Levine Appointed Distinguished Professor
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Brian Neil Levine, Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) professor and director of the UMass Cybersecurity Institute, was appointed Distinguished Professor following approval by the UMass Board of Trustees at its June 7 meeting. The title Distinguished Professor is conferred upon select, highly accomplished faculty who have already achieved the rank of professor and meet a demanding set of qualifications.
In their nomination letter, Chancellor Javier A. Reyes and Interim Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Michael F. Malone highlighted Levine's contributions to research, leadership, teaching, and computing for the common good at UMass Amherst and in the greater global community: "Dr. Levine's prolific research has had a large social impact."
Levine's research interests cover network forensics, security, and privacy with a strong focus on thwarting internet-based child sexual exploitation. Research from his Rescue Lab includes novel forensic methods and software used globally by investigators to detect and rescue children from abuse. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles that have received over 20,000 citations. In 2020, he was named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery—an honor reserved for the top 1% of ACM members. Levine also received a 2017 IEEE Infocom Test of Time Award and the 2007 Outstanding Research Award from the UMass Amherst College of Natural Sciences.
External reviewers describe Levine's stature and accomplishments in the most laudatory terms: "Perhaps the most impressive part of his record is not that he has accomplished what is expected to reach promotion to Distinguished Professor, but that he has done this while creating an incredible portfolio of public service. The forensics work of Professor Levine, with its focus on child exploitation, could not possibly be of higher impact."
As the founding director of the Cybersecurity Institute, Levine is a publicly engaged scholar. He has provided briefings and testimony to congressional and judiciary committees, expert testimony for numerous U.S. Attorney's Offices, and briefings for leaders and support to staff in the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2022, he authored a report to Congress on behalf of the National Institute of Justice focused on internet child sexual exploitation.
Levine led the effort in 2016 to establish a National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarship for Service site at UMass Amherst. This continuing cross-college program has provided over 45 students with full scholarships in exchange for a two-year commitment to a paid federal job after graduation. With this NSF funding, Levine also oversees a new program for students to participate in paid internships with the Attorney General's Office (AGO) Digital Evidence Lab. The collaboration, which also includes the Northwestern District Attorney's Office, is one of only a few programs of its kind in the country. "This internship program provides students practical experience before they graduate and a chance to work towards a better society," says Levine. "And that may influence their career outlook and goals after graduation."
Levine is a previous UMass Amherst Lilly Teaching Fellow and recipient of the College of Natural Sciences' Outstanding Teaching Award. He has made exceptional contributions to undergraduate and graduate student teaching, training, and mentoring. During his tenure at UMass Amherst, he has created seven new courses and has also taught many other courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has served as advisor and chair of ten PhD graduates, advised dozens of MS students, and led over 60 undergraduates in independent studies and honors theses.
Levine received his doctorate in computer engineering from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1999, after which he joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Within the college, he has served as undergraduate program director, honors program director, and chaired numerous service committees.
"For all these reasons, we are delighted to endorse this nomination for Distinguished Professor," says Reyes and Malone. "It is a recognition Professor Levine deserves most profoundly and which, we are sure, will be celebrated by everyone who works with him."
