Daniel Wichs

Daniel Wichs is a tenured Professor at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston. He is a prominent researcher in the field of cryptography and serves as a Senior Scientist at NTT Research. His academic journey includes a PhD from New York University under Yevgeniy Dodis, a postdoctoral fellowship at IBM Research T.J. Watson, and degrees from Stanford University.

• Current Position: Professor at Northeastern University
• Prior Positions: IBM Josef Raviv Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow (2011-2013)
• Education: PhD NYU (2011), BS/MS Stanford (2005)

Professor Wichs specializes in cryptography with research interests spanning computing on encrypted data, program obfuscation, lattice-based cryptography, information-theoretic cryptography, and foundational aspects of cryptography. He also maintains broad interests in computer security, algorithms, complexity theory, coding theory, and information theory. His research group includes current PhD students Manu Kondapaneni, LaKyah Tyner, and Ethan Mook, along with numerous successful alumni who have become professors at institutions worldwide.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on advanced cryptographic primitives including homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, private information retrieval, and functional encryption. These works frequently appear at top-tier conferences like STOC, FOCS, CRYPTO, and EUROCRYPT, with several receiving best paper awards. His research often bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in privacy-preserving computation.

• Best Paper at STOC 2023
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2018)
• NSF CAREER Award (2018)
• J.P. Morgan Faculty Research Award (2022)
• IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011-2013)

Professor Wichs actively contributes to the academic community through service as Area Chair for CRYPTO 2025 and EUROCRYPT 2024, Program Chair for ITC 2020, General Chair for STOC 2016, and membership on numerous program committees. He teaches advanced courses including Foundations of Cryptography (CS 7810) and Theory of Computation (CS 3800), and has organized events like the Charles River Crypto Day and the Simons Summer Program in Cryptography 2025. His research group operates at the forefront of cryptographic theory, addressing fundamental questions about secure computation on encrypted data while developing practical cryptographic tools for real-world applications.