Ben Weintraub

Education

• BS in Electrical Engineering, University of Iowa

Biography

About Me:

• Hometown:  Chicago, IL
• Field of Study:  Computer Science
• PhD Advisor:  Cristina Nita-Rotaru

What are the specifics of your graduate education (thus far)?

I began my PhD in the fall of 2019. Since starting, I have been a member of the Networks and Distributed Systems Security (NDS2) group, where I have been studying the efficiency and security of various privacy preserving networks.

What are your research interests in a bit more detail? Is your current academic/research path what you always had in mind for yourself, or has it evolved somewhat? If so, how/why?

My research focuses on three types of networks: blockchains, payment channel networks (which are related to blockchains), and anonymity networks (specifically, Tor). Some of the questions I have been studying are 1) how does the placement of an adversary in a network affect their power to perform malicious actions?; 2) can poorly performing anonymity networks take advantage of the natural structure of the internet to build faster communication links?; and 3) how can we ameliorate unfairness in blockchain mining without relying on expensive third-party exchanges?

Coming to Northeastern, my research interests were not well-defined, so I'd be lying if I claimed to have had anything specific in mind for myself, research-wise.

What’s one problem you’d like to solve with your research/work?

I would like to advance the performance of anonymous communication protocols, as that is the major roadblock to broader adoption by the general public right now.

What aspect of what you do is most interesting/fascinating to you? What aspects of your research (findings, angles, problems you’re solving) might surprise others?

The most unexpected finding in my research has been how often applications put blind trust in the underlying network. This can have both security and performance implications, and appears to have no easy solution given the ad-hoc and open nature of the internet.

What are your research/career goals, going forward?

I don't have too specific career goals other than that I'd like to continue doing research. Academia or a national research lab are likely options.