Jonathan Protzenko

Jonathan Protzenko is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Azure Research, focusing on advancing software verification through formal methods and programming language design. His work bridges theoretical rigor with practical impact, particularly in cryptography, Rust verification, and computational law. He has contributed to verified cryptographic libraries like HACL* and EverCrypt, which are integrated into major systems such as Python, Firefox, and Linux. His projects include Aeneas, a Rust verification tool, and Eurydice, which compiles Rust to C for legacy compatibility. Prior to Microsoft Azure, he spent nine years at Microsoft Research and was part of the Gallium team at INRIA Paris, where he developed Mezzo for his PhD.

His research interests span

• Type Systems and Programming Languages
• Software Verification and Formal Methods
• Security Protocols and Cryptographic Libraries
• Computational Law and Legal Code Modeling
• Rust Verification and Compiler Design
• Low-Level Programming and Memory Safety

Recent projects highlight his commitment to transitioning verified codebases to Rust while ensuring backward compatibility with legacy systems. He co-authored the ICFP 2023 paper on modularity and zero-cost abstractions, and his work on Catala explores formal methods in computational law, featured in Communications of the ACM.

Jonathan's scientific awards include the Internet Defense Prize and SIGPLAN Research Highlight. He mentors students like Théophile Wallez, Son Ho, and Denis Merigoux, and advises the startup Cryspen. His verified cryptographic libraries power critical infrastructure, with code in BoringSSL, Linux, Python, and Firefox. He maintains open-source projects, including a Thunderbird add-on with 200k users.