Mikhail J. Atallah, "Opportunities and Perils of the Cyber Revolution"

Rebroadcast from the original Oct. 30 talk.WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —
Mikhail Atallah, distinguished professor of computer science and a
professor of electrical and computer engineering (courtesy), has
been chosen as the 2017 Arden L. Bement Jr. Award recipient. One of
Purdue University's top three research honors, the Bement Award is
the most prestigious award the university bestows in pure and
applied science and engineering.



Atallah is being honored for his significant contributions in the
design and implementation of efficient processing and security
protections for computer-based technologies.



“Dr. Atallah’s world-renowned work in algorithms, access
hierarchies and information security combines deep theoretical
approaches with solutions-based efficient designs to address the
most challenging computer processing and security issues,” said
Suresh Garimella, Purdue's executive vice president for research
and partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of
Mechanical Engineering, in announcing the winner. “His highly
creative and innovative ideas and fresh viewpoints have had a major
impact on the fields of distributed computing and cyber
security.”



Atallah will deliver the Arden L. Bement Jr. Distinguished Lecture
on Oct. 30 in Stewart Center's Fowler Hall. The 1:30 p.m. lecture
is free and open to the public.



Among his accomplishments, Atallah settled longstanding open
problems in data structuring for range-minimum queries and in data
filtering with running-max filters. He designed an influential and
award-winning technique for key management in access hierarchies
and developed a divide-and-conquer technique to parallelize
sequential algorithms, resulting in numerous optimal algorithms for
solving complex geometric and combinatorial problems.



Atallah co-founded Arxan Technologies Inc., to commercialize a
software protection technology developed jointly with his doctoral
student Hoi Chang. Used in more than 500 million computing devices
today, the technology consists of injecting self-protective
mechanisms in software that make it harder to hack.



Atallah came to Purdue as an assistant professor of computer
science in 1982 after earning a doctorate at Johns Hopkins
University. He was named a full professor in 1989 and has been a
distinguished professor since 2004. He is affiliated with the
Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and
Security (CERIAS) and has a courtesy appointment in the School of
Electrical and Computer Engineering.



He is a fellow of both the Association for Computing Machinery and
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). His work
on key management received the 2015 CCS Test of Time Award. He was
the 2016 recipient of the Purdue Sigma Xi Faculty Research Award,
and the 2013 recipient of the Purdue Outstanding Commercialization
Award. He has lectured frequently around the nation and the world
as a keynote and invited speaker and has served on editorial boards
of top journals and on program committees of top conferences and
workshops.



The Arden L. Bement Jr. Award was established in 2015 by Purdue
professor emeritus Arden Bement and his wife, Mrs. Louise Bement.
The Bement Award recognizes Purdue faculty for outstanding and
widely recognized contributions in the areas of pure and applied
science and engineering.



Winners of the Bement Award are nominated by colleagues,
recommended by a faculty committee and named by the university
president. Recipients receive a cash award and a small support
grant for their university scholarly activities.