Associate Professor · CMU HCII

Sauvik Das

I design systems that give people more agency over their personal data and experiences online.

I am an Associate Professor (without indefinite tenure) at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. I am also co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of FuguUX, an early-stage start-up dedicated to improving web usability.

At CMU, I direct the SPUD (Security, Privacy, Usability and Design) Lab. Our work, at the intersection of HCI, AI and cybersecurity, is oriented around answering: How can we design systems that empower people with improved agency over their personal data and experiences online?

Some key research directions include:

AI Privacy for Practitioners: Privy (CHI HM) AI Privacy Taxonomy (CHI BP) Barriers to AI Privacy Work (USENIX SEC DP) Designing for AI Privacy (CSCW HM)

Human-AI Teaming for Usable S&P: AI Privacy Risk Estimates (CHI) Imago Obscura (UIST) Informed Disclosure Decisions (CSCW)

Evaluating Language Model Privacy: Agent Decisions Reveal Bias (FAccT) VLM Geolocation Privacy (EMNLP) VLM Contextual Integrity (ICLR)

Human-centered Adversarial ML: Subversive AI (NeurIPS workshop) Human-acceptability of Anti-Facial Recognition (CSCW) Data Defenses against LLMs (pre-print)

Privacy Collective Action & Governance: Orchestrating Distributed Collectives (CHI) Taxonomy of Lived Privacy Harms (FAccT) Privacy for the People (IEEE S&P Mag)

Physically-intuitive Privacy and Security: Smart Webcam Cover (IMWUT) Powering for Privacy (USENIX SEC) On-demand RFID (USEC)

Social Cybersecurity: Social Proof & Security (CCS) SoK: Social Cybersecurity (Oakland) Group Security Decisions (CHI HM)

A few of my papers have been recognized with awards : a best paper at UbiComp (2013) and CHI (2024), a distinguished paper at SOUPS (2020) and USENIX Security (2024), five best paper honorable mentions at CHI (2016, 2017, 2020, 2024, 2026), a best paper honorable mention at CSCW (2021), and an honorable mention for the NSA's Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper (2014). My lab's work has been generously supported by the NSF, Facebook, Georgia Tech, and CMU. My work has also been covered by the popular press, including features on The Atlantic, The Financial Times and Dark Reading.

Not recruiting · 2026–27 cycle

Prospective Ph.D. Students

While I do not plan on accepting any new students at this time, I encourage you to apply to the HCII Ph.D. program at CMU to work with my fantastic colleagues.

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Last updated April 2026

Sauvik Das

Prospective Ph.D. Students

Publications