Ivan Beschastnikh

Ivan Beschastnikh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC), affiliated with the Faculty of Science. He leads research in distributed systems, software engineering, and formal methods, with a focus on privacy-preserving technologies, blockchain systems, and machine learning. His work bridges theoretical foundations and practical system implementations, emphasizing empirical validation and real-world deployment.

Research Interests: His primary areas include distributed systems (e.g., consensus algorithms, transaction processing), formal methods for system correctness (e.g., PGo compiler for verified implementations), and privacy in federated learning and blockchain. He also explores interdisciplinary topics like AI ethics, human-computer interaction for developers, and system security.

Key Projects: Includes PGo (formal specification to Go compiler), Biscotti (decentralized federated learning), Erlay (Bitcoin transaction relay optimization), and Teleoscope (text corpus analysis tool). His work has practical impact in blockchain scalability, secure multi-party ML, and distributed system validation.

Awards: Recognized with the ASPLOS Distinguished Artifact Award, UBC Faculty Teaching Award, and ESEM Best Paper Award. His contributions span academic excellence, pedagogy, and collaborative research.

Lab Affiliations: Active in the Systopia Lab and Software Practices Lab (SPL), and collaborates with UBC’s Data Science Institute and Blockchain@UBC. He emphasizes interdisciplinary research, mentoring students in both theoretical and applied systems work.