PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Elisa Bertino

Working where cybersecurity meets AI, Elisa Bertino is a distinguished professor of computer science at Purdue University. She completed a doctorate at the University of Pisa in 1980, and she later chaired a computer science department at the University of Milan before joining Purdue. Her research covers access control, database security and cellular-network security, and her recent work turns to machine learning and agentic AI for cybersecurity. Honors include the IEEE Computer Society Technical Achievement Award in 2002, the ACM Athena Lecturer Award in 2019 and the IEEE Innovation in Societal Infrastructure Award in 2021. In May 2026 she was elected president of ACM, and her two-year term starts in July 2026.

Photo of Elisa Bertino

Timeline

  1. 1980

    A doctorate from Pisa

    She completes a PhD at the University of Pisa in 1980 under Costantino Thanos.

  2. 2002

    An IEEE fellowship and award

    In 2002 she becomes an IEEE Fellow and receives the IEEE Computer Society Technical Achievement Award for work on database systems and database security.

  3. January 2004

    Joining Purdue and CERIAS

    She joins Purdue in January 2004 as a professor and CERIAS research director, after chairing a computer science department at the University of Milan. Her research at the time includes access control systems.

  4. 2019

    The ACM Athena Lecturer Award

    She receives the ACM Athena Lecturer Award in 2019.

  5. 2021

    The LTEInspector framework

    In 2021 she receives the IEEE Innovation in Societal Infrastructure Award. Her work on 4G and 5G cellular networks includes LTEInspector, which identifies 10 new vulnerabilities in 4G networks.

  6. 2024

    Samuel D. Conte Distinguished Professor

    In 2024 Purdue names her Samuel D. Conte Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, one of Purdue's highest faculty honors.

  7. January 2026

    A survey of agentic AI

    In January 2026 she co-authors a survey of agentic AI and cybersecurity, covering continuous monitoring and autonomous incident response alongside the attacks that agentic systems can accelerate. Her recent research includes edge analytics and machine learning for cybersecurity.

  8. May 2026

    Elected ACM president

    She is elected ACM president in May 2026, and her two-year term begins in July 2026.

Sources and credits

Photo: cs.purdue.edu; Elisa Bertino; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: cs.purdue.edu. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Elisa Bertino - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Elisa Bertino | ISSNAF issnaf.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. CERIAS - Professor Elisa Bertino - CERIAS - Purdue University cerias.purdue.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Elisa Bertino - Engineering and Technology History Wiki ethw.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Elisa Bertino elected as ACM President - Department of Computer Science - Purdue University cs.purdue.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. [2601.05293] A Survey of Agentic AI and Cybersecurity: Challenges, Opportunities and Use-case Prototypes arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.