Contact Information

email: mlocasto AT gmu edu
phone: +1 (703) 993 1773
   (I do not check this voicemail; email me)
land mail: Computer Science Dept.
   Engineering Building, Rm 5337
   4400 University Drive, MS 4A5
   Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
office hours: Monday, 7am to 10am
   or by appointment

Research & Interests

My CV has up-to-date details on my academic career, classes I have taught, and research papers I have been involved in writing. You can also read a brief, formal bio blurb or drop by my blog.

I enjoy (in no particular order) reading, fishing, chess, hard work, travel, football, MLB, cooking, and politics.

Recent Projects & Activities

• The Comment Mentor (w/ Pete DePasquale, TCNJ)
• The Hacker Curriculum (w/ Sergey Bratus, Dartmouth)
• SISMAT 2010: Secure Information Systems Mentoring and Training (2008 news release, and e-press, '08 group)
• Program Committee, SUTC 2010
• Program Committee, HotCloud 2010
• Program Committee, CCS 2010
• Program Committee, TRUST 2010
• Program Committee, USENIX Security 2010
• Program Committee, IEEE Security & Privacy 2010
• Program Committee, NDSS 2010
• Program Committee, VMSec 2009
• Program Committee, ESORICS 2009
• USENIX Campus Rep for GMU

I am currently a Visiting Professor in Computer Science at George Mason University. I am also affiliated with the GMU Center for Secure Information Systems. I was an I3P Fellow during the 2008-2009 academic year.

My research has been supported by a grant from Dartmouth College, a grant from DARPA and by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NIST via both the I3P (Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection) Fellowship and an I3P project planning award.

I'm always interested in working with talented students. If you or someone you know has an interest in information systems security, drop me a line (but first see this advice).

I study the security of computer systems. More precisely, I try to understand why it seems difficult to build secure systems and how we can get better at it. I'm particularly interested in making software defense mechanisms automatic, correct, and efficient. I have a deep interest in debugging, information security education, and intrusion defense. I also dabble in embedded systems security, new methods for parallel execution, and more traditional "systems" work.