About
I am an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at Colorado State University. My research is at the intersection of formal methods and usable security. More specifically, I am interested in finding ways to help users (even ones without technical backgrounds) write policies and understand the theoretical guarantees these formal systems can provide.
Prior to coming to Colorado State, I completed a postdoc at Carnegie Mellon University, supervised by Lujo Bauer and Lorrie Cranor. I received my PhD in 2023 from the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Limin Jia. For my undergraduate, I double majored in Computer Science and Mathematics and minored in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at Kansas State University.
If you are doing research with me, I prefer to be called "McKenna". In the classroom, I have no preference between Professor/Doctor McKenna/McCall. I pronounce my own name "muh-ken-nuh muh-call," but pronouncing the "Mc" like in "McDonalds" is also perfectly acceptable.
Service
Conference and Workshop Organizing
PLDI 2026 Local Arrangements Co-Chair
Professional Service
DARPA ISAT COMPASS Workshop Invited Expert, 2026
Cyber Resilience Forum Attendee, 2025
NSF SaTC Vision 2.0 Workshop Attendee, 2023
University and Departmental Service
CS Undergraduate Program Committee
Program Committees
PETS Program Committee, 2027
USENIX Security Program Committee, 2025-26
CSF Program Committee, 2025-26
CCS Program Committee, 2026
PLAS Program Committee, 2025
CPRA Program Committee, 2025
PriSC Program Committee, 2023-24
FCS Program Committee, 2023
CCS Poster Committee, 2022
IEEE S&P Program Committee, 2022
IEEE S&P Shadow PC, 2021
Teaching
Usable Formal Methods for Security/Privacy (CS 580) F25, F26