Justin Thaler

Justin Thaler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Georgetown University, researching algorithms and computational complexity with focus on probabilistic proof systems, verifiable computation, and streaming algorithms.

Education:

• PhD Computer Science, Harvard University
• BS Computer Science and Mathematics, Yale University

Research Interests: Develops protocols for verifying computations (including zero-knowledge proofs), analyzes the power of low-degree polynomials, and designs efficient streaming/sketching algorithms for large datasets.

Publications: Research advances theoretical foundations of proof systems, with recent work on SNARKs, lookup arguments, and Fiat-Shamir security. Authored the monograph 'Proofs, Arguments, and Zero-Knowledge'.

Advising & Labs: Advises PhD students in theoretical computer science. Contributes to open-source projects including DataSketches library of streaming algorithms. Currently on leave at a16z crypto research.