Hong-Sheng Zhou

About Me

I am an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at Virginia Commonwealth University specializing in Cryptography, Secure Multi-Party Computation, and Blockchain Technologies.

From 2010-2013, I was a postdoc at the University of Maryland, under the direction of Jonathan Katz. In 2010, I received my PhD at the University of Connecticut with Aggelos Kiayias as advisor.

Research

Secure Multi-Party Computation; Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technologies
Protocol Composability; Indifferentiability
Extreme Cryptography: Security against Leakage, Tampering, Subversion, Coercion, and Quantum Attacks
Functional Encryption and Obfuscation
Cryptography for AI

Recent Publications

Best-Possible Unpredictable Proof-of-Stake: An Impossibility and a Practical Design - EuroS&P 2025; Also a brief announcement at DISC 2024
EquiBFT: A Framework for Achieving Fairness in BFT Consensus - ICDCS 2025 (Blockchains/Databases Track)
Single-Input Functionality against a Dishonest Majority: Practical and Round-Optimal - PKC 2025
Scalable Private Set Union, with Stronger Security - USENIX Security 2024
Practical Constructions for Single Input Functionality Against a Dishonest Majority - EuroS&P 2024
On the Complexity of Cryptographic Groups and Generic Group Models - ASIACRYPT 2024
Endemic Oblivious Transfer via Random Oracles, Revisited - EUROCRYPT 2023
GUC-Secure Commitments via Random Oracles: New Impossibility and Feasibility - ASIACRYPT 2022
A Universally Composable Non-interactive Aggregate Cash System - ASIACRYPT 2022
An Analysis of the Algebraic Group Model - ASIACRYPT 2022
Shuffle-based Private Set Union: Faster and More Secure - USENIX Security 2022

For a complete list, visit my publications.

Teaching

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (CMSC 615)

Current: Spring 2025 - Wednesdays, 7:00-9:40 PM, Engineering East Hall, Room E1232

Spring 2024--2017

Introduction to Cryptography (CMSC 415)

Upcoming: Fall 2025 - Mondays/Wednesdays, 12:30-1:45 PM, Engineering West Hall, Room 301

Fall 2024--2016; Spring 2016, 2015

Introduction to Algorithms (CMSC 401)

Spring 2016

Applied Cryptography (CMSC 620/ CISS 624)

Fall 2015, 2014, 2013

Contact

Email: hongsheng.zhou (at) gmail.com

Office: Engineering East Hall, Room E4240

Address: 401 West Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23284-3019