Joshua Gancher

(he/him/his)

Assistant Professor

Joshua Gancher
  • Formal methods
  • Programming languages
  • Security and privacy
  • PhD in Computer Science, Cornell University
  • BA in Mathematics, Reed College

Joshua Gancher is an assistant professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston.

Gancher’s research into cryptographic software and formal methods seeks to secure the foundational software we rely on for our daily activities. He began his graduate studies interested in applied cryptography, but soon discovered that formal verification and mechanized proofs offered a level of correctness and security that traditional methods couldn’t match. So Gancher began creating and applying practical, high-performance, and thoroughly verified formal methods tools that could be used at scale.

Gancher sees formal methods not as an isolated domain, but as a toolkit that can be applied to countless problems. He joined Khoury College in 2024 eager to apply that toolkit to questions of networking, probabilistic programming, and distributed systems.

Gancher has presented at numerous security and programming conferences, including POPL, CCS, PLDI, and IEEE S&P; he has also served on program and organizing committees and as an external reviewer for CCS, CSF, and POPL.

Gancher is enthusiastic about early western music and plays the viola da gamba in his free time.