Vinod Vaikuntanathan is using number theory and other mathematical concepts to fortify encryption so it can be used for new applications and stand up to even the toughest adversaries. Image: Scott Brauer
Vinod Vaikuntanathan aims to improve encryption in a world with growing applications and evolving adversaries. As a boy growing up in a small South Indian village, Vinod Vaikuntanathan taught himself calculus by reading books his grandfather left lying around the house. Years later in college, he toiled away in the library studying number theory, which deals with the properties and relationships of numbers, primarily positive integers. This field of study naturally steered Vaikuntanathan toward what he calls "the most important application of number theory in the modern world": cryptography. Today, Vaikuntanathan, a recently tenured associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, is using number theory and other mathematical concepts to fortify encryption so it can be used for new applications and stand up to even the toughest adversaries. One major focus is developing more efficient encryption techniques that can be scaled to do complex computations on large datasets. That means multiple parties can share data while ensuring the data remains private.
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