Alessandro Chiesa
Fields of expertise
Cryptography, Complexity Theory, Computer Security
Biography
Alessandro Chiesa is a faculty member in computer science. He conducts research in complexity theory, cryptography, and security, with a focus on the theoretical foundations and practical implementations of cryptographic proofs that are short and easy to verify. He is a co-author of several zkSNARK libraries, and is a co-inventor of the Zerocash protocol. He has co-founded Zcash and StarkWare Industries. He is a recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship (2021), an Okawa Foundation Research Grant (2020), and Google Faculty Research Awards (2018 and 2017). He was included in MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35" list in 2018.Education
Ph.D.
Computer Science
MIT
2014
M.Eng.
Computer Science
MIT
2010
S.B.
Computer Science
MIT
2009
S.B.
Mathematics
MIT
2009
Teaching & PhD
Teaching
Computer Science
Communication Systems
Foundations of Probabilistic Proofs
The discovery and study of probabilistic proof systems, such as PCPs and IPs, have had a tremendous impact on theoretical computer science. These proof systems have numerous applications (e.g., to hardness of approximation) but one of their most compelling uses is a direct one: to construct cryptographic protocols that enable super fast verification of long computations. This course introduces students to the foundations of probabilistic proof systems, covering both classical results as well as modern efficient constructions. The playlist of video lectures is here and the syllabus is here.Courses
Algorithms I
The students learn the theory and practice of basic concepts and techniques in algorithms. The course covers mathematical induction, techniques for analyzing algorithms, elementary data structures, major algorithmic paradigms such as dynamic programming, sorting and searching, and graph algorithms.
Foundations of probabilistic proofs
Probabilistic proof systems (eg PCPs and IPs) have had a tremendous impact on theoretical computer science, as well as on real-world secure systems. They underlie delegation of computation protocols and hardness of approximation. This course covers the foundations of probabilistic proof systems.