Associate Professor, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Topic: Information Theoretic Cryptography (1/2)

Abstract: In this tutorial we will cover the basic topics of secure transmission and secure computation. The list of topics to be covered include universal hash functions, authentication, CPA/CCA secure encryption, secure computing and oblivious transfer, bit commitment, composable security, zero-knowledge proofs and completeness of OT. These are standard topics for a cryptography course, but our exposition will focus on the information theoretic perspective. In particular, we will provide information theoretic proofs of security, under the assumption of availability of correlated randomness.

Biography:

Shun Watanabe received B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2005, 2007, and 2009, respectively. During April 2009 to February 2015, he was an assistant professor of the Department of Information Science and Intelligence Systems at the University of Tokushima. During April 2013 to March 2015, he was a visiting assistant professor of the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland, College Park. During March to April 2016, he was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Henri Poincare. Since February 2015, he has been an associate professor of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of IEICE. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.

Homepage: https://sites.google.com/site/shunwatanabeshomepage/

Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Science

Topic: Information Theoretic Cryptography (2/2)

Abstract: In this tutorial we will cover the basic topics of secure transmission and secure computation. The list of topics to be covered include universal hash functions, authentication, CPA/CCA secure encryption, secure computing and oblivious transfer, bit commitment, composable security, zero-knowledge proofs and completeness of OT. These are standard topics for a cryptography course, but our exposition will focus on the information theoretic perspective. In particular, we will provide information theoretic proofs of security, under the assumption of availability of correlated randomness.

Biography: Himanshu Tyagi is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Communication Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He obtained his Ph.D. from University of Maryland College Park in 2013 and was subsequently a postdoctoral researcher at the Information Theory and Applications (ITA) center. His research interests lie in information theory in its various applications, including those to compression, cryptography, machine learning, and theoretical computer science.

Homepage: http://ece.iisc.ac.in/~htyagi/

Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore

Topic: Information-Theoretic Limits for Inference, Learning, and Optimization

Abstract: The field of information theory was introduced as a means for understanding the fundamental limits of data compression and transmission, and has shaped the design of practical communication systems for decades. These lectures will be based on the emerging viewpoint that information theory is not only a theory of communication, but a far-reaching theory of data that is applicable to seemingly unrelated problems such as estimation, prediction, and optimization. This perspective leads to principled approaches for certifying the near-optimality of practical algorithms, as well as understanding where further improvements are possible. I will provide an introduction to some of the main ideas and insights offered by this perspective, cover some commonly-used tools such as Fano's inequality and Le Cam's method, and present examples including group testing, graph learning, sparse regression, and black-box function optimization.

Biography: Jonathan Scarlett received the B.Eng. degree in electrical engineering and the B.Sci. degree in computer science from the University of Melbourne, Australia. From October 2011 to August 2014, he was a Ph.D. student in the Signal Processing and Communications Group at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. From September 2014 to September 2017, he was post-doctoral researcher with the Laboratory for Information and Inference Systems at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Since January 2018, he has been an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Department of Mathematics, National University of Singapore. His research interests are in the areas of information theory, machine learning, signal processing, and high-dimensional statistics. He received the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) fellowship, and the NUS Early Career Research Award.

Homepage: https://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~scarlett/

Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University Singapore

Topic: Some facets of information theoretical graph analytics

Abstract: This course will present two aspects of graph analytics, namely node centrality and clustering, with emphasis on methods coming from information theory. Datasets will be shared and examples will be given using Jupyter notebooks, thus providing an (optional) introduction to NetworkX.

Biography: F. Oggier is an associate professor in the division of mathematical sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her interests are in the areas of algebraic coding theory at large, security, and more generally applied algebra.

Homepage: https://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=FREDERIQUE&CategoryDescription=Mathematics

Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Topic: An introduction to quantum computation and information

Abstract: We will start with a comparison of quantum probability and classical probability by considering the task of computing the AND of two bits, one of which is with with Alice and the other with Bob. We will build on this and set up the framework of quantum circuits. We will review standard quantum algorithms based on an efficient circuit for Quantum Fourier Transform and Phase Estimation. We will discuss the entropy of quantum states, and some standard coding theorems in quantum information theory. We will apply these ideas to derive some lower bounds in quantum communication complexity.

Biography: Jaikumar Radhakrishnan works in the area of Theoretical Computer Science, and is interested in applying algebraic, combinatorial, probabilistic and information theoretic tools for studying computational problems. He has contributed results in Approximation Algorithms, Circuit Complexity, Communication Complexity and Quantum Computing. Jaikumar received his BTech degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in 1985. He received his PhD degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University in 1991. Since 1991, he has been at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, where he is currently a Senior Professor in the School of Technology and Computer Science.

Homepage: http://www.tcs.tifr.res.in/~jaikumar/