Most of my research has been on
cryptography,
the mathematical treatment of secure communication.
I did my undergrad at UC Berkeley
and my Ph.D. at
MIT, in the
Theory of Computation group,
where I studied under
Silvio Micali.
After graduating (1991) I worked at
IBM
as a security architect,
then came to UCD (1994), where I’ve been a professor ever since.
Still, for a long time I managed to split my time about equally between the USA and Thailand.
My research has focused on obtaining
provably good solutions to protocol problems of utility to
people’s privacy and security.
I’ve been lucky enough
to get some nice recognition for this work, including the
Levchin prize (2016),
PET Award (2015),
IACR Fellow (2012),
ACM Paris Kanellakis Award (2009),
and the
RSA Award in Mathematics (2003).
In recent years I grew increasingly skeptical of
the claimed benefits of CS,
which routinely seem dwarfed by the harms we help cause.
Correspondingly, I shifted much of my attention to social and ethical issues
connected to technology, especially
the climate crisis and the
problem of mass surveillance.
I shifted much of my university teaching to ethics
(especially course ECS 188).
I support social justice and environmental movements, including
BLM,
JVP, and
XR.
I am particularly appalled by Israel’s
ongoing genocide of the
Palestinians of Gaza.
I retired from UCD in July of 2024, spending my last term
teaching a course on cryptography and an experimental course on
Black Mirror.
I was sad to leave UCD, would have liked to work for several more years,
but my views had drifted from those of my peers
to an extent that I no longer felt comfortable where I was.
Teaching has been as central to my life as research.
I am honored to have taught thousands of
university students, over the years,
and some special elementary school,
middle school, and high school students.
These days, I’d be interested to
get a position
in a K-12 setting. I’ll soon do some mentoring for
National Math Stars.
Personal information: my wife is Bongkotrattana Lailert.
She goes by Kot (say goat quickly
and with a low tone of voice).
My son
Banlu,
age 15, loves rock climbing. He also
competes.
I am currently living full-time in Portland, Oregon.
My sister, Jodi Walder, also lives in Portland.
She is amazing at helping students
navigate college admissions.
