Research

  • Impact Areas
  • Research Areas

Algorithms & Theory

Foundational work that includes complexity, parallel computing and game theory

AI & ML

Spanning natural language processing, deep-learning, computer vision and more

Computational Biology

Understanding disease via epigenomics, gene regulation and bioinformatics

Computer Architecture

How CPUs, memory and other systems are designed and organized

Graphics & Vision

Teaching computers to interpret, create and animate visual data

Human-Computer Interaction

Software and hardware that let us naturally interact with technology

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

From compilers and verification to software design and engineering

Robotics

Vision, actuation, sensing and manipulation of machines

Security & Cryptography

Developing technologies to prevent and recover from cyber-attacks

Systems & Networking

From distributed systems and databases to wireless

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20 Group Results

Community of Research

Applied Machine Learning Community of Research

This CoR brings together researchers at CSAIL working across a broad swath of application domains. Within these lie novel and challenging machine learning problems serving science, social science and computer science.
Regina Barzilay
Berger
Michael Carbin
+6
Una-May O'Reilly

Una-May O'Reilly

Leads

Una-May O'Reilly

Una-May O'Reilly

Research Areas

AI & ML
Computational Biology
Programming Languages & Software Engineering

Impact Areas

Cybersecurity
Education
Health Care

Lead

Una-May O'Reilly

Una-May O'Reilly

Regina Barzilay
Berger
Michael Carbin
+6
 
Una-May O'Reilly

Una-May O'Reilly

Research Center

Center for Deployable Machine Learning (CDML)

The MIT Center for Deployable Machine Learning (CDML) works towards creating AI systems that are robust, reliable and safe for real-world deployment.
Daskalakis
Moitra-headshot
Rinard
+5
Madry-headshot

Aleksander Madry

Leads

Madry-headshot

Aleksander Madry

Research Areas

Algorithms & Theory
AI & ML
Graphics & Vision
Human-Computer Interaction
Programming Languages & Software Engineering
Robotics
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity

Lead

Madry-headshot

Aleksander Madry

Daskalakis
Moitra-headshot
Rinard
+5
 
Madry-headshot

Aleksander Madry

Community of Research

Cognitive AI Community of Research

This CoR aims to develop AI technology that synthesizes symbolic reasoning, probabilistic reasoning for dealing with uncertainty in the world, and statistical methods for extracting and exploiting regularities in the world, into an integrated picture of intelligence that is informed by computational insights and by cognitive science.
Brewer-headshot
Randall Davis
Kagal-headshot
+6
Howard Shrobe

Howard Shrobe

Leads

Howard Shrobe

Howard Shrobe

Research Areas

Human-Computer Interaction
Robotics
Security & Cryptography
Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Cybersecurity
Education

Lead

Howard Shrobe

Howard Shrobe

Brewer-headshot
Randall Davis
Kagal-headshot
+6
 
Howard Shrobe

Howard Shrobe

Community of Research

Computing & Society Community of Research

This community is interested in understanding and affecting the interaction between computing systems and society through engineering, computer science and public policy research, education, and public engagement.
Abelson
Berners-Lee
Brewer-headshot
+8
Weitzner

Daniel Weitzner

Leads

Weitzner

Daniel Weitzner

Research Areas

Algorithms & Theory
AI & ML
Human-Computer Interaction
Security & Cryptography
Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity
Health Care
Internet of Things
Transportation
Wireless

Lead

Weitzner

Daniel Weitzner

Abelson
Berners-Lee
Brewer-headshot
+8
 
Weitzner

Daniel Weitzner

Research Group

Cryptography and Information Security Group

We seek to develop techniques for securing tomorrow's global information infrastructure by exploring theoretical foundations, near-term practical applications, and long-range speculative research.

Leads

Goldwasser

Shafi Goldwasser

Silvio Micali

Silvio Micali

Rivest

Ronald Rivest

vaikuntanathan-headshot

Vinod Vaikuntanathan

Lampson

Butler Lampson

Research Areas

Algorithms & Theory
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Cybersecurity
Wireless

Lead

Goldwasser

Shafi Goldwasser

Silvio Micali

Silvio Micali

Rivest

Ronald Rivest

vaikuntanathan-headshot

Vinod Vaikuntanathan

Lampson

Butler Lampson

Research Center

Internet Policy Research Initiative

Our mission is to work with policy makers and cybersecurity technologists to increase the trustworthiness and effectiveness of interconnected digital systems.
default headshot
default headshot
default headshot
+2

Leads

Weitzner

Daniel Weitzner

Abelson

Hal Abelson

Clark

David Clark

Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

Karen Sollins

Karen Sollins

Gerald Sussman

Gerald Sussman

Research Areas

AI & ML
Human-Computer Interaction
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity
Internet of Things
Transportation

Lead

Weitzner

Daniel Weitzner

Abelson

Hal Abelson

Clark

David Clark

Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

Karen Sollins

Karen Sollins

Gerald Sussman

Gerald Sussman

default headshot
default headshot
default headshot
+2

Community of Research

Systems Community of Research

The Systems CoR is focused on building and investigating large-scale software systems that power modern computers, phones, data centers, and networks, including operating systems, the Internet, wireless networks, databases, and other software infrastructure.
Alizadeh-headshot
Arvind
Hari Balakrishnan
+21
Madden

Sam Madden

Leads

Madden

Sam Madden

Research Areas

Computer Architecture
Programming Languages & Software Engineering
Security & Cryptography
Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity
Internet of Things
Transportation
Wireless

Lead

Madden

Sam Madden

Alizadeh-headshot
Arvind
Hari Balakrishnan
+21
 
Madden

Sam Madden

Community of Research

Theory of Computation Community of Research

The goal of the Theory of Computation CoR is to study the fundamental strengths and limits of computation as well as how these interact with mathematics, computer science, and other disciplines.
Berger
Erik Demaine
Goemans
+20
Daskalakis

Costis Daskalakis

Leads

Daskalakis

Costis Daskalakis

Research Areas

Algorithms & Theory
Computational Biology
Programming Languages & Software Engineering
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity

Lead

Daskalakis

Costis Daskalakis

Berger
Erik Demaine
Goemans
+20
 
Daskalakis

Costis Daskalakis

Community of Research

Vertical AI Community of Research

This CoR takes a unified approach to cover the full range of research areas required for success in artificial intelligence, including hardware, foundations, software systems, and applications.
Amarasinghe
Regina Barzilay
Broderick-headshot
+7
Rinard

Martin Rinard

Leads

Rinard

Martin Rinard

Research Areas

Algorithms & Theory
AI & ML
Graphics & Vision
Programming Languages & Software Engineering
Security & Cryptography
Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity
Health Care
Internet of Things
Transportation
Wireless

Lead

Rinard

Martin Rinard

Amarasinghe
Regina Barzilay
Broderick-headshot
+7
 
Rinard

Martin Rinard

24 Project Results

Project

Alloy

Software Design Group
Human-Computer Interaction Community of Research
Alloy is a language for describing structures and a tool for exploring them. It has been used in a wide range of applications from finding holes in security mechanisms to designing telephone switching networks. Hundreds of projects have used Alloy for design analysis, for verification, for simulation, and as a backend for many other kinds of analysis and synthesis tools, and Alloy is currently being taught in courses worldwide.
Jackson image

Daniel Jackson

Leads

Jackson image

Daniel Jackson

Research Areas

Human-Computer Interaction
Programming Languages & Software Engineering
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity
Education
Transportation
Wireless
 
Jackson image

Daniel Jackson

Project

Automated Attack Tree Generation for Critical Infrastructure

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group
Cognitive AI Community of Research
Using AI methods, we are developing an attack tree generator that automatically enumerates cyberattack vectors for industrial control systems in critical infrastructure (electric grids, water networks and transportation systems). The generator can quickly assess cyber risk for a system at scale.
Howard Shrobe

Howard Shrobe

Leads

Howard Shrobe

Howard Shrobe

Research Areas

Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Cybersecurity
 
Howard Shrobe

Howard Shrobe

Project

Denial of Service Mitigation through Protocol Design

Advanced Network Architecture Group
Computing & Society Community of Research
We aim to better understand the features of network protocols that facilitate denial of service attacks, in order to design more robust protocols and architectures in the future and evaluate existing designs more accurately.
Karen Sollins

Karen Sollins

Leads

Karen Sollins

Karen Sollins

Research Areas

Security & Cryptography
Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Cybersecurity
 
Karen Sollins

Karen Sollins

Project

Privacy-Preserving Decentralized Optimization

To enable privacy preservation in decentralized optimization, differential privacy is the most commonly used approach. However, under such scenario, the trade-off between accuracy (even efficiency) and privacy is inevitable. In this project, distributed numerical optimization scheme incorporated with lightweight cryptographic information sharing are explored. The affect on the convergence rate from network topology is considered.
default headshot

Hanshen Xiao

Leads

default headshot

Hanshen Xiao

Research Areas

Algorithms & Theory
AI & ML
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Cybersecurity
Wireless
 
default headshot

Hanshen Xiao

Project

PrivacyML - A Privacy Preserving Framework for Machine Learning

Decentralized Information Group
Cognitive AI Community of Research
Computing & Society Community of Research
We are developing a general framework that enforces privacy transparently enabling different kinds of machine learning to be developed that are automatically privacy preserving.
default headshot
default headshot
Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

Vaikkunth

Vaikkunth Mugunthan

Leads

Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

Vaikkunth

Vaikkunth Mugunthan

Research Areas

AI & ML
Security & Cryptography

Impact Areas

Big Data
Cybersecurity
Education
Energy
Entertainment
Health Care
Internet of Things
Manufacturing
Transportation
default headshot
default headshot
 
Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

Vaikkunth

Vaikkunth Mugunthan

Project

Solid: Social Linked Data

Decentralized Information Group
Cognitive AI Community of Research
Computing & Society Community of Research
Solid aims to radically change the way Web applications work today, resulting in true data ownership as well as improved privacy.
default headshot
Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee

Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

Leads

Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee

Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

Research Areas

Programming Languages & Software Engineering
Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Cybersecurity
Health Care
Internet of Things
default headshot
 
Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee

Kagal-headshot

Lalana Kagal

29 People Results

Chlipala-headshot

PI
Core/Dual

Adam Chlipala

Associate Professor
Programming languages, formal methods, security & privacy, systems
Chlipala-headshot
T 324-8439
RM 32-G842

Lead

Kami: A Modular Deductive Hardware Verification Platform
Compilation Using Correct-by-Construction Program Synthesis
Programming Languages & Verification
Hemiola: Structural Design and Proof of Cache-Coherence Protocols

Member

Compilation Using Correct-by-Construction Program Synthesis
Programming with spaces
Computation Structures Group
FSCQ: File-system verification
Systems Community of Research
Programming languages, formal methods, security & privacy, systems
R. David Edelman - Headshot

R. David Edelman

Director, Project on Technology, Economy & National Security
Machine learning, cybersecurity, governance
R. David Edelman - Headshot
T 258-6389
Machine learning, cybersecurity, governance
Gregory Falco

Gregory Falco

Research Affiliate
Dr. Falco is a hacker and expert in IoT and IIoT cybersecurity.
Gregory Falco
Dr. Falco is a hacker and expert in IoT and IIoT cybersecurity.
Jackson image

PI
Core/Dual

Daniel Jackson

Professor
Software design, programming, systems
Jackson image
T 258-8471
RM 32-G704

Lead

Human-Computer Interaction
Software Design Group
Rethinking Software Design
Gitless: a simple version control system built on top of Git
Déjà Vu: Constructing Apps from Concepts
Security by Design for Cyberphysical Systems
Poirot: Secure Protocol Implementation by Design
An Interlock for Self Driving Cars
Alloy
Wildcard

Member

Espalier
Human-Computer Interaction Community of Research
Systems Community of Research
Wildcard
Software design, programming, systems
Taylor Reynolds Image

Taylor Reynolds

Technology Policy Director
Technology Policy Director - Internet Policy Research Initiative
Taylor Reynolds Image
RM 32-G534
Technology Policy Director - Internet Policy Research Initiative
Rus

PI
Core/Dual

Daniela Rus

Director
CSAIL director, robotics, AI, data science, privacy
Rus
T 258-7567
RM 32/ 32-368/ 374

Lead

Distributed Robotics Laboratory
Social Network Extraction from GPS Datasets with Coresets
Safety Standards for Autonomous Vehicles
Soft Contact Modeling
Practical Secure Computation
Self-Driving Vehicles
Robust Learning for Autonomous Vehicles
Brain-Controlled Robots
Planning in Congestion for Autonomous Vehicles
Socially-Compliant Behavior for Autonomous Driving
Coresets for Machine Learning Algorithms
M-Blocks Modular Robotics
Robot Compiler
Distributed Robot Garden
Route and Motion Planning for Mobility-on-Demand with Rules of the Road

Member

Social Network Extraction from GPS Datasets with Coresets
Task-Driven Co-Optimization Of Articulated Robots
Wearable Blind Navigation
Drones that Drive
Better Models for Ride-Sharing
SoFi - The Soft Robotic Fish
Controlling drones and other robots with gestures
Using Muscle Signals to Lift Objects with Robots
Embodied Intelligence Community of Research
Helping robots learn using demonstrations
CSAIL director, robotics, AI, data science, privacy
Howard Shrobe

PI
Core/Dual

Howard Shrobe

Principal Research Scientist
Architectures, cybersecurity, web policy
Howard Shrobe
T 253-7877
RM 32-225

Lead

RADMAX
Risk-aware Network Resource Allocation
Automated Attack Tree Generation for Critical Infrastructure
Securing IoT
Cognitive AI Community of Research
Artificial Social Intelligence for Successful Teams (ASIST)
Uhura: Personal Assistant that Manages Risk

Member

Computation Structures Group
Computing & Society Community of Research
Architectures, cybersecurity, web policy

22 News Results

CSAIL1
Algorithms & Theory Computer Architecture Big Data Cybersecurity Health Care Internet of Things Manufacturing

MIT hosts workshop on theoretical foundations of deep learning

Last week MIT’s Institute for Foundations of Data Science (MIFODS) held an interdisciplinary workshop aimed at tackling the underlying theory behind deep learning. Led by MIT professor Aleksander Madry, the event focused on a number of research discussions at the intersection of math, statistics, and theoretical computer science.

MIT hosts workshop on theoretical foundations of deep learning

gtown law2
Security & Cryptography Cybersecurity

MIT engineering students team up with Georgetown lawyers-in-training on internet privacy legislation

Every spring, engineering students from MIT and law students from Georgetown University overcome the distance between their institutions and disciplines in a semester-long flurry of virtual classroom meetings and late-night Google hangout sessions, culminating in presentations to policy experts in DC.

MIT engineering students team up with Georgetown lawyers-in-training on internet privacy legislation

bbva1
Algorithms & Theory Security & Cryptography Big Data Cybersecurity Education Entertainment Health Care Internet of Things Manufacturing

Goldwasser, Micali, and Rivest win BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards

This week it was announced that MIT professors and CSAIL principal investigators Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali, Ronald Rivest, and former MIT professor Adi Shamir won this year’s BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards in the Information and Communication Technologies category for their work in cryptography.

Goldwasser, Micali, and Rivest win BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards

Formally verified working file system could lead to computers guaranteed never to lose your data.
Security & Cryptography Systems & Networking Cybersecurity

Crash-proof computer systems

In a computer operating system, the file system is the part that writes data to disk and tracks where the data is stored. If the computer crashes while it’s writing data, the file system’s records can become corrupt. Hours of work could be lost, or programs could stop working properly.At a symposium this fall, MIT researchers will present the first file system that is mathematically guaranteed not to lose track of data during crashes. Although the file system is slow by today’s standards, the techniques the researchers used to verify its performance can be extended to more sophisticated designs. Ultimately, formal verification could make it much easier to develop reliable, efficient file systems.

Crash-proof computer systems