Zach Susag

Zach Susag, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, graduated from Grinnell with a B.A. in mathematics and computer science (with honors) in 2019. Subsequently, he earned his M.S. (2023) and Ph.D. (2026) in computer science from Cornell University. Professor Susag's research focuses on the formal verification of computer programs. He is especially interested in randomized programs, or programs that can draw random samples from some probability distribution. Randomized algorithms play an increasingly vital role in modern computing, with new applications constantly cropping up in machine learning, privacy, and cryptography; however, our ability to ensure the correctness of randomized algorithms has not kept pace. Accordingly, Professor Susag designs and develops tools to automatically verify quantitative properties of real implementations of such algorithms. He is particularly interested in programs that satisfy differential privacy, a mathematical definition of statistical privacy. More broadly, Professor Susag is interested in programming language theory, cybersecurity and digital privacy, and computer science education.