Rafail Ostrovsky

Rafail Ostrovsky is the Norman E. Friedman Chair in Knowledge Sciences at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, where he serves as a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics. He also directs the Center for Information and Computation Security at UCLA. His academic leadership extends to his role as a foreign member of Academia Europaea and his fellowship in multiple prestigious organizations including the National Academy of Inventors, AAAS, ACM, IEEE, and IACR.

Professor Ostrovsky's research spans multiple domains in theoretical computer science, with primary focus on cryptography, secure computation, and algorithms. His work on garbled circuits, zero-knowledge proofs, and private information retrieval has had significant theoretical and practical impact. He has pioneered research in secure multi-party computation, oblivious RAM, and cryptographic protocols that maintain privacy while enabling complex computations on sensitive data. His research bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in secure systems, ranging from database security to hardware-based cryptographic primitives.

Ostrovsky's publication record shows a consistent trajectory of innovation in cryptographic theory and its applications. His recent work focuses on optimizing secure computation protocols for efficiency while maintaining strong security guarantees, with particular attention to communication complexity, round complexity, and practical implementations. He has made significant contributions to homomorphic encryption, non-malleable commitments, and zero-knowledge proofs, often developing techniques that transform theoretical constructs into practically viable solutions.

• 1993 Henry Taub Prize
• 2017 IEEE Computer Society Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award
• 2018 RSA Award for Excellence in Mathematics (RSA Prize)
• 2022 W. Wallace McDowell Award (highest award from IEEE Computer Society)
• Fellow of National Academy of Inventors, AAAS, ACM, IEEE, and IACR
• Foreign member of Academia Europaea

With over 350 peer-reviewed publications and 16 issued USPTO patents, Professor Ostrovsky has significantly shaped the field of cryptography and secure computation. His mentorship has cultivated numerous students and postdocs who have gone on to make their own contributions to the field. His editorial roles on prestigious journals including Journal of ACM and Algorithmica reflect his standing in the theoretical computer science community. His leadership extends to chairing major conferences including FOCS 2011 and serving on over 40 international conference program committees.

As Director of the Center for Information and Computation Security at UCLA, Professor Ostrovsky leads a team focused on advancing the theoretical foundations and practical applications of secure computation. His center serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research connecting cryptography with systems security, network protocols, and hardware security. The center's work spans from foundational cryptographic primitives to real-world applications requiring privacy-preserving computation.