Applied Privacy Engineering and Science (APES) Lab

The Applied Privacy Engineering and Science (APES) Lab at Old Dominion University conducts innovative research into practical aspects of digital privacy and computer security. Recent topics the APES Lab has studied include trusted hardware, LLM security, and homomorphic encryption.

Sadly, the APES Lab does not conduct research on apes or any other cute animals – I am happy to change that, if any collaborators are interested.

Members

• Xuezhengwu Rao
  • PhD student at ODU, Summer 2026 - present
• Bikash Thapa
  • PhD student at ODU, Fall 2025 - present
• Aaron Killinbeck
  • Undergraduate student at ODU, Summer 2025 - Summer 2026
• Alekhya Mengani
  • MS student at ODU, Spring 2025 - Summer 2025

Affiliated Researchers and Mentees

• Hao Du
  • MS student at Hokkaido University (soon to be a PhD student at Tokyo Tech), Summer 2025 - present

Excellence in Cryptography and Privacy Award

The Excellence in Cryptography and Privacy Award is awarded by the APES Lab to ODU undergraduate or non-doctoral graduate students who demonstrate outstanding achievement in cryptography, privacy, or closely related areas. The award is competitive, with one award being granted per semester. Any or all of strong performance in courses, research excellence, or service to academic units, the University, or any other institution may be criteria for the award.

The winners of the Award are:

• Ben Jenkins, Spring 2025
  • Ben Jenkins is a MS student in ODU’s Department of Computer Science, from which he also graduated with a BS in 2019. He is concurrently employed as a software engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where he develops and maintains flight simulators. His professional interests include EVTOL aircraft and their associated autonomous flight systems. In his free time, he enjoys running and studying kanji, hopes to take all 5 JLPT exams, and dreams of running the Tokyo Marathon.
• Bailey Williams, Fall 2025
  • Bailey Williams is an undergraduate student in ODU’s School of Cybersecurity and Department of Political Science & Geography, where she is pursuing a BS in Cybersecurity and a BS in Political Science with a Major in International Affairs and Global Politics with an expected graduation date of May 2026. She is concurrently employed as a cybersecurity engineer at Kindo, where she works on ways to utilize artificial intelligence to optimize security workflows. Her professional interests include cybersecurity education, artificial intelligence, and psychology. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and learning new languages.
• Brooke Deir, Spring 2026
  • Brooke was born and raised in Arizona and joined the United States Navy right after graduating high school in 2014. During her time in the Navy, she had the traveled around the world and live overseas for five years, experiences that helped shape both her personal and professional growth. While active duty, she earned her associate degree and discovered a strong passion for continuing her education. In 2025, Brooke got out of the Navy and moved to Norfolk, Virginia to pursue her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Old Dominion University, where she recently added a minor in Cybersecurity to further support her interest in that field. Outside of school and work, Brooke enjoys spending time with her husband and their two dogs. She loves staying active, whether that means working out or spontaneously signing up for a half marathon just because.