Danfeng 'Daphne' Yao named interim head of the Department of Computer Science
Yao has invented multiple influential cyberdefense algorithms and visionary enterprise strategies that have helped protect billions of consumers.
Danfeng "Daphne" Yao, professor in the Department of Computer Science, has been named interim department head, effective July 1. She replaces Professor Cal Ribbens, who has led the department since 2015.
Ribbens’ tenure has been a time of unprecedented enrollment growth. He will continue on as a member of the faculty.
“We want to thank Cal for his commitment over several years to growing computer science into one of the largest departments at Virginia Tech,” said Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. “We wish him well as he brings his experience back to the classroom."
She added, "We are excited for Daphne to continue this growth, especially as we anticipate the opening of the Innovation Campus in Northern Virginia."
A national search for the new department head is underway.
Protecting billions of consumers
Yao, who joined Virginia Tech in 2010, is an Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. '56 Faculty Fellow and a CACI Faculty Fellow, who also leads the Human-centric Machine Intelligence Lab dedicated to developing translational and deployable machine learning solutions for challenging problems including digital health and cyber defenses.
A pioneer in enterprise data security, Yao was responsible for the first measurement on payment card industry security that resulted in significantly improved enforcement of security standards and reduced data breach risks.
Her expertise extends to inventing multiple influential cyberdefense algorithms and visionary enterprise strategies that have broadly impacted the financial and cybersecurity industries, businesses, and decision-makers. By advancing understanding and preparedness against data breaches among these groups, she has helped protect billions of consumers.
In addition to her university accolades,Yao has received many national recognitions and awards:
- IEEE fellow
- Vice chair of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Security, Audit and Control (SIGSAC).
- Lasting Research Award at the ACM Conference on Data and Application Security and Privacy
- ACM Distinguished Member for Outstanding Scientific Contributions to Computing
- National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award
- Young Investigator Award from the Army Research Office
She has published more than 120 peer-reviewed conference and journal articles and has given many keynote addresses and talks at leadership venues, including the Federal Trade Commission, PrivacyCon, and World Bank Group meetings.
Yao received a Ph.D. in computer science from Brown University; a master’s degree in chemistry from Princeton University; a master’s degree in computer science from Indiana University, Bloomington; and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Peking University in China.
