Faculty


Mark Bun
Mark Bun

 Mark Bun focuses on theoretical computer science, including data privacy, computational complexity, cryptography, and the foundations of machine learning. He uses polynomials to investigate fundamental properties of Boolean functions and has developed new algorithms and lower bound techniques for differentially private data analysis. He joined BU as a tenure-track assistant professor in July 2019.


Ran CanettiRan Canetti

 Ran graduated from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1995. Prior to joining BU in 2011, he was at IBM Research, MIT, and Tel Aviv University. His research interests lie in cryptography and system security, with emphasis on the design and analysis of cryptographic protocols and algorithms.


Marco Gaboardi
Marco Gaboardi

 Marco Gaboardi is an associate professor in the Computer Science department of Boston University. His research is in computer science with a focus on Programming Languages, Formal Methods, and Differential Privacy.


Kira Goldner
Kira Goldner

 Kira Goldner works in algorithmic mechanism design, tackling questions about systems that interact with individuals with their own strategic interests, with a focus on societal problems and relaxing mathematical assumptions.

Sharon GoldbergSharon Goldberg

 Sharon Goldberg is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at Boston University. Her research focuses on cloud and network security, she has contributed to internet standards in cryptography, secure routing, network time and DNS, and has designed protocols that have been deployed in iMessage, WhatsApp, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others.


Allison McDonald
Allison McDonald

 Allison McDonald’s research is at the intersection of human-computer interaction and security and privacy. Her work investigates how technical systems create and exacerbate harms such as abuse, harassment, and discrimination.


John Liagouris
John Liagouris

 John is an assistant professor at Boston University, where he co-leads the Complex Analytics and Scalable Processing Systems Lab (CASP). His research interests lie in distributed systems, cloud computing, security and privacy, and data management.


Sofya Raskhodnikova
Sofya Raskhodnikova

 Sofya Raskhodnikova is a Professor in Computer Science. Previously, she was a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Penn State. She received her Ph.D. from MIT. She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award. Her main interest is the design and analysis of sublinear-time algorithms for combinatorial problems and data privacy.

Leonid ReyzinLeonid Reyzin

 Leo Reyzin has made contributions to the development of leakage-resilient cryptography, secure key derivation, authenticated data structures, moderately hard functions, cryptographic proof systems, and secure messaging protocols.

Smith-Adam
Adam Smith

 Adam Smith is a professor of computer science at Boston University. He obtained his Ph.D. from MIT in 2004, and was a faculty member at Penn State from 2007 to 2017. His research interests lie in data privacy and cryptography, and their connections to machine learning, statistics, information theory, and quantum computing. He received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2009; a Theory of Cryptography Test of Time award in 2016; and the 2017 Gödel Prize.

Alley Stoughton

 Alley Stoughton is applying her background in programming languages and formal methods to the security of systems, especially cryptographic protocols. She joined BU’s Hariri Institute in 2017, and was appointed as a research professor in computer science in 2018. Alley earned her doctorate in computer science from the University of Edinburgh in 1987.


Eran Tromer
Eran Tromer

 Eran Tromer is a Professor of Computer Science at Boston University, working on cryptography and information security. He studies ways to build robust distributed computer systems that ensure privacy and integrity.

Mayank VariaMayank Varia

 Mayank Varia’s research interests include designing algorithms for secure computing and search, deploying privacy-respecting systems with social benefit, and examining the social and legal impacts of cryptography. He joined BU in 2015, and he received a PhD in Mathematics from MIT in 2010.

Postdocs

Nicolas AlhaddadNicolas Alhaddad

 Nicolas’s research interests lie at the intersection of applied cryptography and distributed systems. He is particularly interested in developing protocols for asynchronous environments, such as Asyncrhonous Reliable Broadcast, Asynchronous Verifibale infomation Dispersal, Asynchronous Verifiable Secret Sharing and Asychrnous Distributed Key Generation.

Alishah ChatorAlishah Chator

 Alishah earned his PhD in CS from Johns Hopkins University, specializing in applied cryptography. He seeks to bridge the gap between cryptographic theory and real-world application, ultimately benefiting those who need robust privacy tools the most. His research is centered on making privacy-preserving protocols practical by identifying and addressing unanswered research questions that hinder their deployment.

Ji LuoJi Luo

 Ji Luo is a postdoctoral researcher at Hariri Institute of Boston University, hosted by Ran Canetti. His current research interest lies in cryptography. Ji will obtain his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in December 2024, where he was fortunate to be advised by Huijia (Rachel) Lin and Stefano Tessaro. Prior to that, he was a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for a quarter. Even earlier, he obtained his bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University, where he attended Yao class.

Graduate Students

Student

Interests

Advisor

Eli BaumEli Baum

 I am a PhD student interested in security and systems. I currently work on the Secrecy project, aiming to make multiparty computation usable for complex problems. Mayank Varia & John Liagouris

Sam BuxbaumSam Buxbaum

 I am interested in applied cryptography and distributed systems, currently working primarily on secure multiparty computation. Mayank Varia & John Liagouris

Megan ChenMegan Chen

 I’m interested in cryptography, with a focus on probabilistic proof systems and secure multiparty computation. Ran Canetti

Julia GuskindJulia Guskind

 I am interested in theoretical and applied crytography. I am currently working on zero knowledge proof systems and verifiable computation. Mayank Varia & Leo Reyzin

Julie HaJulie Ha

 I am interested in applied cryptography, as well as the intersection between law and computer science. I am also interested in bridging qualitative studies with cryptography research. Mayank Varia

Shlomi HodShlomi Hod

 I am a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Boston University, focusing on Responsible AI. My current interests include designing differentially private synthetic data for government and medical contexts, exploring the co-design of computer science and law with an emphasis on privacy and fairness, and supporting policymakers in developing effective AI policies. Ran Canetti

Palak JainPalak Jain

 Hi, I’m Palak! I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Theoretical Computer Science at Boston University advised by professor Adam Smith. My research uses the lenses of cryptography and differential privacy to design privacy-respecting systems and understand the downstream effects of those technologies on the individuals they intend to protect. You can learn more about me on my website: thepalakjain.com Adam Smith

Ephraim LinderEphraim Linder

 Interested in Sublinear Algorithms and Property Testing Sofya Raskhodnikova & Adam Smith

Ryan LittleRyan Little

 I am interested in cryptography and its applications for society, public policy, and government. Mayank Varia

Kabir Peshawaria Kabir Peshawaria

 I am interested in verifiable computation and the security and scalability of probabilistic proof systems. Eran Tromer

Rene Reyes BardalesRene Reyes Bardales

 I am interested in cryptography and complexity theory. I am currently working on designing lightweight MPC primitives, as well as problems from fine-grained complexity and meta-complexity. Mayank Varia

Satchit SivakumarSatchit Sivakumar

 My research primarily focuses on the mathematical foundations of data privacy, and its deep connections to other fields such as statistical machine learning and adaptive data analysis. Mark Bun

Marika SwanbergMarika Swanberg

 I am generally interested in real-world deployments of differential privacy (DP). In particular I enjoy: designing accurate and scalable DP algorithms and thinking about privacy risks against attackers with varying capabilities. Previously, I’ve dabbled in cryptography, theory of DP, and their connections to legal questions. Adam Smith

Connor WagamanConnor Wagaman

 I am generally interested in data privacy (e.g., differential privacy). Currently, I’m focused on algorithms for privately analyzing graphs and evolving data sets. Marco Gaboardi & Adam Smith

Yiding ZhangYiding Zhang

 My research interest is mainly in the theoretical side of cryptography. Ran Canetti

Tolik ZinovyevTolik Zinovyev

 I’m interested in algorithms and cryptographic protocols, especially those with applications to decentralized technologies. Leo Reyzin

Undergraduate Researchers

Omar Sagga
Daniel Gould
Ezequiel Gomez
Haydn Kennedy

Past Visitors and Alumni

Faculty Visitors

Visitor

From

To
Adam Smith (now BU faculty) 2013 2014
Sofya Raskhodnikova (now BU faculty) 2013 2014
Kobbi Nissim 2014 2014

Past Postdocs

Postdoc

From

To

Currently…
Adam O’Neill 2011 2013 Professor at UMass Amherst
Huijia (Rachel) Lin 2011 2013 Professor at UCSB
Abhishek Jain 2012 2014 Professor at Johns Hopkins University
Foteini Baldimtsi 2014 2016 Professor at George Mason University
Yossi Gilad 2015 2018 Senior Lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Alessandra Scafuro 2015 2017 Professor at NC State University

Graduated PhD Students

PhD Student

Advisor

Graduation Year

Currently…
Bhavana Kanu
 Leo Reyzin 2010 Professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Ben Fuller Leo Reyzin 2014 Professor at UConn
Omer Paneth Ran Canetti 2015 Postdoc at MIT
Dimitris Papadopoulos Nikos Triandopoulos 2016 Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Davide Prosepio Sharon Goldberg 2016 Professor at University of Southern California
Yilei Chen Ran Canetti, Leo Reyzin 2018 Researcher at Visa Research

Graduated Masters Students

Masters Student

Advisor

Graduation Year
Jef Guarente Leo Reyzin, Sharon Goldberg 2013
Sachin Vasant Leo Reyzin, Sharon Goldberg 2014
Yun Sheng Sharon Goldberg 2016
Sean Smith Sharon Goldberg 2017

Graduated Undergraduate Researchers

Undergraduate Researcher

Advisor

Graduation Year
Kyle Brogle Leo Reyzin, Sharon Goldberg 2012
Adam Udi Sharon Goldberg 2013
Danny Cooper Leo Reyzin, Sharon Goldberg 2014
Anthony Faraco-Hadlock Sharon Goldberg 2015
AJ Trainor Sharon Goldberg 2016
Alison Kendler Sharon Goldberg 2016
Isaac Cohen Sharon Goldberg 2016
Erik Brakke Sharon Goldberg 2016
Monica Martin Sharon Goldberg 2016
Kyle Hogan Sharon Goldberg 2016
Ann Ming Samborski Sharon Goldberg 2017
Leen Alshenibr Sharon Goldberg 2017
Rahul Bazaz Sharon Goldberg 2017

Other Visitors

Visitor

From

To

Currently…
Phillipa Gill 2010 2010 Professor at UMass Amherst
Robert Lychev 2011 2014 Researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Nir Bitanski 2011 2012 Professor at Tel Aviv University
Margarita Vald 2011 2012 Student at Tel Aviv University
Angela Zottarel 2012 2013 Teacher at ITIS VOLTERRA