We write to welcome to the CS Department -- and to Brown -- Anna Lysyanskaya, this year's new Assistant Professor. She comes to us with a fresh-minted Ph.D. from MIT, where she also got a Master's; her Ph.D. thesis advisor was Ronald Rivest, and her topic "Using cryptography to ensure privacy." She received her undergraduate degree from Smith, also the source of Ruth Simmons, Brown's highly regarded President.

Anna is a theoretician, with an emphasis on the important subfield of cryptography. She's had extensive teaching experience at MIT and has spent many summers working ...