Fellowship / Fellows

Shafi Goldwasser

  • 2017–2018
  • Engineering & Computer Science
  • William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fellow
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel)
Headshot of Shafi Goldwasser
Photo by Tony Rinaldo

This information is accurate as of the fellowship year indicated for each fellow.

Shafi Goldwasser is the RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a professor of computer science and applied mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Israel. Goldwasser’s research is focused on the development of cryptographic models, tools, and applications to facilitate maximal use of modern computing advances without giving up on our basic right “to be left alone.” She also is interested in novel paradigms in complexity theory and algorithm design concerning the use of randomness.

Goldwasser is using her year at Radcliffe to apply encrypted computation methods to the analysis of social science data. She also hopes to finally take the time to start—and finish—projects that she has had on the books for the last 35 years: a book on pasta and protocols and a photography series on the women of New England.

Goldwasser was the recipient of a 2012 ACM A.M. Turing Award, widely considered the highest prize in the field of computing. A member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences, she earned a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Talking with Whales (Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 4/22/21)

Groundbreaking Effort Launched to Decode Whale Language (National Geographic, 4/19/21)

Our 2023–2024 Fellows

01 / 09

News & Ideas