Seminar • Cryptography, Security, and Privacy (CrySP) • How Efficiently Can We Check a Computation?

Please note: This seminar will take place in DC 1304 and virtually over Zoom.

Nicholas Spooner, Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick

In computer science we often ask: given a problem, how efficiently can we compute a solution? My work takes a different perspective, asking: if someone claims to have already computed a solution, how efficiently can we check it’s correct? This question has deep connections with many areas of theoretical computer science, including cryptography, complexity theory and quantum computing; and, more recently, has had significant impact in practice.

In this talk I will focus on two aspects of my work in this area: first, on designing concretely efficient checking protocols; and second, on ensuring the integrity of efficient checking against quantum attackers.

Bio: Nicholas Spooner is an assistant professor at the University of Warwick, UK, which he joined in January 2021. Before that, he spent a year and a half as a postdoc at Boston University. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 2020. His interests lie within the union of cryptography, quantum computing, and proof systems.

To attend this seminar in person, please go to DC 1304. You can also attend virtually using Zoom at https://uwaterloo.zoom.us/j/97120544526.

For those attending virtually: The passcode will be provided by email on Friday before the seminar as well as on the morning of the seminar.