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Eric Keller, professor of computer engineering, has been selected to join the 2027-28 class of the��, a highly selective program that connects leading science and engineering faculty with the nation’s security challenges.

Established in 1986, DSSG is directed by the nonprofit Institute for Defense Analyses and sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology. Keller’s selection continues the college’s scientific and engineering contributions to issues of national security.

“I'm honored to be part of this select group for DSSG,” said , who is based in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. “One of the most valuable parts of advising military veterans at �鶹��Ѱ�����has been seeing how their experiences shape the way they think about technology and the problems worth solving.”

Keller joins 17 fellow professors from across the country in the new class, which will meet eight times over the next two years. Sessions will cover defense policy, research and development, and the systems, missions and operations of the armed forces and intelligence community.��

Members also visit military bases and defense laboratories, meet with senior commanders and interact with officials from federal and intelligence agencies.����

Keller's research focuses on making the computing and communication systems that underlie modern society more secure, reliable and easier to manage. His work explores how programmable hardware and software can enable infrastructure—from cloud computing and cellular networks to emerging AI systems—to adapt automatically to changing demands and security threats.

As computer infrastructure grows more complex, he says, the ability for humans to manage it by hand breaks down and programmability makes it possible to build abstractions that simplify how operators define objectives and automate management in ways that improve security, reliability, cost and performance.

“DSSG offers an opportunity to explore where advances in computing can make a difference in our national security challenges,” he said.��

These challenges are particularly important in national security settings, where computing and communications systems must remain secure and reliable even as conditions change. The ability to rapidly adapt infrastructure, respond to threats and support emerging technologies such as AI and advanced wireless communications makes this research especially relevant to defense applications.

As one example of Keller’s research that maps directly onto these priorities, consider cases where the military would like to be able to utilize existing 5G infrastructure. The problem is, in cellular networks where traffic itself is encrypted, but metadata can still reveal a great deal.��

His group is developing technologies to defend against this kind of traffic analysis, including automatically swapping hardware identifiers, introducing personas that make one user’s traffic resemble another’s and coordinating activity across multiple users to mask events using trusted execution environments built on the team’s earlier work in flexible secure hardware.

“I see DSSG as an exciting next step in my research career, offering the opportunity to learn firsthand about national security challenges, engage with experts across disciplines,” Keller said, “and explore how advances in computing can address important problems we have yet to fully understand.”��

Previous college faculty members of DSSG include: Lucy Pao, professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering; Robert H. Davis, professor emeritus of Chemical and Biological Engineering; and Steven M. George, distinguished professor emeritus of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.