Collins Munyendo

a Kenyan male with black hair and a black and grey shirt

CS PhD Candidate at GW

Email: cmunyendo[at]gwu.edu

Research Interests: Computer Security, Usable Security and Privacy, Human-Computer Interaction

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About Me

I am a final year Computer Science PhD candidate in the Usable Security and Privacy Lab at the George Washington University where I am fortunate to be advised by Adam Aviv. I am closely working with Yixin Zou and Elissa Redmiles for the final chapter of my PhD. My research focuses on human factors in security and privacy. I investigate how users, especially the underserved majority world users, interact with, use, and/or misuse security and privacy tools, then design more usable and secure solutions. I received my Masters from Carnegie Mellon and Bachelors from Strathmore University.

Selected Awards

  • Google PhD Fellowship in Security and Privacy (2024)
  • New England Computing & Data Science Rising Star (2024)
  • Stanford Internet Observatory Research Grant (2024)
  • Distinguished Paper Award, IEEE S&P (2023)

    • Recent News

  • Jul 2025: Had lots of fun volunteering for PETS 2025 in Washington DC and co-chairing the speed mentoring session with Michelle.
  • Mar 2025: Successfully defended my dissertation! I am so grateful to everyone that has supported me throughout this journey!
  • Sep 2024: Presented our ongoing research in the majority world at the Stanford Trust and Safety Research Conference in Palo Alto, California.