Renowned computer scientist Yoshi Kohno appointed McDevitt Chair in Computer Science and research professor at the Center for Digital Ethics

The Center for Digital Ethics and the Emergent Ethics Network welcome Tadayoshi Kohno (Yoshi) to Georgetown as the McDevitt Chair in Computer Science, Ethics, and Society and professor in the Department of Computer Science and the Center for Digital Ethics . His research focuses on helping protect the security, privacy, and safety of users of current and future technologies.

Kohno is a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Technology Review TR-35 Young Innovator Award, and the Golden Goose Award. He has received four Test of Time Awards for his research, authored over a dozen award papers, presented his research before the U.S. House of Representatives, and had his research profiled in the NOVA ScienceNOW “Can Science Stop Crime?” documentary and the NOVA “CyberWar Threat” documentary. Kohno is a past chair of the USENIX Security Symposium. He is the co-author of the book Cryptography Engineering, co-editor of the anthology Telling Stories, and author of the novella Our Reality. 

Kohno co-directs the Tech Policy Lab, centered at the University of Washington, and serves as a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation  Board of Directors and the USENIX Security Steering Committee. He served on the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board  and was a founding member of the National Academies Forum on Cyber Resilience.

Kohno was previously a professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the  University of Washington, where he co-directed the University of Washington Computer Security & Privacy Research Lab. At the University of Washington, he had appointments as the Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access in the Allen School and the Associate Dean for Faculty Success in the College of Engineering. Kohno received his Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego and his B.S. from the University of Colorado.

In a story published August 5 at Georgetown’s College of Arts and Sciences website, Laura DeNardis, the inaugural endowed chair in Technology, Ethics and Society and CDE director, “said that Kohno is ideally positioned to advance the center’s mission to bring about a more ethical digital future for the good of humanity through teaching, research and public engagement.

DeNardis, who is also a professor in the Department of Communication, Culture and Technology, praised Kohno’s cutting-edge research on cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity is a human concern as much as a technical one, shaping the future of human rights, the economy and national security,” she said. “Dr. Kohno’s research on cybersecurity, privacy and human safety resides at the cutting-edge ethical frontiers of emerging technologies.”

Kohno said that ideally those who create new technologies put the considerations of people and society first. That includes technological advances with artificial intelligence.

“In the modern AI space, companies seem to be asking, ‘What can we do?’” Kohno said. “The most important questions in my mind are: ‘What are the negative consequences if we do what we can do?’ ‘What should we not do?’”