CACTUS/P Colloquium is a regional event for the Capital Area (and broader friends) to gather and discuss recent results in Usable Security and Privacy, broadly construed. The Colloquium consists of both research talks and networking events, and is hosted twice a year.

The next CACTUS will be held on December 18, 2025 at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.

Registration

Registration is (mostly) closed for this semester’s event. Contact Michelle and Adam if you would like to request an exception.

Schedule

Long talks are 10 minutes with 5 minutes of questions, and short talks are 3 minutes with 2 minutes of questions.

  • 9:00am: Arrival Coffee, tea, light pastry and fruit

  • 9:15am-9:30am: Welcome and Intros

  • 9:30am-10:30am: Research Talks:
    • Smirity Kaushik – The George Washington University
      • “Surfacing Scam Security Folklore on TikTok”
    • Sunyup Park – University of Maryland
      • “Finding Meaning and Value in Privacy Negotiation”
    • Adeline Li – Johns Hopkins University
      • “Beyond Harassment: Exploring the Harm Experienced by People with Disabilities in Social Virtual Reality”
    • Wentao Guo – University of Maryland
      • “How Experts Personalize Privacy & Security Advice for At-Risk Users”

  • 10:30am-11:00am: Break

  • 11:15am-11:30am: Research Talks:
    • Klint Faber – University of Maryland
      • “How to Jump Start and Protect Your Government After a Cyberattack”
  • 11:30am-11:45am: WiP/Short Talks
    • Vivian Motti – George Mason University
      • “Neuroinclusive Privacy: Autism Community”
    • Azwa Bajwah – University of Maryland
      • “From Data to Design: A Methodology for Small-Scale Personalized Ads”
    • Miranda Wei – Princeton University
      • “Towards Anti-Imperialist Security, Privacy, and Safety Research in HCI”

  • 11:45am-1:30pm: Lunch

  • 1:30pm – 2:15pm: Research Talks
    • Adryana Hutchinson – The George Washington University
      • “Account Creation and Authentication Inaccessibility for Blind and Low Vision Users”
    • Yunze Zhao – University of Maryland
      • “SBOMFuzz: Designing Usable Fuzzing Workflows for Software Supply Chains”
    • Shiza Ali – The George Washington University
      • “Getting Meta: A Multimodal Approach for Detecting Unsafe Conversations within Instagram Direct Messages of Youth”
  • 2:15pm-2:25: WiP/Short Talks
    • Dhiman Goswami – George Mason University
      • “Privacy Risks in Multilingual Online Discourse Among Immigrant and Refugee Groups”
    • Arwa Alsahdi – The George Washington University
      • “Key Factors Influencing Developers’ Decisions to Change App Labels (Findings)”

  • 2:25pm – 3:00pm: Break

  • 3:00pm - 4:15pm: BOFs, Speed Networking, and Professional Development

  • 4:15pm-4:30pm: Closing Remarks

Location, directions, and other information

All events will take place at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Brendan Iribe Center, Room 4105.

  • If you are driving, I recommend you park in the lot/garage of “The Varsity” apartments (Baltimore Ave.), which should be both cheaper and a closer walk than using official campus visitor parking. It’s about $2 per hour. They will, however, ticket you quickly if your time expires (campus would also). Watch the signs so you park in the visitor and not resident section.

  • If you are using metro, it’s about a 1-mile walk from the station to our building, or you can use the UM shuttle that runs every 10-20 minutes (no ID required). Here’s the schedule. The closest stop is the Glenn L. Martin wind tunnel.

  • We have eduroam, so if you have an eduroam account you are all set. If you don’t have an eduroam account, you can sign up for a 24-hour pass to the umd-guest wireless network.

If you are seeking hotel accommodations, we have minor discounts available at local hotels, please ask Michelle for details.

Sponsors

We wish to thank the Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2) for their support to make this event happen.