!!Michael Backes - Biography
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Michael Backes was born in Lebach, Germany in 1978. After completing his community service, he studied Computer Science and Mathematics at Saarland University between 1998 and 2002. Within these four years, he finished his Diploma in Computer Science, his Diploma in Mathematics, and his PhD in Computer Science. In 2005, at the age of 26, he was appointed as tenured professor at Saarland University. While being at Saarland University, Michael Backes has become a Fellow of the Max Planck Society, the Speaker of a DFG Collaborative Research Center (SFB), the vice-speaker of a DFG Cluster of Excellence, and the Director of the CISPA-Stanford Center for Cybersecurity Research. Since 2017, Michael Backes is the founding director and chairman of the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security – the 18th, and latest, research center of the Helmholtz Association.\\
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Prof. Backes seminal research contributions range from trustworthy methods for machine learning, to novel approaches for protecting personal data, to universal solutions for software and system security. His research findings have shaped and structured this scientific field both nationally and internationally. With over 100 publications in the most prestigious international IT security and privacy venues (IEEE S&P, ACM CCS, Usenix Security, NDSS, Crypto, Eurocrypt), over 450 publications in total, over 30000 citations and an h-factor of 91, Michael Backes is one of the most renowned information security researchers globally. His work has further earned him awards and honors of highest international reputation, in particular the ERC Synergy Grant, which is Europe’s most highly endowed research award, the Karl Heinz Beckurts Prize, an ERC Starting Grant, the Caspar Bowden Privacy Award, the Max Planck Fellowship, the IEEE and ACM Fellowship, as well as various Career Awards, Best Paper Awards, and Best Teaching Awards.\\
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His research results have been repeatedly translated into highly innovative applications that have brought him widespread attention beyond the scientific community. In particular, Prof. Backes received the MIT TR35 Award, which recognized him as one of the top 35 researchers and innovators in the world under the age of 35 (across disciplines) whose “accomplishments are poised to have a dramatic impact on the world as we know it”.\\
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One of the deepest passions of Michael Backes is the mentoring and promoting of junior researchers, and his impact on attracting and mentoring them is second to none: 27 former scientists from Michael Backes’s research group were appointed to faculty positions across the world, and he managed to attract no less than 40 new faculty to CISPA since its founding in early 2018.\\
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Michael Backes is regularly listed in rankings as one of Germany’s most important IT personalities. He holds an honorary doctorate from the Université de Lorraine and is both honorary citizen and future ambassador of the city of St. Ingbert.\\ \\[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW edit mbackes}][{ALLOW upload mbackes}][{ALLOW comment All}]