In the evolving world of digital security and quantum computation, few scholars have made an impact as deep, early, and enduring as Dakshita Khurana. Awarded early tenure in 2024, she stands today as an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and a Scientist at NTT Research.
Dakshita Khurana: From IIT Delhi to Global Recognition
Dakshita Khurana began her academic journey at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, earning her B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering (2012). What followed was a decisive shift toward theoretical computer science, culminating in a PhD in Computer Science from UCLA, where she was mentored by renowned cryptographers Rafail Ostrovsky and Amit Sahai.
Her doctoral work earned widespread recognition, including the UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship, the Outstanding PhD Student Award, and prestigious industry-sponsored honors from Symantec and CISCO—early signs of a researcher destined to influence the field at its core.
Dakshita Khurana Cryptography Research: Pushing the Boundaries of Security
At the heart of Dakshita Khurana Cryptography Research lies a bold mission: to design security systems that remain robust even in adversarial, quantum, and imperfect environments.
Her research spans several foundational areas:
1. Secure Multi-Party Computation
She has developed protocols that allow multiple distrustful parties to compute jointly on sensitive data without revealing their private inputs—work that underpins modern privacy-preserving technologies in finance, healthcare, and governance.
2. Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems
Dakshita Khurana has made major advances in succinct, non-malleable, and privacy-preserving proof systems, strengthening defenses against man-in-the-middle attacks and laying groundwork for secure digital identities.
3. Quantum Cryptography and Provable Deletion
One of her most distinctive contributions is exploring provable deletion, a uniquely quantum property ensuring that once data is deleted, it can never be recovered or copied. This research directly addresses future threats posed by quantum computers.
4. Cryptographic Hardness and Game Theory
Her work has also bridged cryptography with theoretical economics by proving the hardness of finding Nash equilibria under standard lattice assumptions, revealing deep connections between security and computational complexity.
Her research excellence has been honored with invited publications at the SIAM Journal on Computing and recognition among the top papers at STOC and FOCS, the most elite conferences in theoretical computer science.
Dakshita Khurana: A Global Voice in Quantum and Theoretical Computing
Dakshita Khurana’s influence extends far beyond publications. Her work on secure computation in the quantum regime was selected as a long plenary talk at QIP (Quantum Information Processing)—a rare distinction reserved for research that fundamentally reshapes the field.
Her research has attracted funding and support from NSF, DARPA, AFOSR, and industry leaders such as Visa Research, C3AI, and Jump Arches, reflecting trust in both the depth and long-term impact of her ideas.
Awards That Reflect Excellence and Impact
Her achievements have been recognized across academia, industry, and society:
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Google Research Scholar Award (2024)
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NSF CAREER Award (2023) – “Cryptographic Proofs, Outside the Black-Box”
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Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science (2020)
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IIT Delhi Graduate of Last Decade (GOLD) Alumni Award (2022)
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Visa Faculty Research Awards (2021–2023)