Bio

Dr. Birhanu Eshete is an Associate Professor of Computer Science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, where he directs the Data-Driven Security and Privacy Laboratory. His research develops methods and systems to identify, characterize, and mitigate security, privacy, safety, transparency, and ethical risks in AI systems with a focus on high‑stakes applications such as autonomous vehicles, predictive diagnostics, financial forecasting, and cyber‑attack detection.

His work has been published in all leading security, privacy, and AI venues, featured in widely accessible venues such as the Science Magazine, and contributed to national efforts, including the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Trustworthy and Responsible AI Resource Center.

Dr. Eshete’s research has been recognized with competitive awards and funding, including 2024–2025 Fulbright US Scholar Award from the US Department of State, the 2024–2025 Faculty Excellence in Research Award from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the 2023 NSF CAREER Award from the US National Science Foundation, the 2018 USENIX Security Symposium Distinguished Paper Award, and he was a finalist for the Best Applied Security Research Award in North America in 2018.

Before joining the University of Michigan, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Systems and Internet Security Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Trento, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Computer Science from Addis Ababa University.