Rafail Ostrovsky

Rafail Ostrovsky is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics (by courtesy) at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds the Norman E. Friedman Chair in Knowledge Sciences and serves as Director of the Center for Information and Computation Security. With over 350 refereed publications and 15 issued USPTO patents, he is one of the most influential researchers in theoretical computer science and cryptography.

Professor Ostrovsky's research spans cryptography, network algorithms, and search and classification of large-scale, high-dimensional data. His work focuses on foundational aspects of secure computation including zero-knowledge proofs, secure multi-party computation, private information retrieval, and privacy-preserving data analysis. His contributions to streaming algorithms, metric embedding, and clustering for high-dimensional data have established important theoretical frameworks with practical applications. He has pioneered techniques for secure computation that maintain privacy while enabling collaborative data analysis.

His recent publications demonstrate continued leadership in advancing secure computation protocols, with emphasis on efficiency improvements, practical implementations, and novel applications in blockchain technology and distributed systems. His work consistently addresses fundamental theoretical challenges while maintaining relevance to real-world security problems, bridging the gap between theoretical cryptography and practical security solutions.

Selected Honors:

• 1993 Henry Taub Prize
• 2017 IEEE Computer Society Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award
• 2018 RSA Award for Excellence in Mathematics
• 2022 W. Wallace McDowell Award (the highest award given by the IEEE Computer Society)

Professor Ostrovsky has served in significant leadership roles including chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Mathematical Foundations of Computing (2015-2018) and chair of the IEEE FOCS 2011 Program Committee. He has served on over 40 international conference program committees and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of ACM and Algorithmica Journal. As a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, AAAS, ACM, IEEE, and IACR, and as a foreign member of Academia Europaea, his contributions have been widely recognized across multiple disciplines.

He actively teaches advanced courses including Introduction to Cryptography (CS183), Foundations of Cryptography (CS282A/M209A), and Cryptographic Protocols (CS282B/M209B), mentoring the next generation of security researchers while continuing to push the boundaries of secure computation through his research.