Wenjing Lou

Timeline

1. 1993–2003

   Engineering degrees and a doctorate

   She earns a B.E. in 1993 and an M.E. in 1996 in computer science and engineering at Xi'an Jiaotong University, an M.A.Sc. at Nanyang Technological University in 1998, and a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida in 2003.

2. 2003–2011

   Faculty years at Worcester

   From 2003 to 2011 she serves on the electrical and computer engineering faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In February 2008 she receives a five-year, $450,000 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, and her research focuses on wireless networks and their security.

3. 2011

   A security lab at Virginia Tech

   In 2011 she joins the Virginia Tech faculty and co-founds the Complex Networks and Security Research Lab with Tom Hou for research in networking, wireless, and cybersecurity.

4. August 2014–August 2017

   Program director at the NSF

   From August 2014 to August 2017 she serves as a program director at the National Science Foundation. Her responsibilities include the Networking Technology and Systems program and the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program.

5. 2015–2018

   An IEEE fellowship and named chair

   In 2015 she is named an IEEE Fellow for contributions to information and network security. In May 2018 the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors names her the W.C. English Professor. In 2018 she receives the Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Research Excellence.

6. 2020–2023

   A cloud paper and ACM Fellow

   In 2020 the paper Achieving Secure, Scalable, and Fine-Grained Data Access Control in Cloud Computing, by S. Yu, C. Wang, K. Ren, and W. Lou, receives the IEEE INFOCOM Test-of-Time Paper Award. It appears at IEEE INFOCOM in 2010. In 2023 she is named an ACM Fellow for contributions to information and network security.

7. 2025

   An INFOCOM achievement award

   In 2025 she receives the IEEE INFOCOM Achievement Award for contributions to security and privacy in cloud computing and wireless networks.

8. As of October 2026

   Professor at Virginia Tech

   She is the W.C. English Endowed Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. Her research areas include trustworthy AI and adversarial machine learning.