DeCenter Seminar Series: Correctness Conditions for Cross-chain Transactions
Join us for the second DeCenter seminar series event featuring Maurice Herligy, professor of computer science at Brown University. Lunch will be available beginning at noon.
Speaker: Maurice Herlihy, An Wang Professor of Computer Science, Brown University
Title: Correctness Conditions for Cross-chain Transactions
Abstract: Modern distributed data management systems face a new challenge: how can autonomous, mutually-distrusting parties cooperate safely and effectively? Addressing this challenge brings up many questions familiar from classical distributed systems. Nevertheless, many of these questions requires subtle rethinking when participants are autonomous and potentially adversarial. We propose the notion of a *cross-chain deal*, a new way to structure complex distributed computations that manage assets in an adversarial setting. Deals are inspired by classical atomic transactions, but differ in important ways to accommodate the decentralized and untrusting nature of the exchange. Joint work with Barbara Liskov and Liuba Shrira. This talk is intended for a general audience.
Bio: Maurice Herlihy has an A.B. in Mathematics from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from M.I.T. He has served on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University and the staff of DEC Cambridge Research Lab. He is the recipient of the 2003 Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing, the 2004 Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science, the 2008 ISCA influential paper award, the 2012 Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize, and the 2013 Wallace McDowell award. He received a 2012 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences and Engineering Lecturing Fellowship, and he is fellow of the ACM, a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2022, he won his third Dijkstra Prize.
Members of the public (without Princeton affiliation) who wish to attend must register. PUID holders do not need to register.
Stay tuned for future DeCenter seminars! Monthly seminars will take place fully in-person on the first Thursday of the month from 12:30 p.m. – 1:20 p.m. in Computer Science Room 105. Videos of seminars will be made available after the event.
