Dr. Yvo Desmedt Elected Foreign Member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts
On January 21st, Dr. Yvo Desmedt was elected to become a Foreign Member of Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, a prestigious academy consisting of three classes: Science, Humanities, Fine Arts, each class with just fifty members. The mission and goal of the society is the practice and promotion of science and arts in Flanders. The Academy, which was founded in 1772, aims is to bring together the most successful scholars and artists in order to utilize their expertise in a council of sages to provide a conscience for the community. The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium is the second oldest academy in the world. The oldest academy is the United Kingdom Royal Society.
The academy is popularly referred to as the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, and sometimes referred to as the Royal Academy of Belgium. The Academy is headquartered in the Academy Palace (Paleis der Academiën), in Brussels.
The Academy’s main task is to promote societal debate on scientific and artistic topics in a neutral and interdisciplinary way. This is done by:
- Identifying commendable researchers, artists and captains of industry in the four Classes and award several prizes.
- Giving perspective to the societal debate with the Thinker’s Programme and the Viewpoints.
- Enabling international networking for Flemish researchers
- Other initiatives are Contact forums, VLaams ACademisch Centrum (VLAC), and the National Biographical Dictionary
The members are elected, usually when in their fifties, and are appointed for life although they transition to honorary members upon reaching the age of 75. Current members of the Academy nominate candidates.
Dr. Yvo Desmedt, who is a UT Dallas Computer Science professor, a Jonsson Distinguished Professor, a fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), is an expert in the field of cryptography. Originally from Belgium, Dr. Desmedt earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Although Dr. Desmedt was born in Belgium and graduated from a Belgian University, he has worked in the United States for most of his life. For this reason, he was appointed to become a “foreign member” of the Royal Academy of Belgium. Dr. Desmedt has worked in both industry and at Universities in Belgium, New Mexico, Canada, Wisconsin, London, and Florida before joining UT Dallas in 2012. He is a member of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute at UT Dallas. Dr. Desmedt is a fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) and editor of the Journal of Computer Security. He is also editor in chief of IET Information Security.
Dr. Desmedt research interests include computer security, critical infrastructure, cryptography, entity authentication, information hiding, malware, network security, and cyberterrorism. His current work at UT Dallas includes research on Web browser vulnerabilities. By finding solutions to these vulnerabilities, Dr. Desmedt said securely voting over the Internet could become a viable reality. His work has aided Fortune 100 companies in the United States, and American and European financial institutions such as bank and credit card companies.
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