Salil Vadhan

Vicky Joseph Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics
School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Harvard University

I am a member of the Theory of Computation research group.   My research areas include computational complexity, cryptography, randomness in computation, and data privacy.

Summer 2013 office hours: 5/14 11-12, 5/17 11-12. Further times TBD; e-mail me for an appointment.

• Research, papers, and talks.
• NEW: multidisciplinary research project on Privacy Tools for Sharing Research Data
  
  
• NEW: completed monograph on Pseudorandomness
  
  
• Courses & Lecture Notes:
  Introduction to the Theory of Computation (CS 121/CSCI E-207), Fall `04, Fall `05, Fall `08, Fall `12.
  Topics in the Theory of Computation (CS 229r), Spring `05, Spring `13. Topic for Spring `13: Mathematical Approaches to Data Privacy
  
  Applied Algebra (AM 106/206), Fall `09, Fall `10.
  Pseudorandomness (CS225), taught Spring `02, Spring `04, Spring `07, Spring `09, Spring `11.
  Computational Complexity (CS 221), taught Fall `02, Spring `06, Spring `10. 
  Introduction to Cryptography (CS 120) (and its distance/extension version CSCI E-177), taught Fall `01, Spring `03, Fall `06.
  
  
  
• Current Ph.D. students: Thomas Steinke, Jon Ullman, Colin Jia Zheng.
  Past Ph.D. students: Minh Nguyen (2006), Emanuele Viola (2006), Shien Jin Ong (2007), Kai-Min Chung (2011).
  
  
• Current postdocs: Karthik Chandrasekaran (Simons Postdoc), Andrew Wan (co-hosted with Les Valiant)
  Past postdocs: Eli Ben-Sasson (2001-2003), Dan Gutfreund (2005-2007), Alon Rosen (2005-2007), Tal Moran (2008-2011).
  
  
• Some Professional Activities:
  • Chair, SIGACT Committee for the Advancement of Theoretical Computer Science.
  • Harvard Center for Research on Computation and Society.
  • Co-organizer, Michael Rabin 80th Birthday Celebration.
• Program Chair, 43rd ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC `11).
• Local Arrangements Chair, 25th Conference on Computational Complexity.
• Organizer, Visions for Theoretical Computer Science Workshop
• Editor, SIAM Journal on Computing
• Editor, Computational Complexity
• Scientific Board, Electronic Colloquium on Computational Complexity.
• Chair, 2003-04 Randomness and Computation research cluster at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
• Program committees: CRYPTO `09, STOC `07, TCC `07 (chair), CRYPTO `06, EUROCRYPT `05. TCC `04, RANDOM `02 (chair), FOCS `01, RANDOM `01, CCC `01, CRYPTO `00.
  
  
• CV: [pdf]
  Research statement (2008): [pdf]
  Teaching statement (2008): [pdf]

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Contact Information

Office:
Harvard University SEAS

Maxwell Dworkin 337

33 Oxford Street

Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: (617) 496-0439

Fax: (617) 496-6404

salil(at)seas.harvard.edu

Assistant:

Carol Harlow

Harvard University SEAS

Maxwell Dworkin 343

33 Oxford Street

Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: (617) 496-1440

harlow(at)seas.harvard.edu

This page was last updated 2/9/13.