Candidates for the computer science tenure-track faculty position openings in the College of Computing will be visiting campus this semester, including Evan Lucas.
Bio
Evan Lucas is a Research Scientist in the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan. His research interests fall within deep learning, specifically computer vision and natural language processing. He has co-authored 13 peer-reviewed papers, with seven published in top-tier machine learning venues, including the Association for Computational Linguistics, Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, and the IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision. Throughout his graduate studies, current position, and industry work, he has mentored 12 students and interns. He enjoys teaching and has taught as an adjunct professor for seven semesters at Michigan Technological University, Gogebic Community College, and Western Carolina University. He earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University, with his dissertation research focusing on natural language processing.
Candidate: Evan Lucas
Date and time of visit: Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, 3 p.m. ET, following a social hour in Rekhi 218
Location: Rekhi G005
Abstract
Detecting watermarks in large language models
Dr. Lucas works in the areas of natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision. His specific areas of interest are applied computer vision to enable environmental science, building chatbots for educational purposes, and large language model watermarking.
In this talk he will focus on model watermarking. Large language models are being used for an increasing number of applications and many released models use (or are theorized to use) different forms of watermarking. Watermarking can be used to assert ownership over generated content, aid in detection of model-generated context, or detect unauthorized use of training data. In this talk, Evan will discuss an attack to detect watermarks that he developed and presented at an Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) workshop, the countermeasure that was developed to mitigate this attack, and future research on evolving the attack to overcome this countermeasure. If time permits, he will discuss some of his other research interests.
About the College of Computing
The Michigan Tech College of Computing, established in 2019, is the first academic unit in Michigan dedicated solely to computing, and one of only a handful such academic units in the United States. The college is composed of two academic departments. The Computer Science department offers four bachelor of science programs in computer science, cybersecurity, data science, and software engineering; four master of science programs in applied computer science, computer science, cybersecurity, and data science; and a doctoral program in computer science. The Applied Computing department offers four bachelor of science programs in cybersecurity, electrical engineering technology, information technology, and mechatronics; two master of science programs in health informatics and mechatronics; and a doctoral program is in computational science and engineering.
Questions? Contact us at computing@mtu.edu. Follow the College of Computing on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.