#  Salil Vadhan 

 



   ![Salil Vadhan's headshot.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4266/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2025-06/25HVD-Salil%20Vadhan-EthiCS_004R2-medres.jpg?itok=nMas7iW8) 

 

I am a member of Harvard's [Theory of Computation](http://deas.harvard.edu/toc/) research group. I also lead Harvard's [Privacy Tools Project](http://privacytools.seas.harvard.edu/) and co-lead the [OpenDP](http://opendp.org/) open-source differential privacy software project. My research areas include computational complexity, data privacy, and cryptography.

In Spring 2026 I taught [CS 2252: Spectral Graph Theory in Computer Science](https://sites.google.com/g.harvard.edu/sgt) and [CS 2253: Seminar on Pseudorandomness and High-Dimensional Expanders](https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/163625). In 2021, I developed a new introductory undergraduate course in theoretical computer science, [CS 1200: Algorithms and Their Limitations](https://harvard-cs-1200.github.io/cs1200/), which I last taught in Fall 2025 and will teach again in Spring 2027.

I typically offer two office hours a week: one via Zoom and one in-person at my office in the Harvard Science and Engineering Complex. Times are listed in the calendar below. If you need to meet at a time outside of office hours, please contact me at [salil\_vadhan@harvard.edu.](mailto:salil_vadhan@harvard.edu)

My 2012 monograph on Pseudorandomness is on my [former website](https://people.seas.harvard.edu/~salil/pseudorandomness/).

See [FAQ](/contact) with answers to common inquiries (including reference letters, graduate admissions, advising, internal and external service, appointments, and refereeing) and information on contacting me.



 

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##  Upcoming Office Hours 

 



  

 



 

 

 

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##  News 

 



  [### Luca Trevisan Award Deadline is April 10, 2026

 ](/news/2026/04/luca-trevisan-award-deadline-april-10-2026) April 02, 2026 

 The Luca Trevisan Award, of which I am Committee Chair, is accepting nominations through April 10, 2026. The Luca Trevisan Award for Expository Work is intended to promote and recognize high-impact work expositing ideas and results from the Theory of... 

 

 

   [### Semester Program on Pseudorandomness and High-Dimensional Expanders

 ](/news/2026/04/semester-program-pseudorandomness-and-high-dimensional-expanders) April 02, 2026 

 Program website (linked left) Program dates: Monday, Aug. 24 – Friday, Dec. 11, 2026 Pseudorandomness is the theory of efficiently generating random-like objects using little or no randomness. Defining “random-like” in different ways gives different... 

 

 

  

 

 [ Read More... arrow\_circle\_right ](/news) 

 

 

 

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##  Selected Professional Activities 

- Lead PI, [Privacy Tools Project](http://privacytools.seas.harvard.edu/) and [OpenDP: an Open-Source Suite of Differential Privacy Tools](https://privacytools.seas.harvard.edu/opendp).
- Chair, [Luca Trevisan Award for Expository Work in Theoretical Computer Science](https://www.sigact.org/prizes/trevisan.html) **(Submission Deadline: April 10, 2026)**
- Co-organizer, [Semester Program on Pseudorandomness and High-Dimensional Expanders](https://simons.berkeley.edu/programs/pseudorandomness-high-dimensional-expansion), Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley, Fall 2026
- Editor-in-Chief, [Foundations and Trends in Theoretical Computer Science.](https://www.nowpublishers.com/TCS)
- Academic Advisory Committee, [Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taiwan](https://www.iis.sinica.edu.tw/en/page/AboutUs/AdvisoryCommittee/AdvisoryCommittee2026.html)
- Steering Committee, [Symposium on the Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC)](https://responsiblecomputing.org/).
- Steering Committee, [Theory of Cryptography Conference (TCC).](https://www.iacr.org/workshops/tcc/)
- Editor, [Computational Complexity](http://www.birkhauser.ch/journals/3700/3700_tit.htm).
- Scientific Board, [Electronic Colloquium on Computational Complexity](http://eccc.uni-trier.de/eccc/).