MIT Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
I have had a broad range
of
interests and experiences, but I am currently most interested in two
main
research areas: Trusted Computing and Mobile Computing.
Trusted Computing has
been the
focus of my main research projects here at MIT, including a project
under the
T-Party project sponsored by Quanta Computer, and a grant under the NSF
CyberTrust program. Our projects' ultimate goal is to provide
users with
access to computational power and data storage as they need it,
regardless of
where they are and what device they are currently using. Of
course, since
achieving this goal would require relying on machines owned by other
people, a
key question here is that of establishing trust in the machines that
one is
using or to which one has "outsourced" one's computation. Our
particular approach in our projects is to use inexpensive
secure
coprocessors such as the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip and
smartcards.
Our major results so far include techniques for offline secure
counting,
including the idea of virtual monotonic counters and offline count-limited
objects and operations, which have many potential applications such
as data
access rights management, secure offline transactions, and
others. At present, we are working on a new device we call the Trusted Execution Module
(TEM), which provides new
and more general device and usage models for secure processing than the
TPM or existing smartcards.
At the same time, I have
a
continuing interest in Mobile Computing, springing from my work in the
Philippines as a faculty member at Ateneo de Manila University
(where I
still hold an adjunct position), and founder of the Ateneo Java
Wireless
Competency Center, an R&D and incubation center at the University
formed in partnership with Sun Microsystems and Smart Communications
(one of the Philippines' largest mobile network operators). I
have personally experienced the
revolutionary impact
that mobile phones have had in the Philippines, and thus deeply believe
in the
enormous life-changing (and even in some cases life-saving) potential
of mobile
phone applications. Recently, I have been meeting a growing
number of
other people who share the same interest, and have been helping in some
collaborative efforts to help turn these potentials to reality.
Specifically,
among other things, I am co-teaching and co-developing a new course on ICT for Development
here at
MIT this Spring term. We currently have 8 student teams
working on
real-world
projects with partner organizations in 7 developing countries. I am also helping start the Next Billion Network project at
MIT.
Last May 2007, I
celebrated
the 25th anniversary of my first learning how to program. (I
self-studied
BASIC on a TRS-80 Color Computer during the summer break between 4th
and 5th
grades). Since that time, it's been quite an interesting journey
filled
with many memorable and educational experiences that I am thankful
for.
And I continue to have more. Here are
some of them so far. (Click on the link.)
Last updated:
April 2008