Prabuddha Chakraborty
University of Maine, ME·Engineering
Modern computer chips are built from reusable design blocks called hardware intellectual property (IP). These blocks can be stolen, copied or reverse engineered as a chip moves through design and manufacturing.
- Fields
Engineering
Computer Science
Education Research
- Topics
hardware security
hardware intellectual property
IP protection
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Aug 2028
What they work on
- Use reinforcement learning, AI that learns by trial and error, to discover new attacks on logic locking, a method that hides a chip's function behind a secret key, and to identify why these attacks succeed.
- Use explainable AI to extract circuit redesign rules that defend against many attack types, then apply them to large designs with low hardware overhead while preserving correctness.
- Develop hardware security metrics and combine all components into the KIPPER platform, extending it to countermeasures for fault, side-channel and Trojan attacks.
- Measure how an AI Educator, a generative AI tutor, combined with game-based modules increases high school students' engagement, knowledge and career interest in semiconductors.
- Run summer workshops in Maine and Texas with hands-on activities and industry field trips, and improve the curriculum using surveys, interviews and the NASA Task Load Index.
More about the research
One project develops artificial intelligence (AI) tools that automatically find new attacks on hardware IP and then derive defenses against them. A second project focuses on education. It builds a game-based, AI-assisted curriculum to teach high school students how semiconductors are designed and made.
Why it matters
Chip designers and the semiconductor industry could use automated, scalable protections against reverse engineering, IP theft and piracy. This would strengthen the trustworthiness of electronic hardware and support national security. The education work could help build a skilled semiconductor workforce by giving high school students engaging ways to learn how chips are made and to explore careers in the field.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: KIPPER: A Scalable Learning-Guided Hardware IP Protection Platform
NSF · Sep 2024 – Aug 2028
Collaborative Research: A Semiconductor Curriculum and Learning Framework for High-Schoolers Using Artificial Intelligence, Game Modules, and Hands-on Experiences
NSF · Jun 2024 – May 2028
Closest labs
Jiun-Yu Wu
Southern Methodist University, TX·Education Research
Develop game-based semiconductor learning modules for high-school students, with avatars and peer play, and refine them iteratively through design-based research driven by student feedback.
Himanshu Thapliyal
Southern Methodist University, TX·Engineering·Early-career
Investigate how secret information leaks through the power traces of energy recovery circuits, and propose design methods that reduce leakage against differential power analysis attacks.
Kanad Basu
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY·Engineering·Early-career
Develop an automated quantum circuit construction toolset supporting end-to-end design, including quantum state preparation and function synthesis from the gates available on modern quantum processors.
The school
University of Maine: 10 labs on PI Pages, $199M a year on research, 81 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.