Anna Lysyanskaya Receives A Named Chair
- Posted by Jesse Polhemus
- on June 22, 2023

Brown University’s Department of Computer Science (Brown CS) is pleased to announce that faculty member Anna Lysyanskaya received a named chair in the Senior Chair rank at the May, 2023 meeting of the Corporation of Brown University. Anna is now the James A. and Julie N. Brown Professor of Computer Science.
“I am very honored,” Lysyanskaya tells us, “to have joined the most senior faculty rank, that of an endowed chair!”
Anna received her doctorate in Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002 and has been a Brown CS faculty member ever since. A key theme of her research is balancing privacy with accountability, and she’s known for her foundational research in this area. Camenisch-Lysyanskaya signatures, which she co-created, provide the cryptographic basis for anonymous credentials, which allow users to prove that they possess required attributes without revealing any other information, such as personal identifiers. Her work has been incorporated into the Trusted Computing Group's industrial standard, served as the theoretical foundation for IBM Zurich's Idemix project, and informed the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).
Anna has taught introductory and advanced cryptography courses that give Brown’s computer science concentrators and graduate students a rigorous foundation in the field as well as opportunities for advanced research projects. She has also developed a novel inclusive course on the basics of cryptography that’s suitable for a broad range of students without a technical computing and mathematical background. The course description states that it’s “aimed at practicing and aspiring poets, economists, software engineers, law and policy wonks, and business tycoons”.
Anna’s accomplishments and service to her profession have been well-recognized in her field. The International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) is the leading organization responsible for peer review of cryptographic research, and Anna has been a member of its Board of Directors for the past ten years. She was also recognized by the IACR as a leading researcher by her appointment as Program Co-Chair of its annual CRYPTO conference, the most prominent scholarly publication venue in her field. Anna has also served on the Advisory Board and Board of Directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a privacy watchdog and advocacy group.
“This named chair recognizes Anna’s pioneering contributions to cryptography and privacy-preserving technologies,” says department chair Roberto Tamassia. “Her work enables the development of computer systems and applications that protect the privacy of users while providing a high level of security and trust.”
Anna joins seven other Brown CS holders of senior endowed professorships: Ugur Çetintemel (Khosrowshahi University Professor of Computer Science), Maurice Herlihy (An Wang Professor of Computer Science), Sorin Istrail (James A. and Julie N. Brown Professor of Computational and Mathematical Sciences and Professor of Computer Science), Michael Littman (University Professor of Computer Science), Roberto Tamassia (James A. and Julie N. Brown Professor of Computer Science), Eli Upfal (Rush Hawkins Professor of Computer Science), and Andries van Dam (Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Education and Professor of Computer Science).
For more information, click the link that follows to contact Brown CS Communications Manager Jesse C. Polhemus.