Elissa Redmiles Selected as One of MIT Technology Review’s 2025 Innovators Under 35
Elissa Redmiles, the Clare Luce Boothe assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, has been named one of MIT Technology Review’s innovators under 35.
The annual list of innovators, first published in 1999, features 35 scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs under the age of 35 who are making significant impacts in their careers. Redmiles, 30, was selected out of a group of 420 nominees hailing from approximately 40 different countries.
“I’m honored to be recognized for doing interdisciplinary work that aligns with my core values and beliefs,” Redmiles said. “Much of the work for which I was honored is work that others saw as risky, but I believed in, so it is especially close to my heart and meaningful to have those passion projects recognized.”
Redmiles’ research interests are broadly in the areas of security and privacy, and MIT Technology Review praised her for “pioneering new ways to incorporate human experiences into technical design.”
“Elissa’s work not only advances technology, it also is foundational for improving the environment of online platforms,” said Lisa Singh, the chair of the Department of Computer Science. “I am so glad that she is being recognized for her impact on both technology and society.”
Redmiles studies safety in digital systems and her work combines computational, economic and social science methods to understand users’ online safety-related decision-making processes. She is the founder of SafeDigitalIntimacy.org, which is a growing community of computer scientists, clinical psychologists and community experts who work on security for intimate content and interactions.
“In a field dominated by men and a society that stigmatizes sexuality and intimacy, digital intimacy is left understudied and underprotected,” Redmiles said. “Yet, sexual content and interactions drive a significant amount of digital traffic and innovation. I think it’s critically important that technical scholars figure out how to make safer technology that is robust to abuse while supporting positive, healthy free (sexual) expression and interpersonal connection.”
Redmiles joined the Department of Computer Science at Georgetown in 2023 and is also a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Maryland, College Park.