About me

I am an Assistant Professor at Florida International University (Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences). My research goal is understanding and improving human-centered security, privacy, and trust in sociotechnical systems.

I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science at Purdue University, working under the supervision of Dr. Z. Berkay Celik and part of PurSec Lab. Before that I received my Bachelors in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Now recruiting two PhD students for Fall 2026 at FIU (Computer Science).
We study human-centered security & privacy— with areas of interest in (1) human-AI interfaces, (2) XR and (3) online cybercrime. Prior research experience, especially in applied AI and user-centered methodologies, is highly valued.

Please email aarunasa [at] fiu [dot] edu with the subject “Interest in fall 2026 phd position at FIU”, to express your interest and summarize your research experience. Please include a CV in your email.

News

(scroll to see older news)

[October 2025] Two papers accepted to IEEE S&P Oakland 2026 - Congratulations Katie, Brandon and Devin!

[September 2025] Our work on LLMs and Values was accepted to the main findings of EMNLP 2025.

[August 2025] I just joined FIU as an assistant professor.

[May 2025] I successfully defended my PhD dissertation! Very grateful to my research advisor for his support. Big thanks to my friends, family and mentors.

[April 2025] Our work on user privacy concerns with conversational AI agents (done in collaboration with UC Irvine) was accepted to IEEE S&P. Congrats Mutahar!

[March 2025] Our user-centered work on investigating Indicators of Compromise for Industrial Control System Security was accepted to Elsevier's Computers & Security journal. Congratulations Mohammed!

[February 2025] Our work on studying online communities of threat actors was accepted into a IEEE S&P magazine special issue on cybercrime and online harm

[January 2025] Our paper on XR Security was accepted into USENIX 25. Congratulations to Chandrika!

[December 2024] I gave an invited talk at UIowa as part of the rising star event!