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PhD Student Locks Spot as Rising Cybersecurity Researcher
Computer science professor Dr. Kevin Hamlen is on a quest to train students in a combination of high-demand computer-security skills: the mathematical reasoning needed to prove software is secure and the programming expertise needed to uncover real-world vulnerabilities that could lead to cyberattacks.
The University of Texas at Dallas cybersecurity expert said students tend to excel at one or the other. Doctoral student Charles Averill BS’23 stands out for his aptitude for both.
“By the end of my first class with Charles, I was convinced he could be one of the rare few who can combine both skills at the highest levels,” said Hamlen, the Louis Beecherl Jr. Distinguished Professor. “So I encouraged him to enter our PhD program.”
Averill, who is studying computer science in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, specializes in an area called formal methods, which uses mathematics to prove that software satisfies specified security properties. Hamlen first introduced Averill to the field when he was an undergraduate in his lab. Hamlen challenged him to read a textbook on the subject and solve difficult problems in the book.
“I realized that formal methods are ridiculously interesting and fun and addictive,” Averill said. “From then on, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do.”
“I realized that formal methods are ridiculously interesting and fun and addictive. From then on, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do.”
Charles Averill BS’23, computer science doctoral student
As a graduate student, Averill has solved a longstanding computer security problem by developing a mathematically verified method for identifying and proving the absence of timing vulnerabilities, which can allow attackers to extract sensitive information such as encryption keys.
Averill’s work impressed not just Hamlen, his advisor, but also the international computer science community.
Averill earned first place in the graduate student category in the 2026 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Research Competition Grand Finals in June. The grand finals were the culmination of a competition that included more than 340 computer science students from around the world who presented research at 21 major ACM conferences throughout the academic year. Last year, Averill won first place in the student research competition at the ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation, which qualified him to compete in the grand finals.
“I’m incredibly honored to receive an ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals award,” said Averill, who is completing a summer internship at Riverside Research, a nonprofit in Lexington, Massachusetts, focused on national security. “When I got the news, I had about 10 minutes of disbelief and after that, I felt a huge sense of pride. I felt very lucky and grateful for this honor.”
Hamlen said the award is among the most prestigious offered for student research across all of computer science.
From left: Garrett Hilburn BS’26, McDermott Graduate Fellow and computer science doctoral student Ilan Buzzetti BS’18, Charles Averill BS’23, computer science doctoral student Shreya Soman MS’24 and Dr. Kevin Hamlen, the Louis Beecherl Jr. Distinguished Professor of computer science.
“Charles was challenged to analyze the intricate behavior of complex software at the binary level,” said Hamlen, executive director of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute at UT Dallas. “He surprised me by finding a solution to a problem that seemed unsolvable until he made a breakthrough.”
Although the award honors Averill’s individual contributions, he said the research was part of a team effort that included many others in Hamlen’s lab and collaborators at Dartmouth College. Averill is also advised by Dr. Cristophe Hauser, an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth.
Averill, who is from Houston, said he did not plan to pursue cybersecurity when he came to UT Dallas. As a computer science major, he initially explored artificial intelligence and applying AI to robotics. His focus soon pivoted to low-level software and binary analysis. He joined the student-led Computer Security Group and served as its president.
Hamlen said he was amazed at Averill’s ability to solve a problem that had frustrated experts for decades.
“In principle we knew what a solution should look like, but it was very difficult to find a solution that had practical feasibility,” Hamlen said. “Charles was able to finally close that gap between theory and practice to create a deployable solution with rigorous mathematical assurance. His discovery will improve the security and reliability of timing-sensitive software across many domains, including aerospace and critical infrastructure.”
Comet’s Research Plays Key Role in DARPA Collaboration
University of Texas at Dallas doctoral student Charles Averill’s cybersecurity research is part of a project for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to make it safer and easier to modernize aging software without having to rebuild it from scratch.
The research, through the Verified Security and Performance Enhancement of Large Legacy Software (V-SPELLS) program, helps developers verify that new code will work correctly with legacy systems before it’s deployed to reduce security vulnerabilities, software failures and the risks of upgrading critical infrastructure.
The DARPA project is a collaboration of researchers from UT Dallas, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Trusted Science & Technology Inc.
Dr. Brendan Saltaformaggio, associate professor at Georgia Tech and the project’s lead principal investigator, said Averill’s work reflects the V-SPELLS program’s central goal of developing rigorous novel methods to make large, complex legacy software more secure and trustworthy.
“Charles made an important contribution to the fundamental science of formally analyzing binary programs so we can move closer to guaranteeing that software is free of vulnerabilities,” Saltaformaggio said. “Winning first place in the ACM SRC Grand Finals is an extraordinary achievement and a strong recognition of both Charles’ talent and the importance of this work.”
Dr. Jason Li, chief technology officer of Trusted Science & Technology and co-principal investigator for the project, added: “The seminal work led by Professor Kevin Hamlen in bottom-up verification and the award-winning breakthroughs by Charles fundamentally enable what V-SPELLS and other programs demand: a trustworthy, piecewise strategy for modernizing our most critical legacy software systems.”
Media Contact:Kim Horner, UT Dallas, 972-883-4463, kim.horner@utdallas.edu, or the Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, newscenter@utdallas.edu.
Tagged:Charles Averillcomputer scienceDr. Kevin HamlenECSgraduate education
