Picture of Kentrell Owens, a handsome young man, presenting a poster at a conference

Kentrell Owens

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy

[my first name]@cs.washington.edu
Curriculum Vitae

My pronouns are he/him.
Google Scholar
Mastodon: @kentrellowens


About Me

I'm an incoming postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, working with Yixin Zou. I earned my PhD in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington in the Security & Privacy Research Lab, advised by Tadayoshi Kohno and Franziska Roesner. My research area is human-centered computer security & privacy, with a specific focus on underserved or marginalized communities. Through my research, I attempt to do impactful computer security & privacy research that fulfills my sense of curiosity, justice, and hope. My long-term vision is to ensure that technology does not disproportionately harm those with the least power to resist it.


Updates

June 13, 2025 - I graduated! Shoutout to my committee members for helping me get my dissertation in great shape. I'm excited to start my position as a postdoctoral researcher working with Yixin Zou this fall at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum. If you're in the area, say hi!

March 4, 2025 - I would like to say "Danke schön" to Yixin Zou at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum and Sven Bugiel at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Saarbrücken for hosting me last week. I gave my talk "Technology and Power: Examining Imbalances Through Usable Security & Privacy Research" and got a great reception and lots of good questions from attendees. It was wonderful to meet the world-class researchers at these institutes!

December 18, 2024 - Last week I did a Research Exchange at ICSI at UC Berkeley hosted by Serge Egelman. I met with researchers there, gave a presentation about my work, and got some valuable feedback on proposed work. It was the most time I've spent in Berkeley, and I had a great time there.


Publications

2025

2024

2022

2021

2020

2019


Mentoring

I've had the opportunity to work with wonderful undergraduate and masters students in the past, including:

Last updated June 2025.