Biography:Yael Tauman Kalai
Yael Tauman Kalai | |
|---|---|
יעל טאומן קלעי | |
 | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University of Jerusalem (BSc) Weizmann Institute (MS) MIT (PhD) |
| Known for | Ring signatures Insecurity of the Fiat–Shamir heuristic Delegating computation |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cryptography Theoretical computer science |
| Institutions | Microsoft Research MIT |
| Doctoral advisor | Shafi Goldwasser |
| Doctoral students | Elette Boyle |
Yael Tauman Kalai (Hebrew: יעל טאומן קלעי) is a cryptographer and theoretical computer scientist and the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor at MIT in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[1] Previously, she worked as a Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New England[2][3].
Education and career
Kalai graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1997. She earned a master's degree in 2001 at the Weizmann Institute of Science, working with Adi Shamir, and then completed a PhD advised by Shafi Goldwasser at MIT in 2006. After postdoctoral study at Microsoft Research and the Weizmann Institute, she became a faculty member at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She took a permanent position at Microsoft Research in 2008[2][3] and became a professor at MIT in 2024.[4] She serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing.[5]
Contributions
Kalai is known for co-inventing ring signatures, which have become a key component of numerous systems such as Cryptonote and Monero (cryptocurrency).[6][7] Subsequently, together with her advisor Shafi Goldwasser, she demonstrated an insecurity in the widely used Fiat–Shamir heuristic.[8][7] Her work on delegating computation has applications to cloud computing.[9]
Recognition
Kalai was elected a Fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research in 2022 for foundational contributions in delegated computation and leakage-resilient cryptography, and service to the cryptographic community.[7]
Kalai was an invited speaker on mathematical aspects of computer science at the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians.[10]
Her master's thesis introducing ring signatures won an outstanding master's thesis award[3] and her MIT PhD dissertation was awarded the George M. Sprowls Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis in Computer Science.[3][11]
She was co-chair of the Theory of Cryptography Conference in 2017.[12]
She was awarded the 2022 ACM Prize in Computing "for breakthroughs in verifiable delegation of computation and fundamental contributions to cryptography".[13]
Personal
Kalai is the daughter of game theorist Yair Tauman.[14] Her husband, Adam Tauman Kalai, works at OpenAI.[15][16]
References
- ↑ Yael Kalai, MIT CSAIL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, October 23, 2024, https://www.eecs.mit.edu/people/yael-kalai/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yael Tauman Kalai, Principal Researcher, Microsoft, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/yael/, retrieved 2018-09-11
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Yael Kalai, Researcher, Microsoft Research New England, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, 22 October 2014, https://simons.berkeley.edu/people/yael-kalai
- ↑ Goodale, Zach (2024-05-23). "School of Engineering welcomes new faculty". https://news.mit.edu/2024/school-engineering-welcomes-new-faculty-0523.
- ↑ Scientific Advisory Board, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, https://simons.berkeley.edu/people/advisory, retrieved April 18, 2026
- ↑ Rivest, Ronald L.; Shamir, Adi; Tauman, Yael (2001), How to Leak a Secret, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2248, pp. 552–565, doi:10.1007/3-540-45682-1_32, https://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/pubs/RST01.pdf
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Gordon, Rachel (June 27, 2022), Kalai named 2022 IACR Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, https://www.csail.mit.edu/news/kalai-named-2022-iacr-fellow, retrieved April 18, 2026
- ↑ Goldwasser, Shafi; Kalai, Yael Tauman (2003), On the (In)security of the Fiat-Shamir Paradigm, pp. 102–113, doi:10.1109/SFCS.2003.1238185, https://eprint.iacr.org/2003/034.pdf
- ↑ Hardesty, Larry (June 10, 2013), "Securing the cloud: New algorithm solves major problem with homomorphic encryption", MIT News (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), https://phys.org/news/2013-06-cloud-algorithm-major-problem-homomorphic.html, retrieved 2018-09-11
- ↑ "Invited section lectures", ICM 2018, http://www.icm2018.org/portal/en/invited-section-lectures-speakers, retrieved 2018-08-08
- ↑ "Awards and Honors 2007", EECS Newsletter (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science), Fall 2007, https://eecs-newsletter.mit.edu/articles/2007-fall/awards-and-honors-2007/, retrieved Sep 10, 2018
- ↑ Theory of Cryptography: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference, TCC 2017, Baltimore, MD, USA, November 12-15, 2017, Springer, https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319705026, retrieved 2018-09-11
- ↑ ACM Prize in Computing Recognizes Yael Tauman Kalai for Fundamental Contributions to Cryptography, Association for Computing Machinery, https://www.acm.org/media-center/2023/april/acm-prize-2022, retrieved April 13, 2023
- ↑ Parshall, Allison (July 27, 2023), "The Cryptographer Who Ensures We Can Trust Our Computers", Quanta Magazine, https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cryptographer-who-ensures-we-can-trust-our-computers-20230727/
- ↑ Knies, Rob (May 14, 2009), New England Researcher Finds Her Bliss, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/new-england-researcher-finds-bliss/
- ↑ Adam Tauman Kalai, https://kal.ai/, retrieved April 18, 2026
External links
- Yael Tauman Kalai publications indexed by Google Scholar
 |  |
