Phillip Rogaway - Homepage (original) (raw)

Most of my research has been on cryptography, the mathematical treatment of secure communication. I did my undergrad at UC Berkeleyand my Ph.D. at MIT, in the Theory of Computation group, where I studied underSilvio Micali. After graduating (1991) I worked at IBMas a security architect, then came to UCD (1994), where I’ve been a professor ever since. Still, for a long time I managed to split my time about equally between the USA and Thailand. My research has focused on obtaining provably good solutions to protocol problems of utility to people’s privacy and security. I’ve been lucky enough to get some nice recognition for this work, including the Levchin prize (2016), PET Award (2015), IACR Fellow (2012),ACM Paris Kanellakis Award (2009), and theRSA Award in Mathematics (2003).

In recent years I grew increasingly skeptical of the claimed benefits of CS, which routinely seem dwarfed by the harms we help cause. Correspondingly, I shifted much of my attention to social and ethical issues connected to technology, especially the climate crisis and the problem of mass surveillance. I shifted much of my university teaching to ethics (especially course ECS 188). I support social justice and environmental movements, including BLM,JVP, andXR. I am particularly appalled by Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinians of Gaza. I retired from UCD in July of 2024, spending my last term teaching a course on cryptography and an experimental course on Black Mirror. I was sad to leave UCD, would have liked to work for several more years, but my views had drifted from those of my peers to an extent that I no longer felt comfortable where I was.

Teaching has been as central to my life as research. I am honored to have taught thousands of university students, over the years, and some special elementary school, middle school, and high school students. These days, I’d be interested to get a positionin a K-12 setting. I’ll soon do some mentoring for National Math Stars.

Personal information: my wife is Bongkotrattana Lailert. She goes by Kot (say goat quickly and with a low tone of voice). My son_Banlu_, age 15, loves rock climbing. He also competes. I am currently living full-time in Portland, Oregon. My sister, Jodi Walder, also lives in Portland. She is amazing at helping students navigate college admissions.

Atmospheric CO2