J. Alex Halderman receives H. Scott Fogler Award for Professional Leadership and Service

Bredt Family Professor of Engineering J. Alex Halderman has received the 2024 H. Scott Fogler Award for Professional Leadership and Service from the College of Engineering in recognition of his outstanding service and leadership in the area of computer security.

One of the College’s top recognitions for faculty, the Fogler Award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated significant national or international impact in their field through leadership and service in research, government, professional societies, and beyond. The award is named in honor of Professor H. Scott Fogler, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Vennema Professor of Chemical Engineering, who left a legacy of remarkable scholarship and education in his more than 50 years at U-M. 

Widely recognized as a foremost expert in the field of computer security, Halderman has produced vital and impactful research on computer and network security. A core focus of his work has been election security, with an emphasis on identifying novel and emerging threats to election technology and engaging in public policy to address these issues. Through his leadership and advocacy in this area, he strives to create technology that is both more secure and upholds democratic principles.

As a leading voice on election cybersecurity, Halderman’s work has revealed fundamental security flaws in many of today’s online voting platforms, and his findings have had a broad impact on public policy governing this technology. His testimony to the U.S. Congress helped secure more than $800 million in federal funding to secure elections. He also co-chairs the State of Michigan’s election security advisory commission.

In addition to his critical work on voting technology, Halderman has made significant contributions to online security. He leads the Refraction Networking Coalition, a multi-institutional collaboration that designs and deploys network infrastructure to circumvent online censorship. He has also founded two highly successful organizations based on his research: Censys, a leading attack-surface management company, and Let’s Encrypt, one of the world’s leading certificate authorities, which helps to protect over 300 million websites, from Wikipedia to the White House.

Halderman first joined the U-M faculty in 2009, after receiving his A.B. (2003), M.A. (2005), and Ph.D. (2009) in computer science from Princeton University. He was promoted to associate professor in 2015 and to full professor in 2016. In 2023, he was installed as the Bredt Family Professor of Engineering.

In a testament to his outstanding work, Halderman has received several best paper awards from leading conferences and publication venues. He and his collaborators won the 2022 Levchin Prize from the International Association for Cryptologic Research and the 2022 Internet Defense Prize. He has also received the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and the University of Michigan President’s Award for National and State Leadership.