Nationality American Alma mater UC at Berkeley | Name Virgil Gligor Fields Computer Science | |
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Institutions University of Maryland
Carnegie Mellon University Notable awards 2006 National Information Systems Security Award
2013 IEEE Technical Achievement Award Education University of California, Berkeley | ||
Virgil D. Gligor receives 2013 IEEE Computer Society Technical Achievement Award
Virgil Dorin Gligor (born July 30, 1949) is a Romanian-American professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering who specializes in the research of applied cryptography and computer security.
Gligor was born in Zalău, Romania where he earned a national scholarship to study in the United States. According to Gligor, his childhood in the "very controlled environment" of Romanian communism and the later authoritarian regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu informed his belief that "security cannot be an excuse for compromising individual and institutional freedom." He earned his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. He worked as a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland from 1976 until 2007. In 2008, he became a professor at Carnegie Mellon University where he is also co-Director of the University’s CyLab.
On December 6, 2005, Gligor received the 2006 National Information Systems Security Award from the United States National Security Agency. In 2013, he was given Technical Achievement Award by the IEEE Computer Society for his work in cryptography.
Gligor is fondly recalled for his Count Dracula-like accent and his habit of admonishing students--who promise to turn something in on a given date when it's already late--"ON YOUR LIFE!!"