Roya Ensafi selected as finalist for ACUM Outstanding Advisor Award

Assistant professor Roya Ensafi has been named a finalist for the inaugural Advising Council of U-M (ACUM) Outstanding Advisor Award funded by the Provost’s Office. This award was created to recognize undergraduate and graduate advisors on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus who go above and beyond to support students by providing information and advice, supporting their well-being, and fostering their academic and personal success.

Ensafi’s name was put forward by a number of the students that she advises and teaches. All referred to her as an outstanding mentor and inspiring figure, and also noted her care for students as individuals. One student wrote, “Roya shares with us her experiences from her PhD journey to provide examples of professional opportunities that could help us succeed. She also worked with me personally to examine multiple different career opportunities I could explore, such as fellowships, internships, and collaborations. She provides support to pursue such avenues and offers advice to help us find the path that will suit our future aspirations.”

Ensafi’s research focuses on Internet security and privacy, with the goal of creating techniques and systems to better protect users online. She is particularly passionate about online censorship, geo-discrimination, surveillance, and related threats to Internet freedom. Much of her work has focused on designing techniques to detect and defend against adversaries who manipulate Internet traffic in order to block, monitor, or tamper with users’ online activities.

Ensafi is a recipient of a Google Faculty Research Award, an NSF Research Initiation Initiative award, and the Consumer Reports Digital Lab fellowship. Her work has been cited in popular publications such as The New York Times, Newsweek, Business Insider, Wired, and Ars Technica. Last year, she was invited by the White House to speak on “democracy-affirming technology” at President Biden’s Summit for Democracy.