Jonathan Katz

Jonathan Katz is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, affiliated with the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. He holds appointments in both Computer Science (CS) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). His research focuses on cryptography, cybersecurity, and theoretical computer science, with contributions to cryptographic protocol design, post-quantum cryptography, and secure multiparty computation. He has led the Maryland Cybersecurity Center (2013–2019) and served as an Eminent Scholar in Cybersecurity at George Mason University (2019–2020).

Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia University (2002), B.S. in Mathematics and Chemistry from MIT (1996).

Awards: ACM Fellow (2021), IACR Fellow (2019), ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Contribution Award (2019), UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (2017), Humboldt Research Award (2015), NSF CAREER Award (2004).

Research Interests: Cryptographic protocols, post-quantum security, privacy-preserving computation, and blockchain technologies. Notable contributions include foundational work on password-based authenticated key exchange and co-authoring the textbook Introduction to Modern Cryptography.

Students Advised: Includes PhD candidates such as Kasra Abbaszadeh, Noemi Glaeser, and Benjamin Sela. His work has been supported by grants from NSF, DARPA, and industry partnerships.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS) and the Maryland Cybersecurity Center, focusing on post-quantum cryptography and secure distributed systems.