Fully-Funded Ph.D. students

I will join the Department of Computer Science at Illinois Tech as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Fall 2025. My research focuses on Applied Cryptography, especially advancing cryptography to solve security and privacy issues in existing as well as emerging real-world applications. Please see (https : / / yanxue820.github.io) for more details about me. I'm hiring 2-3 Ph.D. students starting in spring / fall 2026 with the following research areas : Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) : MPC is a crucial technique to enhance data collaborations while protecting sensitive information. Our research provides highly efficient MPC solutions for real-world application scenarios (such as healthcare, risk management, biorecognition, etc). Blockchain : We build foundational infrastructures to ensure security and privacy in blockchain ecosystems. Our research addresses critical challenges, such as resource-constrained users, data confidentiality and verifiability, decentralized services, etc. Intersection between Cryptography and Machine Learning : We advance and accelerate cryptography techniques to protect the data / model security and privacy in machine learning. Conversely, we leverage machine learning techniques to assist in proving the security of cryptographic protocols. Qualifications : Fully-funded Ph.D. students (Spring / Fall 2026) passionate about research Bachelor's or Master's degree in CS, Math, or related disciplines Solid programming / mathematical skills and / or a background in cryptographic research or study Curious and eager to explore new ideas and technologies