3rd year Undergrad Student majoring in Physics and Mathematics
I am currently an undergraduate student interested in Pure Mathematics but majoring in Physics, cuz I thought I'd be a theoretical physicist after high-school.
I don't blame 17 year old me for knowing less, but I found less-abstract nature of physics courses at my institute not interesting, I like more abstractness. For the initial two years, I studied control systems, embedded systems and robotics intensively, but later found out that I don't like embedded and robotics, but the math behind control systems. After watching 'The Immitation Game' in 10th grade, I always wanted to study cryptography and all the math behind it, and I used to do that and solve cryptics (I suck with those) in my free time and called it a hobby. But, right before my second-year summer vacations, I just closed all of my control and embedded books and projects, and decided to go full-on with cryptography. My first entry point was Homomorphic Encryption (HE/FHE).
Then, in my third-year, I studied FHE a LOT and I was still actively in touch with my embedded systems knowledge and experience, mostly doing hardware acceleration and security. During this time, I took some pure math courses apart from my physics coursework (Number Theory, Graph Theory, Analysis), and self-studied Abstract Algebra and Type theory.
Currently, I am working on AI-safety, which is a field with so MANY dimensions to it, and I am really enjoying the field given my broad background with mathematical depth. In a nutshell and somewhat philosophical sense -- I am particularly interested in applying and discovering pure-mathematical primitives in order to explain how exactly "thinking" works (most concise way to describe my current work). But how do we do that? Nobody knows, and probably, no-one will ever understand thinking. I am currently studying Category Theory, Topology and Algebraic Geometry for this. And given my Mathematical Engineering interests, I am also keeping up and contributing to the engineering part for empirical insights. For me, this field is very philosophical and existential. I am not actively working with embedded and hardware anymore, although the abstract insights and perspectives I have gotten from them are invaluable, and I will continue to atleast keep-up with them, if not work with them.
In the long run (after 27 years?), I really want to spend all the time (well not all the time literally), with pure mathematics. But, I am not the person to blindly agree with G.H. Hardy , I really want to see the math getting applied to nature. This interface between pure and applied math, in my perspective, is the most mysterious and existential thing in the universe, bridging the simple nature of mathematics, and the complexities of the real world. And, I really think that I should live here during my most active years of work.
I'd be lying if I said "during my free time," but I like to play guitar, drums. I also write, not poems, not journal and stuff like that, and even I don't know what exactly I write, it's better shown than described: EXAMPLE-1, EXAMPLE-2. I am also really interested in languages and history, and currently I am learning Dutch, German, Greek and Linear B.
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Projects | Experience | Achievements | Publications | Blog | Education
Formally characterized the algebraic structure of the Legendre PRF over prime extension fields and established that single-degree variants are subject to security reductions via passive differential analysis and active geometric queries.
Wrote a heap-free, embedded C implementation of the FAEST v2.0 post-quantum digital signature algorithm.
Designed a custom hardware kernel on Kria KV260's FPGA fabric accelerating the convolution operation over CKKS homomorphically encrypted data for secure inference.
Complete C++ library implementing the BFV homomorphic encryption scheme from scratch, including polynomial arithmetic using NTT, key generation, and homomorphic operations.
COSIC, KU Leuven, Belgium
Mathematical framework for rigorous analysis of LLM-MAS.
Bocconi University, Milan
Worked on Cortex M4 implementation of the FAEST Post-Quantum Digital Signature Algorithm for 3rd round submission of NIST Standardization Process. Supervised by Prof. Emmanuela Orsini
ECE Department, IIT Roorkee
Researching and developing high-performance custom hardware accelerators and software libraries for Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) schemes (CKKS, TFHE), with a specialized focus on enabling Privacy-Preserving Neural Networks.
Advanced Robotics Lab, IIT Roorkee
Collaborated on advanced research in control systems and automation under Dr. M. Felix Orlando. Reviewed literature, proposed improvements to robotic control strategies, and contributed to multi-DOF robotic arm experiments.
IIT Roorkee Motorsports
Worked in electrical division of Formula Student racing team. Designed DC to 3-phase AC inverter PCB for electric drivetrain, contributed to motor control strategies and battery interface design.
Our team (Aurva) was announced as global winners in the AMD Open Hardware 2025's Adaptive Computation Track for our work on accelerated convolution operation over CKKS Encryption.
Supervisor: Dr. Tharun Kumar Reddy Bollu
Solo member team (FossilizedPluto) achieved second position in CSAW Embedded Security Challenge 2025, attacking and mitigating firmware vulnerable to Side-Channel and Fault-Injection Attacks using the ChipWhisperer Nano board.
Supervisor: Dr. Sparsh Mittal
First comprehensive cryptanalysis of the Legendre PRF over extension fields, introducing differential-signature bucketing and geometric-sequence attacks that reduce the security for single-degree variants of the Legendre PRF.
Utilizes high-resolution side-channel analysis of FPGA-based ML-KEM to map the internal microarchitectural execution schedule, identifying specific clock cycles for coefficient loading and modular reduction to reverse-engineer the hardware accelerator’s pipelining and temporal data flow.
IEEE Computer Society Annual Symposium on VLSI (ISVLSI), 2026
Studied the exising techinques and algorithms for cryptanalysis of the Legendre Pseudo-Random Function.
Breaking down the mathematics behind the encoding process in the new Gentry-Lee FHE scheme.
Designing complex Zero-Knowledge Proofs using simulated MPC protocols.
Analyzing the need for "Gadget Decomposition" via noise analysis while performing homomorphic operations like ciphertext-plaintext multiplication, bootstrapping, key-switch, etc.
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Relevant Coursework: Number Theory, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Graph Theory, Statistics and Probability, Mathematical Methods (ODEs, PDEs, Transformations), Signals and Systems, Mathematical Physics, Analog Electronics, Digital Electronics, Introduction to Robotics, Quantum Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics.
© 2026 Daksh Pandey