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.
There I studied under
Silvio Micali.
After graduating (1991) I worked at
IBM
as a security architect,
then came to UCD (1994), where I worked
for the next 30 years.
For many of those years I split my time about
equally between the USA and Thailand, which came to be my second home.
My research has focused on obtaining
provably good solutions to protocol problems of genuine utility to
people’s privacy or 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).
While I loved being a cryptographer and itinerant professor,
by the time social media and smartphones took off
I had grown deeply skeptical of the claimed benefits of CS,
which routinely seem dwarfed by the harms we were helping to birth.
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 appalled by Israel’s
ongoing genocide of the Palestinians of Gaza.
I am disgusted by the fascist turn of the USA.
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, and part of me didn’t want to.
But my views had drifted from those of my peers
to the point that I no longer felt like I belonged where I was.
I don’t really know if I retired or quit.
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, too.
These days, I’m doing some mentoring for a non-profit called
National Math Stars.
I like it.
I’d be happy to do more K-12 teaching or curriculum design.
I have strong views on what K-12 math education
should be like. Almost the opposite of what it usually is.
Personal information:
(1) 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.
(2) I am profoundly faceblind.
If I don’t seem to recognize you and you think that I should, please don’t take offense.
