Cybersecurity Faculty Earns Promotion and Tenure

The Georgia Institute of Technology recently announced that Paul Pearce has been promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and has been granted tenure.

Pearce, an accomplished network security and measurement researcher, joined Georgia Tech in 2019 and as a founding faculty member at the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP). 

“I am grateful to my mentors and collaborators throughout my career for their support,” said Pearce. “And most importantly I'm thankful for my amazing students, who are the people who really deserve the praise. I look forward to continuing my research, teaching, and service in this new role.”

Pearce advises five Ph.D. students at his lab in SCP and created, developed, and taught Advanced Network Security and Measurement, a Ph.D. level course in the College of Computing that is transitioning to a permanent part of the SCP curriculum. 

“Paul’s promotion and tenure reflects his outstanding contributions to SCP and the broader Georgia Tech community,” said inaugural School Chair Michael Bailey. “At SCP, we believe that creating security for everyone and everything requires innovation, collaboration, and a deep commitment to impact—values that Paul embodies in his scholarship, teaching, and service.”

The school chair added that Pearce’s work exemplifies SCP’s commitment to rigorous research that tackles real-world security challenges and revolutionizing security education for the next generation of leaders.

“We are proud to recognize his achievement and look forward to his continued contributions in shaping a secure future,” said Bailey. 

Pearce was among 16 College of Computing faculty that received promotion and tenure this year.

Dean of Computing Vivek Sarkar emailed the College community with the good news. "The hard-earned milestones of promotion and tenure affirm a deep dedication to, and excellence in, research, teaching, and service,” he said.

"We are truly thrilled to celebrate this moment with you all as we recognize your contributions to our students and all aspects of our College and Institute. Congratulations to all.”

In 2023, Pearce received the prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for improving the reliability of active internet measurement. The award recognized him as an academic role model in research and education and a leader in SCP.

Earlier this year, he played a key role in organizing the NSF Networking Technology and Systems Early-Career Investigators (NeTS-ECI) Workshop held in Alexandria, Virginia. The program engaged the early-career NeTS research community to address emerging career challenges and develop successful research agendas in computer and information networking.