PhD student in information technology with a passion for applied cryptography and cybersecurity
I am a PhD candidate in Information Technology at the University of Cincinnati, with an anticipated graduation in August 2028. My research focuses on applied cryptography, secure systems, and the design of privacy-preserving infrastructure especially within anonymous communication networks like I2P. At the core of my work is a commitment to developing secured search solutions but also practical, scalable, and impactful in real-world security settings.
My academic foundation was shaped through both master's and doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati, where I earned my MS in Information Technology in August 2024. I have a multi-phase research roadmap to bridge the gap between cryptographic theory and practice. It starts with the foundational number theory and provable security required for academic rigor and extends through practical implementation to ensure the results are industry ready.
Professionally, I've built experience across academia, industry, and high stakes security environments. As a Security Engineer Intern at Intuit Inc., As an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Cincinnati, I redesigned and delivered undergraduate curricula in IT fundamentals, introducing hands-on labs that emphasized secure coding and systems thinking training nearly 50 students in each cohort.
Previously, I served as a Security Operations Analyst at Virtual Infosec Africa, where I monitored critical financial infrastructure, helping the Banking system achieve > 60% detection rate and significantly reduce incident response times. I continue to sharpen my offensive and defensive skills by actively participating in Capture The Flag competitions and bug bounty programs, with acknowledgments from platforms like HackerOne and MetaCTF and hackinghub.
I'm equally passionate about community and mentorship. As a lead mentor with OWASP Cincinnati, an ISC² examination developer, and an AWS Community Builder, I contribute to open-source documentation, support peer learning, and guide aspiring security professionals. Currently, I'm also building tooling for cryptographic protocol analysis, integrating Python and Rust for practical implementations of secure systems.
Long term, I aim to advance the state of applied cryptography by bridging academic research and industry deployment pioneering systems that are both provably secure and operationally robust.
Building on probability and secrecy, this week I explore advanced cryptographic primitives: Format-Preserving Encryption, Fully Homomorphic Encryption, Searchable Encryption, and Tweakable Encryption. I also examine how weak ciphers and wrong...
My third week dives into probability, conditional distributions, and formal definitions of secrecy. I work through shift cipher examples, Bayes’ Theorem, and the rigorous proof that the One-Time Pad achieves...
My second week's dive into cryptography, exploring the transition from classical ciphers to modern security. This post unpacks Kerckhoffs's Principle, attack models, and why mathematical rigor is essential.
Coming soon - my research on privacy-preserving infrastructure and anonymous communication networks.
Ready to collaborate on cryptography research or cybersecurity projects? Let’s connect: