"I am happy to receive this notable honor from my colleagues around the world," said Boris S. Verkhovsky, PhD, professor of computer science at NJIT and an expert in the art of deciphering messages in a code.
More attention has been paid since 9/11 to this once obscure field since news stories have reported that terrorists communicate with each other through encoded computer messages.
The EAS is an international organization founded in 1999 and based in Belgium. EAS promotes excellence in science and technology. Among its 650 members, 44 of them are Nobel Prize laureates.
Verkhovsky is known among computer scientists as an expert on discovering ways to code or encrypt information using a mathematical entity known as an elliptic curve.
Studied for almost 150 years, elliptic curves are not new. However, they were not applied to cryptography until 1985. These mathematical curves permit speedy encryption without loss of security –also known as crypto immunity--to protect information against unauthorized decryption.
Verkhovsky, who joined NJIT in 1986, had previously been a professor at the University of Colorado. He has also worked at the University of Bridgeport and Princeton University.
A native of Russia, Verkhovsky received his doctorate in computer science jointly from the Academy of Sciences of the former USSR, Moscow, and Latvia State University. He became a group leader of the Academy's Central Institute of Economics and Mathematics after stints at the Research Institute of Computers, Moscow, and the Research Institute of Radio-electronics, Novosibirsk.
Verkhovsky holds several awards for his works as a teacher and researcher in computer science, including the Outstanding Scholastic Contribution Award of the International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics and Cybernetics; the Meritorious Award of the International Congress on Applied Systems Research & Cybernetics and the Research and Development Award of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
New Jersey Institute of Technology, the state's public technological research university, enrolls more than 8,300 students in bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 100 degree programs offered by six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College and College of Computing Sciences. NJIT is renowned for expertise in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and eLearning.