Ben Y. Zhao

I am an Associate Professor of Computer Science at UC Santa Barbara. My research covers a range of topics from large-distributed networks and systems, data mining and modeling, security and privacy, and wireless / mobile systems. My current projects are focused on three areas: querying, modeling and mining massive graphs, analysis of social networks and online communities, and wireless systems and protocols. Here's a wordle of my paper abstracts from the last two years.

I manage the Secure and Reliable Networking (CURRENT) lab at UCSB. I collaborate heavily with the Lab for Intelligent Networks (LINK) as well as other excellent research groups in the department, including the Security Lab, the Database group, the Mobility Management and Networking (MOMENT) lab, as well as other groups in the Communications, ECE, and Statistics departments. I received my PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 2004, where I worked with John Kubiatowicz and Anthony Joseph to create the Tapestry distributed hash table (dissertation). I received my MS from Berkeley in 2000, and my BS in computer science from Yale in 1997. I am a recipient of the National Science Foundation's CAREER award (2005), MIT Tech Review's TR-35 Award (Young Innovators Under 35) (2006), and one of ComputerWorld's Top 40 Technology Innovators under 40.

Active data mining/OSN project pages: Graph Coordinate Systems, Graph Modeling/Generation, Social Network Measurement/Analysis

Thinking about applying for a PhD in networking/systems at UCSB?
I'm always looking for strong students with backgrounds in networking/systems/data mining. Here is a FAQ, and a note on why you should choose UCSB.

UCSB Undergraduates interested in research?
I generally advise 2-3 undergraduates in my lab in active research. The best way to join my lab as an undergrad is to take and do well in my courses, CS176B (network programming), CS170 (Operating Systems), or CS276 (graduate networking).