Generating Useful Randomness from Block Sources

Organiser:
Arkadev Chattopadhyay
Date:
Thursday, 8 Jan 2026, 16:00 to 17:00
Venue:
A-201 (STCS Seminar Room)
Category:
Abstract

We consider the problem of generating high-quality random bits from a stream of blocks, where the 'good blocks' carry entropy but  'bad blocks' may be correlated with the good ones. I will describe recent progress on this problem, highlight several open questions, and discuss interesting connections to Boolean function analysis and fault-tolerant distributed computing.

Based on joint works with Mohit Gurumukhani, Noam Ringach and Rocco Servedio. 
 
Short bio: Eshan Chattopadhyay is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University. His research in theoretical computer science focuses on use of randomness in computation, computational complexity, and cryptography.