View source for Robert Watson (computer scientist)

{{Short description|British computer scientist (born 1977)}}
{{other people||Robert Watson (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Robert Watson
| image = Robert N Watson March 2008.jpg
| caption = Watson in 2008
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1977|5|3}}
| birth_place = [[Harrow, London|Harrow]], London, England
| nationality = British
| field =[[Computer security]]<ref>{{Cite conference | last1 = Murphy | first1 = S. | last2 = Lewis | first2 = E. | last3 = Puga | first3 = R. | last4 = Watson | first4 = R. | author-link4 = Robert Watson (computer scientist)| last5 = Yee | first5 = R. | doi = 10.1109/OPNARC.2001.916839 | chapter = Strong security for active networks | title = 2001 IEEE Open Architectures and Network Programming Proceedings. OPENARCH 2001 (Cat. No.01EX484) | pages = 63 | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-7803-7064-3 }}</ref><br>[[Operating system]]s<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Watson | first1 = R. N. M. | author-link1 = Robert Watson (computer scientist)| last2 = Anderson | first2 = J. | author-link2 = Ross J. Anderson| last3 = Laurie | first3 = B. | author-link3 = Ben Laurie| last4 = Kennaway | first4 = K. | title = A taste of Capsicum | doi = 10.1145/2093548.2093572 | journal = Communications of the ACM | volume = 55 | issue = 3 | pages = 97 | year = 2012 | s2cid = 260686 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Watson | first1 = R. N. M. | author-link = Robert Watson (computer scientist)| title = A decade of OS access-control extensibility | doi = 10.1145/2408776.2408792 | journal = Communications of the ACM | volume = 56 | issue = 2 | pages = 52–63 | year = 2013 | s2cid = 1739724 }}</ref><br>[[Protocol stack|Network stack]]s<br>[[Programming language]]s<br>[[Computer architecture]]<ref name="googlescholar">{{GoogleScholar|wAO9FfoAAAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Clayton | first1 = R. | last2 = Murdoch | first2 = S. J. | last3 = Watson | first3 = R. N. M. | author-link3 = Robert Watson (computer scientist)| doi = 10.1007/11957454_2 | chapter = Ignoring the Great Firewall of China | title = Privacy Enhancing Technologies | series = Lecture Notes in Computer Science | volume = 4258 | pages = 20 | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-3-540-68790-0 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.140.9889 }}</ref>
| work_institution = [[Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge|Cambridge Computer Laboratory]]<br>[[University of Cambridge]]<br>[[St John's College, Cambridge]]
| alma_mater = [[Carnegie Mellon University]]<br>[[Wolfson College, Cambridge]]
| doctoral_advisor = [[Ross J. Anderson|Ross Anderson]]
| thesis_title = New approaches to operating system security extensibility
| thesis_year = 2011
| thesis_url = http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=33854
| known_for  = contributions to [[FreeBSD]], [[TrustedBSD]], [[OpenBSM]]
| website = {{url|http://www.watson.org/~robert}}<br>{{url|http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rnw24}}<br>{{url|people.freebsd.org/~rwatson}}
}}

'''Robert Nicholas Maxwell Watson''' (born 3 May 1977) is a [[FreeBSD]] developer, and founder of the [[TrustedBSD]] Project.<ref>[http://www.osnews.com/story/572 FreeBSD Week: Interview with Robert Watson]. OS News, 29 January 2002</ref> He is currently employed as a Professor of Systems, Security, and Architecture in the Security Research Group at the [[University of Cambridge]] Computer Laboratory.<ref name="professorship">https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/plethora-professors Announcement of Professorship</ref><ref>http://dl.acm.org/author_page.cfm?id=81328490800 Robert Watson's ACM author page</ref><ref name="dblp">{{DBLP|name=Robert N. M. Watson}}</ref><ref name="microsoft">{{AcademicSearch|35675647}}</ref>

==Education==
Watson graduated in computer science from [[Carnegie Mellon University]] and has attained a PhD from [[University of Cambridge]].  As well as Cambridge, he has worked at the [[National Institutes of Health]], [[Carnegie Mellon University]], [[Trusted Information Systems]], [[Network Associates]], [[McAfee]], and SPARTA. He obtained a PhD in computer security<ref name="watsonphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Robert Nicholas Maxwell|last=Watson |title=New approaches to operating system security extensibility |publisher=University of Cambridge |year=2011 |url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-818.pdf|author-link=Robert Watson (computer scientist)}}</ref> from the [[University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory]], supervised by [[Ross J. Anderson|Ross Anderson]] and sponsored by Google.<ref name="watsonphd"/>

==Research==
Watson's work has been supported by [[DARPA]], [[Apple Computer]], the Navy, and other US government agencies. His main research interests are network security and operating system security. His main [[Open-source software|open source]] software contributions include his work in developing the multi-threaded and multi-processor [[FreeBSD]] network stack, the [[TrustedBSD]] project, and [[OpenBSM]]. His writing has been featured in forums such as ACM's Queue Magazine,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Kamp | first1 = P. H. | author-link1 = Poul-Henning Kamp| last2 = Watson | first2 = R. | author-link2 = Robert Watson (computer scientist)| doi = 10.1145/1016998.1017001 | title = Building Systems to Be Shared, Securely | journal = Queue | volume = 2 | issue = 5 | pages = 42 | year = 2004 | doi-access = free }}</ref> the [[USENIX]] Annual Technical Conference, BSDCon, and a Slashdot interview.<ref>[http://slashdot.org/bsd/01/01/18/1251257.shtml  Robert Watson on FreeBSD and TrustedBSD], [[Slashdot]], 18 January 2001</ref> He was also a [[FreeBSD Core Team]] member from 2000 to 2012.<ref>[http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributors/contrib-corealumni.html FreeBSD Core Team Alumni], 20 July 2012</ref> Watson is coauthor of the standard textbook ''The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System'' (2nd ed., 2015) by [[Marshall Kirk McKusick]].<ref name=FreeBSDBible2nded>{{cite book|last1=McKusick|first1=Marshall|last2=Neville-Neil|first2=George|last3=Watson|first3=Robert|title=Design and implementation of the freebsd operating system.|date=2014|publisher=Addison-Wesley|location=[S.l.]|isbn=9780321968975|edition=2nd|url=http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780321968975/samplepages/9780321968975.pdf|access-date=13 May 2015}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{FreeBSD}}
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[[Category:Free software programmers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:FreeBSD people]]
[[Category:People from Harrow, London]]
[[Category:1977 births]]
[[Category:British computer scientists]]
[[Category:Members of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory]]
[[Category:Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge]]