I'm a PhD student in Computer Science at Columbia University, advised by Xia Zhou, Dan Rubenstein, and Vishal Misra. I am broadly interested in computer vision, mobile systems, and security. Currently, I'm examining ways to combat deepfake video and audio by proactively injecting imperceptible optical or acoustic signals into the recording environment at capture time. These efforts build off of my experiences in optical sensing and communication. I'm a recipient of a Columbia SEAS Presidential Distinguished Fellowship.

Previously, I completed my Bachelors and Master's in Computer Science at the University of Chicago, advised by Heather Zheng at the SAND Lab.

Email / CV / LinkedIn

Research

Set Phasers to Stun: Beaming Power and Control to Mobile Microrobots with Laser Light

Charles J. Carver^*, Hadleigh Schwartz^*, Toma Itagaki, Zachary Englhardt, Kechen Liu, Megan Graciela Nauli Manik, Chun-Cheng Chang, Vikram Iyer, Brian Plancher, Xia Zhou

In submission.

[video]

Catch Me If You Can: Laser Tethering with Highly Mobile Targets

Charles J. Carver^*, Hadleigh Schwartz^*, Qijia Shao, Nicholas Shade, Joseph Lazzaro, Xiaoxin Wang, Jifeng Liu, Eric Fossum, Xia Zhou

Proceedings of the 21st USENIX Conference on Networked Systems Design and Implementation (NSDI). 2024.

Best demo award & SRC runner-up at ACM MobiCom ’23

[paper] / [website] / [presentation] /

[slides]

Keynote (w/ transitions) PDF

Towards a General Video-based Keystroke Inference Attack

Zhoulin Yang^*, Yuxin Chen^*, Zain Sarwar, Hadleigh Schwartz, Ben Y. Zhao, Heather Zheng

Proceedings of the 32nd USENIX Security Symposium. 2023.

[paper]

Teaching/Service

I care deeply about teaching. In addition to serving as a TA for CSEE 4119 (Computer Networks), I participate in Columbia's Teaching Development Program, a multi-year evidence-based teaching certification by the Center for Teaching and Learning, aiding PhD students in refining their pedagogical practices.

Alongside Sam Deng, I co-coordinate Columbia's Emerging Scholars Program, a peer-taught course for first and second-year students aiming to enrich their experience in introductory-level CS courses and provide exposure to the breadth of the field. Unlike typical, programming-focused intro CS courses, ESP is discussion-based and centers on group problem-solving in various CS topics, from NLP to cryptography.

I also serve as a yearly reviewer for the CS department's PhD Pre-Submission Application Review (PAR) program.

Last updated April 16, 2025.