Stephen Chong wins Air Force Young Investigator Award

Computer scientist honored for his work on integrating programming language and operating system information security mechanisms

January 17, 2012

Stephen Chong, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, was among the 48 scientists and engineers who won $18 million in grants through the Air Force's Young Investigator Research Program.

Stephen Chong, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS),has been awarded an Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Award for his work on integrating programming language and operating system Information security mechanisms.

Chong is among 48 scientists and engineers who will receive a total of $18 million in grants through the Air Force's Young Investigator Research Program (YIP).

The YIP is open to scientists and engineers at research institutions across the United States who have received a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in the last 5 years and show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research.

The objective of the program is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering, enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators, and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize the Air Force mission and the related challenges in science and engineering.

Chong's research aims to help programmers write trustworthy programs. He focuses on using programming language technologies (including type systems, dataflow analyses, and runtime mechanisms) to provide strong, practical information security guarantees.

He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University; a B.Sc. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Math and Science from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Chong was a visiting scholar at Pomona College and a Research Associate at the University of New South Wales. He has also worked as an information technology consultant and contractor. Chong has served as the co-chair of the ACM SIGPLAN Fourth Workshop on Programming Languages and Analysis for Security (PLAS 2009), and on numerous other program committees.

Chong's other awards include a Best Paper Award at the 2007 ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP), a Lockheed Martin Fellowship,and a Commonwealth Scholarship.

Topics: Computer Science, Awards