Brown CS News

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association. Last month, they elected Brown CS PhD alum Danfeng (Daphne) Yao (now Professor of Computer Science, Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. '56 Faculty Fellow, and CACI Faculty Fellow at Virginia Tech) to the rank of Fellow in the Section on Information, Computing and Communication. 

“This huge honor gives me courage,” says Daphne. “I want to be more vocal about supporting academic research. It is the researchers’ responsibility to inform the public and help advance our society. If it is not us, who? My Brown CS education and training prepared me well for these bigger tasks.”

The honor of being elected a Fellow of AAAS dates back to 1874, and it recognizes members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues. In addition to organizing membership activities, AAAS publishes the journal Science, as well as many scientific newsletters, books and reports, and spearheads programs that raise the bar of understanding for science worldwide.

During her time as a PhD student at Brown CS, Daphne completed her thesis (“Privacy-aware Authentication and Authorization in Trust Management”) under the supervision of James A. & Julie N. Brown Professor of Computer Science and Chair of Computer Science, Roberto Tamassia, who is also an AAAS Fellow. 

“Daphne's research on computer security and digital health has made significant scientific contributions and has had a substantial impact on industry. This prestigious recognition is well deserved and follows her elevation to IEEE Fellow three years ago,” says Roberto. “Daphne has shown impressive leadership and momentum, and we look forward to her future successes.”

Daphne also holds M.S. degrees from Princeton University (Chemistry) and Indiana University, Bloomington (Computer Science) and a B.S. degree from Peking University in China (Chemistry). Her research interests include building cyber defenses, as well as machine learning for digital health, with a shared focus on accuracy and deployment. She creates new models, algorithms, techniques, and deployment-quality tools for securing large-scale software and systems. Her tool, CryptoGuard, helps large software companies and Apache projects harden their cryptographic code. She systematized program anomaly detection in the book Anomaly Detection as a Service. Her patents on anomaly detection have been cited by patents from major cybersecurity firms and technology companies, including FireEye, Symantec, Qualcomm, Cisco, IBM, SAP, Boeing, and Palo Alto Networks. 

Three years ago, Daphne was named an IEEE Fellow for her contributions to enterprise data security and high-precision vulnerability screening. In 2021, she received the prestigious ACM CODASPY Lasting Research Award. She is also an ACM Distinguished Scientist. Previously, she received the NSF CAREER Award and ARO Young Investigator Award. Danfeng is the ACM SIGSAC Vice Chair and has been a member of the ACM SIGSAC executive committee since 2017.

Daphne is the second Brown CS PhD alum to receive the AAAS Fellow recognition, joining Eugene Santos. Other recipients in the Brown CS community include Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education and Professor of Computer Science Andy van Dam, Roberto Tamassia, and An Wang Professor Emeritus of Computer Science John Savage, as well as undergraduate alums Atul Butte and Ed Lazowska.

The full list of 2025 AAAS Fellows is available here.

For more information, click the link that follows to contact Brown CS Communications Manager Jesse C. Polhemus.