Lorrie Cranor

Lorrie Faith Cranor is the director of Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute, as well as the director of the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS) and co-director of the MSIT-Privacy Engineering master’s program. She is a pioneer in the fields of online privacy and security, having authored over 200 research papers regarding topics such as online privacy and usable privacy and security. Professor Cranor served as Chief Technologist at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and co-founded Wombat Security Technologies, a company specializing in security awareness training. Her research spans cryptography, privacy policies, usability design, and engineering. She has received multiple awards including the ACM CHI Social Impact Award and the IEEE Cybersecurity Practice Award, and she is a Fellow of both ACM and IEEE.

• 2016–Present·Carnegie Mellon University·Director of CyLab Security and Privacy Institute
  • Leads CyLab to advance cybersecurity education and privacy engineering research.
• 2016·U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)·Chief Technologist
  • Worked in the FTC Chairwoman Ramirez’s office, providing technical advice and support.
• 2004–Present·Carnegie Mellon University·Professor
  • Teaches courses on usable privacy and security, privacy policies, and regulations, mentoring the next generation of technology and privacy professionals.
• 2003–2004·NYU Stern School of Business·Lecturer
  • Taught courses on information privacy and technology.
• 1996–2003·AT&T Labs-Research·Researcher
  • Conducted research on privacy policies and online privacy technologies.

• 1996·Washington University in St. Louis·Doctorate in Engineering and Policy (Doctor of Science)
  • Specialized in privacy engineering and public policy.
• 1996·Washington University in St. Louis·Master’s in Computer Science
  • Focused on computer science and user interface design.
• 1993·Washington University in St. Louis·Master’s in Technology and Human Affairs
  • Explored the impact of technology on society and human behavior.
• 1992·Washington University in St. Louis·Bachelor’s in Engineering and Public Policy
  • Studied the intersection of public policy and engineering practice.