Jack Nero

About me

Applied cryptography • homomorphic encryption • privacy-preserving computation

  • I am an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, majoring in Computer Science in the College of Engineering with a supplementary major in Mathematics for Engineers (B.S. expected May 2027).
  • I am a research assistant in the Data Security and Privacy Lab (DSP-Lab), advised by Prof. Taeho Jung, where I work on privacy-preserving computation over encrypted data — private set intersection, private membership testing, and private stream aggregation under fully homomorphic encryption (FHE).
  • My research interests are in applied and lattice-based cryptography: homomorphic encryption (BFV / FHE), secure multiparty computation, and formal verification for quantum algorithms with applications to post-quantum cryptography.
  • Since summer 2025 I have been part of the DREU (Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program in Quantum Information Science at UMBC, advised by Prof. Lei Zhang, developing hybridized formal-verification models for quantum algorithms.
  • I implemented the core components of the BFV homomorphic encryption scheme from scratch in C++ — polynomial modular arithmetic, encoding, and discrete noise sampling.

Education

University of Notre Dame B.S. Computer Science (College of Engineering) · Supplementary Major, Mathematics for Engineers · Expected May 2027 · GPA 3.52 / 4.00

Selected coursework. Theory of Computing, Design & Analysis of Algorithms, Distributed Systems, Cryptography, Operating System Principles, Computer Architecture, Programming Paradigms; Real Analysis, Algebra, Theory of Numbers, Complex Variables, Probability, Honors Algebra III and Honors Analysis I (in progress).

Research experience

Data Security and Privacy Lab, University of Notre Dame Aug 2024 – present · Advisor: Prof. Taeho Jung

  • DFPSI: Decoupled Fuzzy Private Set Intersection (submitted; 3rd author) — benchmarked quantized cosine similarity under BFV for biometric and financial data in collaboration with deep-learning models; authored the experimentation and evaluation; optimized latency and parameter choices.
  • Scalable Private Membership Test over Distributed and Encrypted Data (3rd author) — built latency experiments for encrypted multi-server queries under FHE and tuned parameters for scale; applications to fraud detection and no-fly / watch-list screening.
  • SLAP correction (2nd author) — corrected the security proof in SLAP, a secure multiparty protocol for private stream aggregation.

DREU — Quantum Information Science, UMBC May 2025 – present · Advisor: Prof. Lei Zhang

  • Developing hybridized formal-verification models for quantum algorithms, with an application to post-quantum cryptography.

Math Tutor, Department of Mathematics, University of Notre Dame Fall 2024

Awards & news

  • Excellence Award, National Cryptographic Technology Contest (September 2025) — for “Scalable Private Membership Test over Distributed and Encrypted Data.”
  • Paper accepted to ACM AsiaCCS 2026: “Scalable Private Membership Test over Distributed and Encrypted Data.”

Technical skills

  • Languages: C++, Python, C, LaTeX
  • Libraries & tools: Microsoft SEAL, OpenFHE, PyTorch, ONNX, Git, Linux, OVITO, GROMACS
  • Spoken: English (native), Spanish (intermediate)