Dr. Michael Fischer

Biography

Michael Fischer is a Professor of Computer Science at Yale University. His research interests include cryptographic protocols security, theory of parallel distributed systems, and discrete algorithms. Fischer is well-known for his work on the distributed consensus problem and the 'parallel prefix' algorithm, which forms the basis of the 'scan' operation, a fundamental aspect of parallel algorithms. He directed Ph.D. dissertations on secure, verifiable e-voting in the mid-1980s and developed information-theoretically secure cryptosystems based on random card deals. Currently, Fischer is engaged in studying trust from an algorithmic point of view, aiming to enable e-commerce systems to automatically learn and utilize the necessary trust relationships. He chairs the International Scientific Advisory Board at the Max-Planck-Institute for Computer Science in Saarbrücken, Germany, and is a guest professor at Wuhan University. He is also a member of the Academic Committee at the State Key Laboratory on Software Engineering in Wuhan, China, and serves on the editorial board of Acta Informatica. Fischer is an ACM fellow and has previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the ACM. He has been involved in the Advisory Committee for the National Science Foundation and is a founding member of the CRA subcommittee on the Status of Women in Computer Science.

Research Interests