News

Alexander "Sasha" Frolov – Endowment Scholar
2nd Year Scholar, PhD Candidate

Computer Science
University of Maryland

Research: 
My research area is cryptography, which is the mathematical study of secure communication and computation. I am interested in making cryptographic systems faster and more capable. I currently work on Zero-Knowledge Proofs, which let users show that statements like "I have a valid Social Security number" or "I am in Washington, DC" are true without revealing any private data like their Social Security number or location. 

How Will Your Research Benefit Society?
Faster and more capable cryptographic systems are more likely to be used in practice, where they will actually help keep people’s data secure. For example, when I worked at Meta, I helped build a new system for monitoring usage of cryptographic algorithms at the company. The system helped us find many ways to improve the company’s security, and has thus improved the security of billions of users’ data. My current work is more forward-looking. Better Zero-Knowledge Proofs and new applications for them can help keep people’s data safe and give people more control over their data in new and novel ways.

How Will an ARCS Award Benefit Your Research?
I have already received an ARCS Award in 2025. The money has given me the opportunity to not work as a teaching assistant this semester, and instead focus entirely on research. I also worked on a project last semester evaluating the ability of Large Language Models to generate phishing emails. Parts of this project involved making very large (and potentially expensive) queries to AI systems like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT series. I felt more comfortable making a paid account for these services with money from ARCS.

A future ARCS award will help me continue to focus on research instead of teaching. I am currently beginning work on some projects which involve working with GPUs, which are an often expensive type of computer hardware. Consistent research funding will allow me to continue to have access to specialized computing resources for research.

Career Objectives: 
My eventual aim is to return to an industry research lab and help deploy advanced cryptographic technologies to billions of users. When I worked at Meta, I worked on these types of problems as an engineer. One of my main goals in graduate school is to develop the skills and knowledge to be able to lead large-scale applied research projects in industry as a scientist.