Nirvan Tyagi

Nirvan Tyagi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington's Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, specializing in Human-Centered Computing and Software & Hardware Systems. His research focuses on cryptography, security, and privacy, with particular emphasis on building systems that provide users with precise privacy and security guarantees while enabling accountability mechanisms to counter abuse.

Dr. Tyagi's research interests span cryptographic protocols that balance user privacy with necessary accountability in online systems. His work explores the tension between sender anonymity and abuse mitigation in encrypted messaging, develops novel verifiable registries using RSA authenticated dictionaries, and creates systems for distributed randomness generation. He is particularly interested in how cryptography can enable new balances between user privacy and user accountability, believing that users should enjoy strong privacy while bad actors can be held accountable for misbehavior.

His publications reveal a strong trend toward developing practical cryptographic systems that solve real-world problems in privacy and security. Recent work has focused on zero-knowledge proofs, verifiable computation, and privacy-preserving protocols for distributed systems. His research consistently bridges theoretical cryptography with practical system implementations, as evidenced by the availability of code repositories for many of his publications.

• Early Career Award (CRYPTO 2020)

Dr. Tyagi leads research in the Cryptography Group and Security & Privacy Research Lab at the University of Washington. His work has been published in top-tier venues including CRYPTO, CCS, USENIX Security, and SOSP, demonstrating both theoretical rigor and practical impact. His research has direct applications to real-world systems like encrypted messaging platforms and distributed ledgers.