Masooda Bashir

• Director, Social Sciences in Engineering Research, College of Engineering, University of Illinois, 2013 – present
• Faculty Affiliate, Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois
• Faculty Affiliate, Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, University of Illinois
• Faculty Affiliate, Coordinated Sciences Laboratory/Information Trust Institute, University of Illinois

My research focuses on the human dimensions of privacy, security, trust, and AI, with the goal of understanding how sociotechnical systems can be designed to better align with human values and societal needs. I study how individuals perceive and respond to privacy and security risks, how trust is calibrated in AI and autonomous systems, and how organizational, legal, and technical structures shape digital experiences and outcomes. Through interdisciplinary methods that integrate empirical, behavioral, and technical approaches, my work aims to advance trustworthy AI, privacy engineering, and human-centered cybersecurity. Ultimately, my research seeks to develop evidence-based frameworks and design principles that support more transparent, accountable, and equitable digital ecosystems.

Masooda Bashir is an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Information Sciences. Her interdisciplinary background in mathematics, computer science, and psychology serves as a guiding foundation for her work on privacy, cybersecurity, trust, and human-centered AI. Her research, teaching, and leadership focus on understanding how technological systems interact with human behavior, decision-making, and societal values. She has led and contributed to projects funded by organizations including the NSF, Department of Defense, Cisco, NSA, and IMLS, and her research has informed discussions on AI trust, privacy governance, cybersecurity education, and digital policy. In addition to her research, she is actively involved in mentoring students, advancing cybersecurity workforce development, and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration in privacy and trustworthy AI research.

Leading Workshops Summer 2026:

• Usable Security and Privacy for Connected Healthcare 2026 (co-located SOUPS 2026), https://soups.page/2026/workshops-all.html
• Trustworthy-AI in IOMT Workshop 2026 (co-located IEEE ICHI), https://trustai2026.web.illinois.edu/#:~:text=TRUST%2DAI%202026%20workshop%2C%20co,usable%2C%20and%20trustworthy%20clinical%20insights

Current projects include:

• Principal Investigator and Director of the Illinois Cyber Security Scholarship Program, 2019-present
• Principle Investigator and Director of the IMLS Forum “Privacy Protections in Public Libraries," 2020-present
• Principal Investigator “Privacy Standards Evaluation for the Cloud” Funded by CISCO Inc, 2020-present
• Principle Investigator - Trust and Automation Research Project, Funded by Synchrony Inc 2019-2020

Previous projects/courses include:

• Researcher, Science of Security (SoS) Lablet, Information Trust Institute, 2013-2019
• Co-Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Illinois Cyber Security Scholarship Program, 2009-2019
• Co-Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Ethical Thinking in Cyber Space, 2017-2019
• Co-Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Digital Forensic curriculum development, 2013-2017
• Principal Investigator of the "Enhancing the Cyber Security Workforce—The Human Angle," 2013-2016
• Co-PI of Assured Cloud Computing, 2012-2016
• Industrial Engineering 340/Psychology 358: Human Factors, Ethical Thinking in Cyber Space (CS 598), Digital Forensics (CS 498)

• Summer 2026 - Independent Study - IS389MNB
• Summer 2026 - Independent Study - IS589MNB

By appointment, please contact professor

Complete List of Publications

Recent Publications

Hassan, M., Gunter, C., Landau, S., & Bashir, M. (2026). Insights from GitHub community on the Matter standard: Developer perspectives and challenges. In SDIoTSec 2026 (co-located with NDSS’26). https://sdiotsec.github.io/accepted_papers/sdiotsec26-final46.pdf

Tang, L., Xu, E., & Bashir, M. (2026). When embodied agents “remember”: How relational cues shape trust calibration in embodied human-agent collaboration. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication [RO-MAN]) August 24–28, 2026 (under review)

Raji, M, Hassan, M., Nakamura, P., & Bashir, M. (2026). Analyzing discourse on Agentic AI: A study of Reddit communities. In Proceedings of the 89th Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting. Bangkok, Thailand (Under review).

Hassan, M., Yener, R., Gumusel, E., & Bashir, M. (2026). AI Healthcare Chatbots as Information Infrastructure: Large-Scale Study of User-Reported Breakdowns. ASIS&T 2026. (under review).

Hassan, M., Gunter, C., Landau, S., & Bashir, M. (2026). People, Policy, and Home Health Tech: User Mental Models for IoMT Integration. ACM CCS. (under review).

Raji, M, Ugwuoke, V., & Bashir, M. (2026). Deepfakes and data protection: Evaluating the effectiveness of African privacy laws in the age of AI. Journal of Information Policy (Under review)

Raji, M. (2026). Enforcement of data protection laws in Africa: Implications for privacy engineers.  USENIX Conference on Privacy Engineering Practice and Respect (PEPR '26), Santa Clara, CA, United States. https://www.usenix.org/conference/pepr26/presentation/raji (In Press).

Raji, M, & Bashir, M. (2026). Towards agentic AI governance: A preliminary assessment. Proceedings of the International Conference on the AI Revolution: Research, Ethics, and Society (AIR-RES 2026), Las Vegas, NV (In Press). 

Huang, H.Y. & Bashir, M., (2016, June). Measuring Privacy from Users' Perspective of Information Control and Perceived Risks. 9th Annual Privacy Law Scholars Conference, Washington D.C., U.S. Carnegie Mellon University – Workshop on the Future of Privacy Notice and Choice panelist. "Online Privacy Agreements, Is it Informed Consent?" June 27th, 2014.

Jethwani, M., Memon, N., Wee, J., Bashir, M. (June 2016). The Effectiveness of GenCyber Programs at Building Adolescent Girls' Knowledge, Confidence and Interest. Round Table presentation at The Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (CISSE), Philadelphia, PA.

Purdue University – The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) speaker series, W. Lafayette IN. “Online Privacy Agreements, is it informed Consent?” April 16th, 2014.

UIUC Campus Insights – Presentation to the Board of Trustee on the Program Develop-ment in Digital Forensics. September 11th, 2013.

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) – Center of Excellence of Assured Cloud Computing Seminar series, Rome NY. “Digital Forensics: a Multidisciplinary Approach”. August 21st, 2013.

Sandia National Laboratory – Panelist at “Symposium graduate panel”, Albuquerque NM, annual TITANS University Week. August 5th-7th, 2013.

Cyber and Information Challenges 2012 Conference – SUNYIT and the Cyber New York Alliance, Utica NY. “Consumer Privacy Choices, informed consent, and Baseline protections to facilitate market transactions in the cloud”. June 12th -14th, 2012.

Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) – Profiling and Prediction Roundtable panel member, West Lafayette, IN. Workshop “Does Profiling Makes Us More Secure?” March, 2012.

Air Force Research Lab – Assured Cloud Computing seminar, Rome, NY. “Privacy in the cloud: Going beyond the contractarian paradigm”. December, 2011.

Sandia National Laboratory – University Partners Cyber Open House and Workshop, Albuquerque, NM. “Trust - human dimension” Workshop. July 25th -27th, 2011.