Meet Cryptologist Jeffrey Ward

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In high school, I discovered cryptography: the science and art of creating secret messages or breaking someone else’s secret code. I always loved math, but I find math applied to cryptography irresistibly intriguing.

There are many math problems to which no one knows the answer.  Someday, I might be the one person to try an approach to a problem that no one else has thought of yet. My work could lead to an answer searched for by others for thousands of years.

Jeffrey M. Ward, a dual Mathematics and Computer Science has been awarded a 2007-08 Goldwater Scholarship. He is the 17th Clarkson student to receive the highly coveted award since the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation was established in 1986.

Ward is a member of Clarkson's Honors Program, an intensive four-year curriculum for exceptionally talented students. He is also a Clarkson Presidential Scholar, a member of the National Honor Society, and has won several Mathematical competition awards and other academic recognition.

"My essay for the scholarship competition dealt with lattice based cryptography problems," says Ward. "Specifically learning geometric shapes: Given some points and knowledge of what the shape should be, can you find the boundary for that shape?" Ward adds, "If so, surprisingly, some cryptosystems can be broken."

Christino Tamon, associate professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Clarkson is Ward's research supervisor. "Jeff's research lies at the intersection of two diametrically opposite areas: cryptography and machine learning," says Tamon. "Cryptography deals with hiding the known, while machine learning is about inferring the unknown. When they meet in a mixture of geometry and numbers, things get irresistibly interesting."

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.

Goldwater Scholars are selected for their academic merit from the nation's premier colleges and universities. Students are nominated by faculty members. The Foundation's trustees awarded 317 scholarships for the 2007-2008 academic year from a pool of 1,110 applications from college sophomores and juniors.