COLLOQUIUM: Aprita Patra, "The Landscape of Exact Round Complexity in Secure Multi-Party Computation"

Refreshments Provided.

Abstract: 
Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) is a central problem in cryptography, often regarded as its holy grail. It enables a group of mutually distrusting data owners to jointly compute a function over their private inputs, while revealing nothing beyond what is inherently implied by the output itself. 

Round complexity is one of the most fundamental efficiency measures in MPC, capturing the minimal interaction required for secure computation. In this talk, I will present a high-level overview of the evolution of research on round complexity in MPC and place my own contributions within this evolving landscape.

Bio:
Arpita Patra is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Automation at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. Her research focuses on cryptography, with particular emphasis on the theory and practice of secure multi-party computation (MPC). She has authored over 100 research publications in leading venues in cryptography, theoretical computer science, and computer security. 

Her research has received several recognitions, including the Prof. S. K. Chatterjee Award for Outstanding Woman Researcher/Industry Leader (IISc, 2023), Google Privacy Research Faculty Award (2023), J.P. Morgan Chase Faculty Award (2022), SONY Faculty Innovation Award (2021), Google Research Award (2020), NASI Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2018), SERB Women Excellence Award (2016), and INAE Young Engineer Award (2016). She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) and the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), and has also been associated with the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). 

She has coauthored two books: Secure Multi-Party Computation Against Passive Adversaries (Springer, 2023) and Fault-Tolerant Distributed Consensus in Synchronous Networks (Springer, 2025). 

Beyond academia, she conceived Expedition Aparajita (Aparajita means “invincible” in Sanskrit), an initiative celebrating human will, resilience, and endurance, particularly among women. Through this initiative, she is pursuing both the Seven Summits and Seven Volcanic Summits challenges and has so far completed five of the Seven Volcanic Summits and three of the Seven Summits.

Part of the Siebel School Speakers Series. Faculty Host: Ling Ren

Meeting ID: 899 5120 5711 
Passcode: csillinois

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