Brent R. Waters is an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

, specializing in

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...

and

computer security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and computer network, n ...

. He is currently a professor of Computer Science at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

Career

Waters attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, where he graduated in 2000, with a BS in computer science. He earned a PhD in computer science from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 2004. Waters completed his post-doctoral work at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 2004 to 2005, hosted by

Dan Boneh Dan Boneh (; ) is an Israeli–American professor in applied cryptography and computer security at Stanford University. In 2016, Boneh was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the theory and practice of cr ...

, and then worked at

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...

as a computer scientist until 2008. In 2008, he joined the University of Texas at Austin, where he currently holds the title of Professor in the Department of Computer Science. In July 2019, he joined NTT Research to work in their Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Laboratory. In 2005, Waters first proposed the concepts of

attribute-based encryption Attribute-based encryption is a generalisation of public-key encryption which enables fine grained access control of encrypted data using authorisation policies. The secret key of a user and the ciphertext are dependent upon attributes (e.g. thei ...

and

functional encryption Functional encryption (FE) is a generalization of public-key encryption in which possessing a secret key allows one to learn a function of what the ciphertext is encrypting. Formal definition More precisely, a functional encryption scheme for a g ...

with

Amit Sahai Amit Sahai (born 1974) is an Indian-American computer scientist. He is a professor of computer science at UCLA and the director of the Center for Encrypted Functionalities. Biography Amit Sahai was born in 1974 in Thousand Oaks, California, to pa ...

Awards

Waters was awarded the

Sloan Research Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

in 2010. In 2011, he was awarded the

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

and a Packard Fellowship. In 2015, he was awarded the

Grace Murray Hopper Award The Grace Murray Hopper Award (named for computer pioneer RADM Grace Hopper) has been awarded by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) since 1971. The award goes to a computer professional who makes a single, significant technical or serv ...

, for the introduction and development of the concepts of attribute-based encryption and functional encryption. In 2019, he was named a

Simons Investigator The Simons Foundation is an American private foundation established in 1994 by Marilyn and James Harris Simons, Jim Simons with offices in New York City. As one of the largest charitable organizations in the United States with assets of over $5 ...

in theoretical computer science. He was elected an

ACM Fellow ACM Fellowship is an award and fellowship that recognises outstanding members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The title of ACM Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals ...

in 2021.

Selected publications

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References

External links

Brent Waters
at University of Texas * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Brent Living people American cryptographers Computer security specialists Modern cryptographers American computer scientists University of California, Los Angeles alumni Princeton University alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty Grace Murray Hopper Award laureates Simons Investigator Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers