This is an introduction to cryptography, emphasizing formal definitions and proofs of security. Though the course is theoretical in nature, its viewpoint will be "theory for practice." In particular, we will discuss cryptographic algorithms that are used in practice and how to reason about their security. More fundamentally, we will try to understand what security "is" in a rigorous way that allows us to follow sound cryptographic principles and uncover design weaknesses.

This is a class devoted to the study of securing distributed systems, with blockchain-based cryptocurrencies serving as our real platform of interest. We'll start with the fundamentals of Lamport's, Fischer's, and Douceur's results that fence-in all consensus system, and discuss Byzantine fault tolerance. We'll also look at the efficiency of the network architectures for peer-to-peer;distributed system communication and attacks on their security, such as denial of service attacks. And we'll review relevant applied cryptography such as elliptic curves.

This course provides an in-depth examination of the fundamental principles of information assurance: authentication, integrity, confidentiality of distributed systems, network security, malware, privacy, intrusion detection, intellectual property, and protection.

Fundamentals of quantum information systems, including quantum computation, quantum cryptography, and quantum information theory. Topics include: quantum circuit model, qubits, unitary operators, measurement, entanglement, quantum algorithms for factoring and search, quantum key distribution, error-correction and fault-tolerance, information capacity of quantum channels, complexity of quantum computation.

Basic and advanced techniques for text-based information systems, including retrieval models, indexing and text representation, browsing and query formulation, data-intensive computing approaches, evaluation, and issues surrounding implementation. The course will include a substantial project such as implementation of major elements of search engines and applications.

This course examines the structure of modern computer systems. We explore recent research results that are influencing modern machine organizations, then consider specific features and their impact on software and performance. These may include superscalar issue, caches, pipelines, branch prediction, and parallelism. Research paper reading and in-class exercises.

The design and analysis of efficient algorithms for important computational problems. Paradigms for algorithm design including Divide and Conquer, Greedy Algorithms, Dynamic Programming; and, the use of Randomness in Algorithms. Algorithms for Sorting and Searching, Graph Algorithms, Matroid, Linear Programming, Proving NP completeness, Approximation Algorithms for NP Complete Problems, and others. Prerequisites: The mathematical maturity expected of incoming Computer Science graduate students, knowledge of algorithms at the level of COMPSCI 311.

This course introduces concepts, practices, and tools for conducting effective research. You will learn how to read technical papers, interpret published research, assess the research frontier, select research topics, devise research questions and hypotheses, propose and plan research activities, analyze experimental results, and report those results.

An in-depth introduction to the main models and concepts of the mathematical theory of computation, including computability, complexity, and logic. Prerequisites: an undergraduate course in automata theory and formal languages such as COMPSCI 501 or permission of instructor.

Students will work collaboratively to construct production-grade software used to advance the goal of Child Rescue. This course is a group-based, guided independent study. Our goal is to build practical machine learning models to be used by professionals dedicated to rescuing children from abuse. Students will be encouraged to design and build their own diagnostic and machine learning tools, while also learning from professionals in the fields of digital forensics and law enforcement.