Rep. Panetta Announces $628,422 Federal Grant for UCSC Verifiable Computation Research

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) announced a $628,422 grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the University of California, Santa Cruz's work on verifiable computation. Scott Beamer, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, received this grant through a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. The funding for this project also includes support for educational and outreach activities to help broaden and grow the hardware-design community.

"The innovative work done by UC Santa Cruz on technology like verifiable computation will have real-world applications and will make hardware design more accessible," said Rep. Jimmy Panetta. "I'm proud of the federal support we've been able to provide to experts and academics at our Central Coast Universities and Colleges and I look forward to securing more grants in the future."

"This grant will support our research, which will not only help make verifiable computing a reality, but also improve hardware design productivity. With increased productivity, it will lower the barrier to entry and help democratize computer hardware design," Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering Department, UC Santa Cruz.

"Verifiable computation is an important step in building confidence in critical applications like machine learning, blockchain compression, and cloud transfers. Improving hardware acceleration is essential to address these massive computational demands and make verification practical," said Alex Wolf, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering.

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