IC doctoral students awarded prestigious Google Fellowship 2016

Lucas Maystre, a Ph.D. student in the Computer Communications and Applications Laboratory 4 of Professor Matthias Grossglauser, was recognised for his research project in the area of Machine Learning.

Lucas’ thesis project focuses on understanding user preferences to improve recommender systems. He aims to tackle the problem of understanding preferences by considering models and methods that describe, predict and learn from choices. He uses fundamental research, based on the statistical and algorithmical underpinnings of choice models, on applications.

Damian Vizar, a Ph.D. student in the Security and Cryptography Laboratory of Professor Serge Vaudenay, received the award for his doctoral project in the area of Privacy and Security.

Damian’s research focuses on ensuring confidentiality and integrity of communication. He aims to demonstrate the suitability of Authenticated Encryption in building secure and efficient communication channels. His project contributes to the design of efficient schemes for authenticated encryption, through the analysis of security, under varying circumstances, and understanding the relations between existing security notions for authenticated encryption and security requirements of real-world applications.

The Google Ph.D. fellowship is a prestigious award given in recognition and support to outstanding graduate students doing exceptional research in Computer Science and related disciplines, shaping and influencing the future of technology.