Wallach named one of top 40 researchers

Wallach named one of top 40 researchers

BY PATRICK KURP
Special to the Rice News

Dan Wallach, associate professor of computer science and a specialist in computer voting security, has been named by Computer World magazine to its annual ”40 Under 40” list. The honor highlights the work of young researchers.
 

Dan Wallach has been named by Computer World magazine to its annual ”40 Under 40” list.

”Dan Wallach doesn’t shy away from a good fight — especially when it comes to exposing security flaws in important technologies that affect the public. When most academic researchers steer away from controversy, Wallach steps up,” wrote Computer World.

Since 2001, Wallach, who is also associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, has devoted a portion of his teaching and research to voting security, initially in the context of general computer security. He teaches ”Computer Systems Security” (COMP 527), which includes a unit known familiarly as ”Hack-a-Vote.”

He is associate director of the National Science Foundation-sponsored ACCURATE (A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable and Transparent Elections), a collaborative project involving six institutions. It investigates software architectures, tamper-resistant hardware, cryptographic protocols and verification systems as applied to electronic voting systems.
Wallach, 35, has testified as an expert witness in six voting cases in three states, most recently in Colorado and Webb County, Texas.

He received his bachelor’s degree in computer science and electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993. He received his master’s degree in 1995 and his doctorate in 1998 from Princeton University, both in computer science. 

Wallach joined the Rice faculty in 1998. He is on sabbatical at Stanford University and SRI International and will return to Rice in January.

Read the entire story at Computer World’s Web site.