Sarah Gillespie

Sarah Elizabeth Gillespie

PhD Student in Computer Science
Northeastern University

About

I am a third-year PhD student in Computer Science working with Dr. Christo Wilson at Northeastern University's Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute. I'm currently a Research Assistant, but will be a Teaching Assistant in the coming semester.

Before Northeastern, I attended Smith College for undergrad, earning my BA in Quantitative Economics and Statistical and Data Science in 2022. I then worked at Sartorius Stedim Biotech in a Biosafety Level 2 laboratory as a metrology/quality engineer, including involvement in routine FDA audits.

My research focuses on consumer protection and AI ethics through a multidisciplinary approach. Depending on the project, this could range from qualitative coding to intercepting app traffic to analyzing network patterns.

I am an organizer of the Khoury Women's PhD Group.

News

October 2025: I'm recruiting an undergraduate or graduate student to collaborate on Project “Robots”: AI Social Robots. Apply through the Mon(IoT)r research group process.

May 2024: Presented Investigating the Datafication of Your Car at IEEE Security 8th Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro '24.)

September 2023: Began my PhD in Computer Science at Northeastern University with the Khoury Distinguished Fellowship.

Conference Attendance: PETS 2025, ACM CHI 2025, CS Law 2024, IEEE S&P 2024

Research Interests

Topics I'm actively researching:

IoT Devices Privacy Connected Cars Social Robots Surveillance Pricing