Meet Our Team: 10 Questions for Alex Ozdemir

Get to know the people who make Veridise special

We are starting a new series of blog posts where you get to meet the Veridise team and get a glimpse into the incredible human beings that make up our company.

We’re kicking it off with our intern Alex Ozdemir. Alex is currently a Computer Science PhD student at Stanford University where he works on using cryptography, compilers and automated reasoning to build secure systems.

He is fascinated by computation — the grand compromise between machine instruction and human expression.

Alex has an impressive career teaching computer science, mathematics and cryptography. He is also well-versed in security research and creating software.

We consider it a privilege for Alex to choose Veridise for his PhD internship and we’ve prepared 10 questions so you can get to know him better.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Who’s Alex Ozdemir?

I’m a PhD student at Stanford. I study how to use cryptography, compilers, and verification in order to build more private or secure systems.

What brought you to Veridise?

Before I joined, Veridise developed some verification tools that use a finite-field-enabled SMT solver that I built. I came to Veridise to work on that solver (and, by extension, Veridise’s tools). More broadly, I came to Veridise to learn more about the business side of security.

How would you describe your Veridise experience so far?

One thing I’ve enjoyed about Veridise is that the firm works on both near term and long term projects. Audits (which have near term value) drive the basic cadence of work, motivating the development of new auditing/verification tools (which have long term value).

What’s the most important thing in your work to you?

My favorite kind of work explores new ideas that improve privacy or security.

More broadly, I want my work to have interesting technical components and to contribute to the public good.

Let’s take a step back: how did you get into this line of work? What do you love the most about Computer Science and Web3 security and what would you change?

There are too many things that I like about CS and security to list them here. But I will share one question that worries me: “Do computers intrinsically concentrate power?”. One cool thing about cryptography: it’s intrinsically about resisting (computational) power.

What can we find you doing when you’re not teaching a class at Stanford University or working on your PhD

Enjoying California’s open spaces! It’s a beautiful state!

What’s one book you’ll never stop recommending to people?

It is not a book, but the law review article: “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” (Khan, ’17) is excellent. It is simultaneously an accessible introduction to modern US competition law and a break-through contribution to contemporary legal thinking that we’re still seeing play out.

Are there any blockchain/crypto/DeFi projects that excite you?

I’m broadly excited about projects that focus on privacy and decentralization.

How do you feel about AI — is it the beginning of a new era, the end of humanity as we know it or somewhere inbetween?

I’m not sure.

Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?

Yes! But not all the time, of course.

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