Roopa Vishwanathan

Bio

Dr. Roopa Vishwanathan is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Computer Science at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM. Her areas of research are security and privacy, specifically, applied cryptography, cryptocurrencies, and security of blockchain-based applications. Currently, her research focuses on two broad aspects. One focus area is Layer-2 protocols for blockchains. Layer-2 protocols are built on top of the base blockchain, with the goal of improving blockchain scalability. Examples of Layer-2 protocols include payment channel networks, zkRollups, side-chains, etc. Her groups' past results in this area include the design of routing protocols for payment channel networks and credit networks, techniques for rebalancing links in payment channel networks, design of mixers, and more. The other area she is interested in is cryptographic protocol design. Past work in this area includes design of secure revocable chameleon hash schemes, design of revocable attribute-based encryption and signature schemes, design of redact-able or rewritable blockchains, etc. She is enthusiastic about collaborative research, and currently is collaborating with people from the networking and databases research community.

She is also passionate about broadening participation in computing, removing barriers and increasing the participation of women and underrepresented groups. She has mentored high-school students from New Mexico's regional (including Native American) colleges as part of the NSF STEMAP program (Summer 2020), is involved in K-12 outreach to local high schools in Las Cruces (Spring 2023), and is participating in the CAHSI REU program as a mentor for two undergraduate students from partner CAHSI institutions (Spring 2023).