Undergraduate and Graduate Student Opportunities
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2025-26 Department of Mathematics and Statistics Events |
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March 2026 |
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Tues. |
Speaker: Merve Karabulut (FAU) Title: Area–Efficient First-Order Masked Modular Reduction for ML-DSA in Caliptra Root-of-Trust Abstract: Masking is an effective countermeasure against side-channel attacks, yet it often introduces significant hardware overhead. In the Caliptra Root-of-Trust, the masked ML-DSA implementation incurs approximately 6× area overhead due to modular reduction costs. In this talk, I will present a novel first-order masking architecture that significantly optimizes the modular reduction stage of ML-DSA. Compared to Caliptra’s baseline design, our implementation achieves a 12.1× speedup, reduces LUT usage by 86.7% and flip-flops by 94.5%, and improves area–delay efficiency by 91×. Extensive TVLA evaluation with over 1,000,000 traces shows no detectable first-order leakage, meeting Caliptra’s security requirements while substantially improving implementation efficiency. |
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Thurs. |
Dissertation Defence Speaker: Hansraj Jangir, Ph.D. candidate, Florida Atlantic University Title: New Studies in Lattice-Based Cryptography, Quantum Algorithms, and Privacy-Preserving Computation Abstract: Click here |
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Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards . |
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March
Grand |
57th Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing Celebrating its 57th year, the Conference brings together mathematicians and others interested in combinatorics, graph theory, and computing, and their interactions. The Conference lectures and contributed papers, as well as the opportunities for informal conversations, have proven to be of great interest to other scientists and analysts employing these mathematical sciences in their professional work in business, industry, and government. The Conference continues to promote a better understanding of the roles of modern applied mathematics, combinatorics, and computer science, acquainting investigators in each of these areas with the various techniques and algorithms available to assist in their research. Each discipline has contributed significantly to the others, and the purpose of the Conference is to narrow the gaps between the fields even further. Regsiter Here! |
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Tuesday |
Reading seminar on Quantum Algorithms Speaker: TBA This reading seminar is devoted to quantum algorithms, following Buchmann’s recently published book in the AMS series: https://bookstore.ams.org/amstext-64 This seminar meets every other Tuesday, 10-10:50 AM in SE 271. If interested in participating, please email sicaf@fau.edu to subscribe to the crypto_math mailing list. * The schedule and topics of upcoming seminars can be found here: https://researchseminars.org/seminar/FAUcryptotopical |
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Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards . |
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Tues. |
Speaker: Maryam Taghi Zadeh, Florida Atlantic University Title: Hardware-Software Co-Design of XMSS Post-Quantum Digital Signature on FPGA +Zoom (click here) Abstract: With the growing demand for quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions, hash-based signature schemes such as XMSS (eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme) have emerged as strong candidates for post-quantum security. In this work, we present a hardware-software co-design implementation of XMSS on the PYNQ-Z2 FPGA platform, where the computationally intensive SHAKE-256 hash core is offloaded to the programmable logic fabric while the higher-level signature control flow is managed by the ARM processor. The hardware accelerator is integrated with the software layer through an AXI interface, enabling efficient data transfer and synchronization. We explore multiple architectural optimizations including multi-round-per-cycle configurations, achieving notable improvements in clock frequency alongside reductions in overall signing latency and improved resource utilization. The results demonstrate that FPGA-based co-design is a practical and efficient approach for deploying post-quantum cryptography in embedded and IoT environments. |
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Thurs. |
Analysis & Applications Seminar Speaker: Dr. Elizabeth Gross, Department of Mathematics, University of Hawaii at Manoa Title: Identifiability of phylogenetic networks Abstract: One of the main goals of phylogenetics is to understand the evolutionary history of a set of species. These histories are represented by directed graphs where the leaves represent living species and the interior nodes represent extinct species. While it is common to assume the evolutionary history is a tree, when events such as hybridization are present, networks are more realistic. However, allowing for networks rather than trees complicates the process of inference, and ways to overcome this complication are needed. One approach to phylogenetic network inference is rooted in computational algebraic geometry. In this talk, we discuss the role computational algebraic geometry has played in the statistical problems related to network inference with a focus on identifiability. |
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Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards . |
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Tues. |
Reading seminar on Quantum Algorithms Speaker: TBA This reading seminar is devoted to quantum algorithms, following Buchmann’s recently published book in the AMS series: https://bookstore.ams.org/amstext-64 This seminar meets every other Tuesday, 10-10:50 AM in SE 271. If interested in participating, please email sicaf@fau.edu to subscribe to the crypto_math mailing list. * The schedule and topics of upcoming seminars can be found here: https://researchseminars.org/seminar/FAUcryptotopical |
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Thurs. |
Analysis & Applications Seminar Speaker: Dipayan Das, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University Title: On the Finite Field Isomorphism problem Abstract: Public-key cryptography is built on the premise that certain computational problems are hard to solve. For these assumptions to be practical, they must provide strong security, enable cryptographic functionality, and remain efficient to implement. Mathematical tools often play a key role in analyzing the hardness of such problems. The finite field isomorphism (FFI) problem, introduced at PKC 2018, was proposed as a hard problem underlying an advanced encryption scheme. In this talk, I will present a polynomial-time algorithm for solving the FFI problem using mathematical techniques. Building on this result, I will then show that this leads to a polynomial-time attack that breaks the advanced encryption scheme. |
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Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards . |
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Friday |
Colloquium Speaker: Eric Zaslow, Ph.D., Northwestern University Title: Combinatorial Perspectives in Stringy Geometry Abstract: I will give a tour of some places in modern mathematical physics where classical combinatorial objects arise. More specifically, I will explain how discrete structures such as graph colorings, triangulations and braids can be used to solve some geometric problems in symplectic topology. This talk is based on joint works with David Treumann, Roger Casals, Linhui Shen, Gus Schrader, Mingyuan Hu. |
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April, 2026 |
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Wed. |
Dissertation Defense Speaker: Noah Corbett, Ph.D. Candidate, Florida Atlantic University T itle: A Computational Approach to Periodic Orbits of State-Dependent Delay Differential Equations Abstract: The field of delay differential equations (DDEs) concerns the study of systems whose evolution depends on certain past states of the system. Of particular interest are the state-dependent DDEs, whose delay terms are non-constant and depend on the current state itself. In this thesis, we provide rigorous solution-finding techniques for a certain class of one-dimensional state-dependent DDEs, as well as a state-dependent delayed Van der Pol equation. This technique is inspired by the classical Picard-Lindelöf theorem and is successful in proving the existence and uniqueness of orbits in such systems under certain reasonable restrictions. We then employ the Lagrange-Chebyshev interpolating operator to frame our results in the computational setting, allowing us to algorithmically obtain periodic orbits of the systems in question. These algorithms are based on the Newton-Kantorovich theorem and the resulting illustrations and numerics are discussed in detail. |
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Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards . |
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Tuesday |
Reading seminar on Quantum Algorithms Speaker: TBA This reading seminar is devoted to quantum algorithms, following Buchmann’s recently published book in the AMS series: https://bookstore.ams.org/amstext-64 This seminar meets every other Tuesday, 10-10:50 AM in SE 271. If interested in participating, please email sicaf@fau.edu to subscribe to the crypto_math mailing list. * The schedule and topics of upcoming seminars can be found here: https://researchseminars.org/seminar/FAUcryptotopical |
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Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards |
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Sunday |
Florida Women in Math Day Florida Atlantic University's student chapter of the Association of Women and Mathematics will host Florida Women in Math Day! For mor information, please contact Rosemary Yool-Vidal at ryoolvidal2021@fau.edu.
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Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards |
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Tuesday |
Reading seminar on Quantum Algorithms Speaker: TBA This reading seminar is devoted to quantum algorithms, following Buchmann’s recently published book in the AMS series: https://bookstore.ams.org/amstext-64 This seminar meets every other Tuesday, 10-10:50 AM in SE 271. If interested in participating, please email sicaf@fau.edu to subscribe to the crypto_math mailing list. * The schedule and topics of upcoming seminars can be found here: https://researchseminars.org/seminar/FAUcryptotopical |
|
Thurs. |
Riemannian Geometry reading group
Book: Lee. John M., Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. ISBN: 978-3-319-91754-2 physical copy. Electronic access is available through the S.E. Wimberly Library. Join us for a weekly reading group! We will go through Lee's Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds. Anyone who's interested in joining us is welcome. For more information, please contact Prof. Parker Edwards |
