Hey, I’m Iman 👋

I’m a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics (MPI-INF) in the Internet Architecture group. I’m broadly fascinated by how people actually experience security and privacy online—and how we can design systems that protect them without asking for expert knowledge. My current work explores how emerging and existing technologies shape everyday users’ privacy and threaten their security, and how usable defenses can make a real difference.

I finished my B.Sc. in Computer Engineering at Sharif University of Technology in 2024, where I explored a mix of Machine Learning, Systems, Security, HCI, CPS, and IoT. For my bachelor thesis, I studied client selection in federated learning and proposed a reinforcement-learning–based method that balances accuracy, efficiency, and fairness while considering data quality and energy consumption.

What I’m into (research)

  • Censorship Circumvention
  • Human-centered Security & Privacy
  • Usable Security
  • Security Measurement
  • Emerging technologies and their effects on user privacy

A few things I’ve worked on

  • Federated learning client selection (B.Sc. thesis): A reinforcement-learning approach to optimize accuracy, efficiency, and fairness; accounts for end-user data quality and aims to reduce energy use.
  • Security & privacy perceptions of messaging platforms in Iran: Investigated trust and distrust in local platforms, identified root causes, and contrasted Iranian vs. non-Iranian platforms.

Hobbies & off-screen life

When I’m not chasing down research questions, you’ll likely find me:

  • 🎧 Listening to music and 🧩 playing CTFs
  • 📰 Reading the news and keeping active—any sport is fair game
  • 🥾 Hiking and 🌄 sight-seeing
  • ☕ Experimenting with coffee and 🍳 cooking
  • 🎲 Playing board games
  • 🔧 Fiddling with electronics: making everyday tools smart and remotely controllable with micro-controllers, sensors, and actuators
  • 📚 Reading books and happily getting lost in math & physics problems

Quick timeline

  • Aug 2024 – present: PhD candidate, MPI-INF, Internet Architecture group (Saarbrücken, Germany)
  • Jun 2023 – Jul 2024: Volunteer remote Research Assistant, InSPIRe Lab, Duke University
  • Sep 2023 – Feb 2024: Volunteer Research Assistant, CPS Lab, Sharif University of Technology
  • Feb 2023 – Sep 2023: Volunteer Research Assistant, RADIAN Lab, Sharif University of Technology
  • Jul 2022 – Sep 2022: Summer Intern, Rasta Scientific Group

Teaching I’ve helped with

Advanced Programming (2021) · Probabilities & Statistics (2022) · Operating Systems (2023) · Embedded Systems (2023) · Computer Simulation (two offerings, 2023)

Honors

  • Silver medal, Paya Math & Physics League — Tehran, Iran (Sep 2017)
  • 2nd place, Water Rocket Design Competition — Isfahan’s Math House (Sep 2015)

Contact

Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik
Saarland Informatics Campus — Campus E1 4, 66123 Saarbrücken
Office: E1 4 – 514 · Phone: +49 681 9325 3548

OpenPGP

Fingerprint: 55A2 A5DE 8479 2BAC C6CA EE3F B588 2850 E04C 8D2A

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Verify a post

  1. Import my key once:
    curl -O https://blog.alipourimjourneys.ir/keys/iman-alipour-pgp.asc
gpg --import iman-alipour-pgp.asc
  2. Download the post and its signature (each post links them):
    curl -O https://blog.alipourimjourneys.ir/sources/posts/hello-world.md
curl -O https://blog.alipourimjourneys.ir/sources/posts/hello-world.md.asc
  3. Verify:
    gpg --verify hello-world.md.asc hello-world.md

Downloads: Markdown · Signature (.asc)

Verify locally:

curl -fSLO https://blog.alipour.eu/sources/about.md
curl -fSLO https://blog.alipour.eu/sources/about.md.asc
gpg --verify about.md.asc about.md