David Malan

David J. Malan is Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a Member of the Faculty of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. He received his A.B., S.M., and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the same in 1999, 2004, and 2007, respectively. He teaches Computer Science 50, otherwise known as CS50, which is Harvard University's largest course, Yale University's largest course, and edX's largest MOOC. He also teaches at Harvard Extension School and Harvard Summer School. All of his courses are available as OpenCourseWare.

Previously, Malan served as Chief Information Officer for Mindset Media. While in graduate school, he worked part-time for the Middlesex District Attorney's Office as a forensic investigator, after which he founded his own startup. On the side, he volunteered as an emergency medical technician (EMT-B) for MIT-EMS. He continues to volunteer as an EMT-B for the American Red Cross.

Malan's research in graduate school focused primarily on cybersecurity and digital forensics. His dissertation was entitled Rapid Detection of Botnets through Collaborative Networks of Peers. His more recent publications focus on pedagogy and instructional technologies.

Malan's CV offers some additional background.

Publications

Articles

• Sensor Networks for Emergency Response: Challenges and Opportunities. Konrad Lorincz, David J. Malan, Thaddeus R.F. Fulford-Jones, Alan Nawoj, Antony Clavel, Victor Shnayder, Geoff Mainland, Steve Moulton, and Matt Welsh. IEEE Pervasive Computing. October – December, 2004.

Conferences

• A Public-Key Infrastructure for Key Distribution in TinyOS Based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography.. David J. Malan, Matt Welsh, and Michael D. Smith. First IEEE International Conference on Sensor and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks. Santa Clara, California. October 2004. [Related: talk's slides]
• Advanced Forensic Format: An Open, Extensible Format for Disk Imaging. Simson L. Garfinkel, David J. Malan, Karl-Alexander Dubec, Christopher C. Stevens, and Cecile Pham. Second Annual IFIP WG 11.9 International Conference on Digital Forensics. Orlando, Florida. January 2006.
• CS50 Sandbox: Secure Execution of Untrusted Code. David J. Malan. 44th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Denver, Colorado. March 2013. [Related: CS50 Run]
• Engaging Students through Video: Integrating Assessment and Instrumentation. Tommy MacWilliam, R.J. Aquino, and David J. Malan. 18th Annual Conference of the Northeast Region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Loudonville, New York. April 2013. [Related: talk's slides]
• From Cluster to Cloud to Appliance. David J. Malan. 18th Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. Canterbury, England. July 2013. [Related: talk's slides]
• Moving CS50 into the Cloud. David J. Malan. 15th Annual Conference of the Northeast Region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Hartford, Connecticut. April 2010. [Related: talk's slides]
• Podcasting Computer Science E-1. David J. Malan. 38th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Covington, Kentucky. March 2007. [Related: OpenCourseWare, talk's slides]
• Reinventing CS50. David J. Malan. 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. March 2010. [Related: OpenCourseWare, talk's slides]
• Scaling Office Hours: Managing Live Q&A in Large Courses. Tommy MacWilliam and David J. Malan. 28th Annual Conference of the Eastern Region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Galloway, New Jersey. November 2012. [Related: source code]
• Scratch for Budding Computer Scientists. David J. Malan and Henry H. Leitner. 38th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Covington, Kentucky. March 2007. [Related: Lecture Notes on Scratch, Lecture Notes on Scratch, Continued, Problem Set 3, Problem Set 3, talk's slides]
• Streamlining Grading toward Better Feedback. Tommy MacWilliam and David J. Malan. 18th Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. Canterbury, England. July 2013. [Related: talk's slides]
• Virtualizing Office Hours in CS 50. David J. Malan. 14th Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. Paris, France. July 2009.

Dissertation

• Rapid Detection of Botnets through Collaborative Networks of Peers. David J. Malan. Ph.D. Thesis. Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts. June 2007.

Journals

Implementing Public-Key Infrastructure for Sensor Networks. David J. Malan, Matt Welsh, and Michael D. Smith. ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks. Volume 4, Issue 4. November 2008.

Posters

• CodeBlue: An Ad Hoc Sensor Network Infrastructure for Emergency Medical Care. David Malan, Thaddeus R.F. Fulford-Jones, Victor Shnayder, Breanne Duncan, Matt Welsh, Mark Gaynor, and Steve Moulton. Emerging Technology and Best Practices Seminar. Boston University. Boston, Massachusetts. May 2004.
• Quantitative Approaches to Software Security & Information Privacy. Rachel Greenstadt, David J. Malan, Stuart E. Schechter, and Michael D. Smith. NSF Cyber Trust Annual Principal Investigator Meeting. Newport Beach, California. September 2005.
• Quantitative Approaches to Software Security & Information Privacy. Rachel Greenstadt, David J. Malan, Stuart E. Schechter, and Michael D. Smith. NSF Cyber Trust Annual Principal Investigator Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia. January 2007.
• Vital Dust: Wireless sensors and a sensor network for real-time patient monitoring. Dan Myung, Breanne Duncan, David Malan, Matt Welsh, Mark Gaynor, and Steve Moulton. 8th Annual New England Regional Trauma Conference. Burlington, Massachusetts. November 2003.

Reports

• Crypto for Tiny Objects. David Malan. Harvard University Technical Report TR-04-04. January, 2004.
• Low-Power, Secure Routing for MICA2 Mote. Breanne Duncan and David Malan. Harvard University Technical Report TR-06-04. March 2004.
• Summary Structures for XML. David Malan. Harvard University Technical Report TR-05-04. March 2004.

Talks

• A Public-Key Infrastructure for Key Distribution in TinyOS Based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography. First IEEE International Conference on Sensor and Ad hoc Communications and Networks. Santa Clara, California. October 2004.
• Active Learning. Conversations@FAS, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. February 2011.
• BMP Puzzles. Nifty Assignments, 42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Dallas, Texas. March 2011. [Related: Nifty Assignment, OpenCourseWare]
• CodeBlue: An Ad Hoc Sensor Network Infrastructure for Emergency Medical Care. International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks. Imperial College. London, United Kingdom. April 2004.
• CSI: Computer Science Investigation. Nifty Assignments, 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. March 2010. [Related: Nifty Assignment, OpenCourseWare]
• Exploiting Temporal Consistency to Reduce False Positives in Host-Based, Collaborative Detection of Worms. ACM Workshop on Recurring Malcode. Fairfax, Virginia. November 2006. [Related: paper, Wormboy]
• The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth. Harvard Thinks Big. Cambridge, Massachusetts. February 2010. [Related: HarvardIdeas]
• Grading Qualitatively with Tablet PCs in CS 50. David J. Malan. Workshop on the Impact of Pen-Based Technology on Education. Blacksburg, Virginia. October 2009. [Related: paper]
• Host-Based Detection of Worms through Peer-to-Peer Cooperation. ACM Workshop on Rapid Malcode. Fairfax, Virginia. November 2005. [Related: paper, Wormboy]
• Moving CS50 into the Cloud. 15th Annual Conference of the Northeast Region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Hartford, Connecticut. April 2010. [Related: paper]
• The New CS 50. Colloquium on Computer Science Pedagogy, Carnegie Mellon. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. October 2009.
• One Big File Is Not Enough: A Critical Evaluation of the Dominant Free-Space Sanitization Technique. 6th Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies. Cambridge, United Kingdom. June 2006. [Related: paper]
• Podcasting Computer Science E-1. 38th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Covington, Kentucky. March 2007. [Related: OpenCourseWare, paper]
• Podcasting E-1: It's All About Access. Podcast Academy at Boston University. Boston, Massachusetts. April 2006. [Related: OpenCourseWare]
• Rapid Detection of Botnets through Collaborative Networks of Peers. Final Oral Examination. Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts. May 2007. [Related: dissertation]
• Reinventing CS50. 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. March 2010. [Related: OpenCourseWare, paper]
• Scratch @ Harvard. Scratch@MIT Conference. Cambridge, Massachusetts. July 2008.
• Scratch for Budding Computer Scientists. 38th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Covington, Kentucky. March 2007. [Related: Lecture Notes on Scratch, Lecture Notes on Scratch, Continued, paper, Problem Set 3, Problem Set 3]
• Teaching Computer Science in the Cloud. 2009 USENIX Annual Technical Conference. San Diego, California. June 2009.
• Toward a Public-Key Infrastructure for Key Distribution in TinyOS Based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography. Qualifying Examination. Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts. November 2004.
• Toward PKI for Sensor Networks. BBN Technologies. Cambridge, Massachusetts. November 2004.
• Usando a tecnologia efetivamente para melhorar o ensino de graduação. Critical Issues and Strategies for Leaders of Modern Universities. Cambridge, Massachusetts. April 2011.
• Virtualizing Office Hours in CS 50. 14th Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. Paris, France. July 2009. [Related: OpenCourseWare, paper]

Tutorials

• Implementing a MOOC. 18th Annual Conference of the Northeast Region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Loudonville, New York. April 2013.
• Moving Your Course into the Cloud. 41st Annual ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. March 2010.
• Replacing Real Servers with Virtual Machines Using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). 23rd Large Installation System Administration Conference (LISA '09). Baltimore, Maryland. November 2009.
• Replacing Real Servers with Virtual Machines Using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3). 2009 USENIX Annual Technical Conference. San Diego, California. June 2009.
• Starting with Scratch (literally) in CS 1. 41st Annual ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. March 2010. [Related: tutorial's website]

Workshops

• CodeBlue: An Ad Hoc Sensor Network Infrastructure for Emergency Medical Care. David Malan, Thaddeus Fulford-Jones, Matt Welsh, and Steve Moulton. ACM Workshop on Applications of Mobile Embedded Systems. Boston, Massachusetts. June 2004.
• CodeBlue: An Ad Hoc Sensor Network Infrastructure for Emergency Medical Care. David Malan, Thaddeus Fulford-Jones, Matt Welsh, and Steve Moulton. International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks. Imperial College. London, United Kingdom. April 2004. [Related: talk's slides]
• Exploiting Temporal Consistency to Reduce False Positives in Host-Based, Collaborative Detection of Worms. David J. Malan and Michael D. Smith. ACM Workshop on Recurring Malcode. Fairfax, Virginia. November 2006. [Related: talk's slides]
• Grading Qualitatively with Tablet PCs in CS 50. David J. Malan. Workshop on the Impact of Pen-Based Technology on Education. Blacksburg, Virginia. October 2009. [Related: talk's slides]
• Host-Based Detection of Worms through Peer-to-Peer Cooperation. David J. Malan and Michael D. Smith. ACM Workshop on Rapid Malcode. Fairfax, Virginia. November 2005. [Related: talk's slides]
• One Big File Is Not Enough: A Critical Evaluation of the Dominant Free-Space Sanitization Technique. Simson L. Garfinkel and David J. Malan. 6th Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies. Cambridge, United Kingdom. June 2006. [Related: talk's slides]