About the Center
The Center for Information and Computation Security (CICS) was founded in fall 2003 at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science to promote research and education in cryptography and computer security.
CICS develops foundations, techniques, and tools for securing public- and private-sector information infrastructure. Its work spans cryptographic definitions and proofs, algorithms, software and hardware implementations, and the deployment of security mechanisms in real systems.
The center studies how to make information infrastructure accessible and resilient to internal and external attacks while protecting the privacy of individuals and organizations. This includes both foundational research and applied work.
CICS also explores connections with artificial intelligence and machine learning, algorithms and complexity theory, networks and communication complexity, programming languages and compilers, operating systems, hardware, and distributed computing.
Current Ph.D. Students
Advised by Rafail Ostrovsky.
- Ankit Kumar Misra (CS)
- Wyatt Howe (CS)
- Turan Vural (CS)
- Nakul Khambhati (CS)
Former Ph.D. Students
Advised by Rafail Ostrovsky, listed by graduation year.
- Akash Shah (CS Ph.D. 2026, research scientist in the cryptography group at JPMorgan Chase)
- Kevin Garbe (CS Ph.D. 2024, researcher at Google)
- Eli Jaffe (CS Ph.D. 2023, faculty at Flintridge Preparatory School)
- Saikrishna Badrinarayanan (CS Ph.D. 2020, researcher at LinkedIn)
- Arman Yousefi (CS Ph.D. 2018, researcher at Google)
- Dakshita Khurana (CS Ph.D. 2018, associate professor at UIUC and senior scientist at NTT Research)
- Prabhanjan Ananth (CS Ph.D. 2017, associate professor at UC Santa Barbara)
- Will Rosenbaum (Math Ph.D. 2016, lecturer at the University of Liverpool, Great Britain)
- Wutichai Chongchitmate (Math Ph.D. 2016, tenured faculty at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand)
- David Felber (CS Ph.D. 2015, researcher at Google)
- Alan Roytman (CS Ph.D. 2014, researcher at Google)
- Ran Gelles (CS Ph.D. 2014, professor at Bar-Ilan University)
- Silas Richelson (Math Ph.D. 2014, associate professor at UC Riverside)
- Akshay Wadia (CS Ph.D. 2014, researcher at Apple)
- Chongwon Cho (CS Ph.D. 2013, researcher at Stealth Software Technologies, Inc.)
- Sanjam Garg (CS Ph.D. 2012, associate professor at UC Berkeley) (Recipient of the 2013 ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award)
- Chen-Kuei Lee (CS Ph.D. 2012, privacy researcher at Meta)
- Abhishek Jain (CS Ph.D. 2012, professor of CS at Johns Hopkins University and researcher at NTT)
- Hakan Seyalioglu (Math Ph.D. 2012, Director of Technical Investigations at Edelson PC)
- Joshua Baron (Math Ph.D. 2012, Deputy Chief Strategy Officer, USD(R&E), Department of Defense)
- Clint Givens (Math Ph.D. 2012, mathematics faculty at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics)
- Vladimir Braverman (CS Ph.D. 2011, full professor at Johns Hopkins University)
- Nishanth Chandran (CS Ph.D. 2011, senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research India)
- Omkant Pandey (CS Ph.D. 2010, associate professor at Stony Brook University Computer Science Department)
- Brett Hemenway Falk (Math Ph.D. 2010, research professor at the University of Pennsylvania)
- Paul Bunn (Math Ph.D. 2010, senior researcher at Stealth Software Technologies, Inc.)
- Ryan Moriarty (CS Ph.D. 2010, serial entrepreneur. Startups: lol, apprats, flotate)
- Vipul Goyal (CS Ph.D. 2009, senior scientist at NTT Research and adjunct associate professor at CMU)
- Steve Lu (Math Ph.D. 2009, CEO at Stealth Software Technologies, Inc.)
- William Skeith (Math Ph.D. 2007, CS associate professor at City College of New York)
- Jonathan Katz (CS Ph.D. 2002, senior researcher at Google)
Postdoctoral Researchers
Postdoctoral researchers hosted by Rafail Ostrovsky.
- Varun Narayanan (postdoctoral researcher 2023–2025; assistant professor at Chennai Mathematical Institute)
- Wutichai Chongchitmate (postdoctoral researcher 2016–2017; tenured faculty at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand)
- Silas Richelson (postdoctoral researcher 2014–2015; tenured faculty at UC Riverside)
- Anat Paskin (postdoctoral researcher 2012–2014; associate professor at Ariel University, Israel)
- Alessandra Scafuro (postdoctoral researcher 2012–2014; associate professor at North Carolina State University)
- Vassilis Zikas (postdoctoral researcher 2012–2014; associate professor at Georgia Tech)
- Bhavana Kanukurthi (postdoctoral researcher 2011–2014; professor at the Indian Institute of Science, India)
- Jens Groth (postdoctoral researcher 2005–2007; Chief Scientist at Nexus and honorary professor at University College London)
Visitors
Current and past visits hosted by Rafail Ostrovsky.
- Prof. Vassilis Zikas (short-term visits 2016–present)
- Prof. Michele Ciampi (December 2015–December 2016)
- Prof. Luisa Siniscalchi (December 2016)
- Prof. Juan Garay (short-term visits 2010–present)
- Prof. Ivan Visconti (several short-, medium-, and long-term visits from 2009–present, including spending several sabbaticals)
- Prof. Yuval Ishai (several sabbaticals and short- and long-term visits 2009–present)
- Prof. Giuseppe (a.k.a. Pino) Persiano (short-term visits 2012–present)
- Prof. Yuval Rabani (short-term visits 2009–present)
- Prof. Eyal Kushilevitz (sabbatical, short-term visits, 2011–present)
- Prof. Serge Fehr (short-term visit, 2011)
- Prof. Alon Rosen (summer visit 2010)
- Prof. Claudio Orlandi (6-month visit from Aarhus, 2010)