Osman Yağan
Research Professor, Carnegie Mellon University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Talk title
Analysis and Optimization of Robustness in XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol
Abstract
Blockchain consensus protocols are fundamental to maintaining security and consistency across decentralized systems. While proof-of-work and proof-of-stake dominate the landscape, federated Byzantine agreement (FBA) protocols, such as the one used in the XRP Ledger, offer a trust-based, scalable, and energy-efficient alternative. In this talk, I will present our work on analyzing and improving the robustness of the XRP Ledger against random failures and targeted attacks.
Bio
Osman Yağan is a Full Research Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where he is also an affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and a core member of CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. Prior to joining the faculty of the ECE department in August 2013, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in CyLab at CMU. Dr. Yağan received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park, MD in 2011, and his B.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara (Turkey) in 2007.
Dr. Yağan's research focuses on modeling, analysis, and performance optimization of computing systems, and uses tools from applied probability, network science, data science, and machine learning. In the context of data science and ML, he is working on statistical inference and decision making using sequential samples (e.g., multi-armed bandits), and resilient distributed machine learning. On the network science side, he has broad interests including robustness of cyber-physical systems with emphasis on critical infrastructure systems; secure and reliable design of large-scale ad-hoc networks with an increasing focus on emerging applications of Internet of Things; and contagion processes in complex networks with a focus on modeling, analysis, and control of spread of viruses, (mis)information, and opinions.
Dr. Yağan is a senior member of IEEE, and a recipient of a CIT Dean's Early Career Fellowship, an IBM Academic Award, and best paper awards in ICC 2021, IPSN 2022, and ASONAM 2023.