PNNL

Kristopher (Kris) Willis is a cyber researcher in the Emerging Threats and Technologies Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. He specializes in foundational, low technical readiness level cyber tools and capability development with a focus on software understanding, including vulnerability research, automated program analysis, and program synthesis in support of national security objectives.

Willis has led advanced cyber efforts for the Department of Energy, the Department of War, and the Intelligence Community. His work has supported several Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency initiatives, including the Cyber Grand Challenge, and has delivered foundational cyber capabilities for critical national security programs. He develops innovative techniques and capabilities that address challenges beyond the reach of existing approaches.

Willis holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of South Florida, where he served as president of WCSC, an academic and professional Capture the Flag (CTF) organization. He has competed at the highest levels of CTF with professional teams, including multiple appearances at the DEFCON CTF finals and the HACK-A-SAT finals.

• Secure Programming Languages and Compilers
• Automated Program Analysis
• Program Synthesis
• Formal Methods
• Binary Exploitation and Software Reverse Engineering Tool Development
• Offensive Cyber Tool and Capability Development
• Adversarial AI

• Master of Science, Computer Security Fundamentals CSE, University of South Florida
• Bachelor of Science, Information Studies, University of South Florida