Angelos Pelecanos

About

I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at UC Berkeley, fortunate to be co-advised by Prof. Shafi Goldwasser and Prof. John Wright.

My research interests lie broadly in theoretical computer science. Recently, I have been thinking about cryptography and quantum computing.

In Spring 2022 I received an M.Eng. degree from MIT, where I was lucky to work under the supervision of Prof. Vinod Vaikuntanathan. I graduated with a bachelors degree in Computer Science and Engineering and in Mathematics in Spring 2021 from the same institution. I am grateful for the mentorship of Prof. Virginia Vassilevska Williams during my undergraduate studies.

My email is apelecan at berkeley dot edu.

Publications

View publications by topic.

  1. When Simple Permutations Mix Poorly: Limited Independence Does Not Imply Pseudorandomness

    Jesko Dujmovic, Angelos Pelecanos, Stefano Tessaro

    45th Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques (Eurocrypt 2026)

    PDF

  2. Mixed state tomography reduces to pure state tomography

    Angelos Pelecanos, Jack Spilecki, Ewin Tang, John Wright

    Manuscript 2025

    PDF

  3. The debiased Keyl's algorithm: a new unbiased estimator for full state tomography

    Angelos Pelecanos, Jack Spilecki, John Wright

    58th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC 2026)

    29th Annual Quantum Information Processing Conference (QIP 2026)

    PDF

  4. Beating full state tomography for unentangled spectrum estimation

    Angelos Pelecanos, Xinyu Tan, Ewin Tang, John Wright

    37th ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA 2026)

    PDF Blog Post

  5. How Fast Does the Inverse Walk Approximate a Random Permutation?

    Vishesh Jain, Tianren Liu, Clayton Mizgerd, Angelos Pelecanos, Stefano Tessaro, Vinod Vaikuntanathan

    46th Annual International Cryptology Conference (CRYPTO 2026)

    PDF

  6. More Efficient Approximate k-wise Independent Permutations from Random Reversible Circuits via log-Sobolev Inequalities

    Lucas Gretta, William He, Angelos Pelecanos

    36th ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA 2025)

    PDF

  7. On the Computational Hardness of Quantum One-Wayness

    Bruno Cavalar, Eli Goldin, Matthew Gray, Peter Hall, Yanyi Liu, Angelos Pelecanos

    Quantum 9 (2025)

    PDF

  8. Classical vs Quantum Advice under Classically-Accessible Oracle

    Xingjian Li, Qipeng Liu, Angelos Pelecanos, Takashi Yamakawa

    15th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2024)

    PDF

  9. Layout Graphs, Random Walks, and the t-wise Independence of SPN Block Ciphers

    Tianren Liu, Angelos Pelecanos, Stefano Tessaro, Vinod Vaikuntanathan

    43rd International Cryptology Conference (CRYPTO 2023)

    PDF Code

  10. Non-Asymptotic t-wise Independence of Substitution-Permutation Networks

    MIT MEng Thesis

    PDF
    Erratum

    The main theorem of Section 4 (O(t)-round MiMC is t-wise independent) is not known to be true.

Talks

  • Mixed state tomography reduces to pure state tomography University of Waterloo IQC Math and CS seminar, Spring 2026. Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Spring 2026. MIT CSAIL Quantum seminar, Spring 2026. HonHai (Foxconn) QC meeting, Spring 2026. Video
  • Beating full state tomography for unentangled spectrum estimationSODA 2026, Vancouver, Spring 2026.
  • More Efficient Approximate k-wise Independent Permutations from Random Reversible Circuits via log-Sobolev InequalitiesMIT CIS Seminar, Cambridge, Fall 2024.
  • On the t-wise Independence of Block CiphersCMU Theory Lunch, Pittsburgh, Fall 2024. Slides Video
  • Classical vs Quantum Advice and Proofs under Classically-Accessible Oracle Quantum Complexity Workshop, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, Spring 2024. Video ITCS 2024, Berkeley, Spring 2024. Quantum Brainstorming Session, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, Spring 2023.
  • Layout Graphs, Random Walks, and the t-wise independence of SPN block ciphers CRYPTO 2023, Santa Barbara, Summer 2023. NYU Crypto Reading Group, Fall 2023.

Activities

  • Random Purification ChannelWorkshop at STOC 2026, June 2026.
  • African Institute for Mathematical SciencesParticipant at the Theory of Quantum Learning Algorithms program, October 2025.
  • Berkeley Directed Reading ProgramGraduate student mentor, Fall 2024.
  • PCMI Graduate Summer SchoolTeaching Assistant for Quantum Query Complexity, July 2023.
  • ReviewerSTOC, FOCS, SODA, CRYPTO, ITCS, QIP, TQC, ICALP.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Computer ScienceUniversity of California, Berkeley, 2022 - Present
  • M.Eng. in Computer Science and EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of Technology, 2021 - 2022
  • B.Sc. in Computer Science and EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017 - 2021
  • B.Sc. in MathematicsMassachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017 - 2021

Teaching

  • Advanced AlgorithmsMIT 6.854/18.415J, Teaching Assistant, Fall 2021
  • Design and Analysis of AlgorithmsMIT 6.046/18.410J, Teaching Assistant, Fall 2020 and Spring 2021

Awards

  • Phi Beta Kappa MemberElected 2021
  • Silver MedalInternational Olympiad in Informatics, 2017
  • Bronze MedalInternational Mathematical Olympiad, 2017

Professional Experience

  • Hudson River TradingAlgorithm Developer Intern, Summer 2021
  • CitadelSoftware Engineering Intern, Summer 2019
  • Tech Square TradingQuantitative Trading Intern, Winter 2019
  • QuantCoSoftware Engineering Intern, Summer 2018