Blaine Hoak
Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Sciences
University of Wisconsin‑Madison
and Incoming Assistant Professor, Computer Science
University of Texas at Dallas
About me
I'm a Ph.D. Candidate in the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a research assistant in the Security & Privacy Research Group, advised by Prof. Patrick McDaniel. I am also an incoming Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, starting in the fall of 2026. I am fortunate to be a recipient of the MIT Rising Star Award for 2025.
My research is centered around evaluating and advancing the trustworthiness of AI/ML systems. I am specifically interested in investigating functional differences between machine learning models and biological systems (e.g., the human visual system), and how these differences play a role in the robustness and resiliency of models. In other words, I look at how humans and machine learning models see the world differently, and how differences in the kinds of features they focus on can impact their performance and security. I am broadly interested in topics in computer security and AI/ML.
In my free time, I enjoy reading (especially fantasy)📚, cooking 🍳, golfing ⛳️, and social dancing 💃!