyburn Cunningham IV is a Computer Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group (VUG) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Clyburn applies his programming skills to provide software engineering support for VUG projects. Previously, he worked as a full stack developer building a contact-tracing analytic for Georgetown University and as a high performance computing research intern at Los Alamos National Lab. Clyburn earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a focus in cybersecurity and mathematics from Georgetown University.

Shaneé Dawkins is a Computer Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group at NIST. She performs research focusing on human centered design and evaluation as part of the Human-Centered Cybersecurity program, where she leads the phishing project. Shanée earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science at Auburn University, and her B.S. in Computer Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University.

Susanne Furman is a Cognitive Scientist in the US National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Visualization and Usability Group. She works on and investigates usability for both cybersecurity and biometric devices for agencies such as the US Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Furman has worked at the US Department of Health and Human Services and ran its usability program. She has a PhD in applied experimental psychology human factors from George Mason University. 

Kristen Greene is a Cognitive Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group at NIST. She conducts usability and human factors research for NIST’s PSCR (Public Safety Communications Research) and usable cybersecurity programs. She has an M.A. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Rice University. She is an experienced researcher, having conducted research in the Attention and Perception Laboratory at the University of South Carolina, the Usability Testing and Analysis Facility at NASA Johnson Space Center, the Computer Human Interaction Laboratory at Rice University, and now the Information Technology Laboratory at NIST. 

Julie Haney is a Computer Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She leads the NIST Human-Centered Cybersecurity Program and conducts research about the human element of cybersecurity and privacy. Previously she spent over 20 years working at Department of Defense as a cybersecurity professional and technical leader.  She earned a Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has a B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola University Maryland and an M.S. in Computer Science from University of Maryland.

Jody Jacobs is a Computer Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group  at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Her research interests include user susceptibility to phishing attacks, security adoption, and security awareness. Previously she spent over 20 years working in the private sector in security networking, network and systems operations, and business continuity. She was a member of the NIST FISMA team, which produces security standards and guidelines required by Congressional legislation.  She has a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Rochester and an M.S. in Information Systems from Strayer University.

Mary Theofanos is a Computer Scientist and Sr. Technical Advisor with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Information Technology Laboratory where she performs research on usability and human factors of systems and, most recently, on diversity and inclusivity.  She is currently working as the People Champion for the Communications Technology Laboratory trying to change the cultural diversity and inclusivity landscape at NIST. Mary was the principal architect of the Human-Centered Cybersecurity (previously Usable Cybersecurity) Program evaluating the usability of cyber security. She established the Biometrics Usability Program for the federal government, the first open research program to incorporate usability into biometrics research, elevating usability to a recognized critical component of biometrics research. She began the Public Safety Communications Research usability program and is now working in AI and usability.  She has been a longstanding member of the International Organization of Standards (ISO), developing standards in usability and human factors and currently the U.S. Head of Delegation for the Working Group on diversity and women in STEM. 

STUDENTS

Lorenzo Neil is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. His research areas involve usable security with a focus on security advice analysis, and his dissertation research focuses on the quality and coverage of important security topics within security advice. At NIST, Lorenzo works on projects analyzing cybersecurity definitions for non-experts, as well as the influence of observable characteristics within phishing emails. He is a NIST Graduate Student Measurement Science and Engineering Fellow in the Visualization and Usability Group.

Charlotte (Charlie) Healy is a qualitative researcher working with the Visualization and Usability Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) through the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) program. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Education Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park. She specializes in qualitative research about parental advocacy in special education and special education placement decisions. Previously she spent several years in South Carolina as a 6th grade teacher. She has a M.Ed. in Teaching and Learning from Clemson University and a B.S. in Education from Furman University.