Theory research at CSAIL covers a broad spectrum of topics, including algorithms, complexity theory, cryptography, distributed systems, parallel computing and quantum computing.
We look at classical problems with the aesthetics of computational complexity and ask questions concerning non-determinism, randomness, approximation, interaction, and locality. We’ve also played a foundational role in addressing challenges arising in computer systems and networks, such as error-free communication, cryptography, routing, and search. We are also now a rising force in the sciences: exact, life, and social.
Shafi Goldwasser, MIT EECS, UC Berkeley, and Weizmann Institute of Science professor and CSAIL member, was recently awarded the 2023 Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing alongside a team of researchers for their work on “Completeness theorems for non-cryptographic fault-tolerant distributed computation.”
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recently awarded Yael Tauman Kalai, MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) adjunct professor, CSAIL member, and Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research with the 2022 ACM Prize in Computing for her cryptography research.
New technique significantly reduces training and inference time on extensive datasets to keep pace with fast-moving data in finance, social networks, and fraud detection in cryptocurrency.
