Amit Sahai

Amit Sahai is a distinguished professor of computer science at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and holds the Symantec Endowed Chair in Computer Science.1 He is also the director of the Center for Encrypted Functionalities, a National Science Foundation Frontier Center.1

Academic Background

Sahai received his Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 2000.12 Prior to joining UCLA in 2004, he was a faculty member at Princeton University from 2000 to 2004.2

Research Interests

His research focuses on:

• Foundations of computer security and cryptography
• Secure program obfuscation
• Cryptographic proofs
• Secure multiparty computation1

Sahai is known for co-inventing attribute-based encryption, functional encryption, and indistinguishability obfuscation.1

Achievements and Recognition

Throughout his career, Sahai has received numerous honors and awards, including:

• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow (2002)
• Okawa Research Grant Award (2007)
• Google Faculty Research Award (2010)
• ACM CCS Test of Time Award (2016)
• AWS Machine Learning Research Award (2019)
• IACR Test of Time Award (2020)
• STOC Best Paper Award (2021)
• American Mathematical Society Fellow (2023)1

Publications and Impact

Sahai has published over 150 original technical research papers in prestigious venues such as the ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC), CRYPTO, and the Journal of the ACM.1 His work has been featured in various news outlets, including Forbes, BBC, Quanta Magazine, and Wired.1

Teaching and Outreach

In addition to his research, Sahai is recognized for his teaching excellence. He received the 2016 Lockheed Martin Excellence in Teaching Award from UCLA Samueli.1 He also serves as an advisor to the nonprofit Prison Mathematics Project, demonstrating his commitment to education and outreach.1