Academic Background

Education

Five degrees in computer science, security, and business — the foundation behind Yotam's work leading AI, innovation, and security teams.

Education

Five degrees across computer science, security, and business — the academic backbone behind Yotam's research focus on distributed algorithms.

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
2020 – 2025
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Computer Science
Skills: Architecture
Tel Aviv University
2022 – 2025
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Skills: Leadership, Management +1
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
2016 – 2019
Master of Science (M.S.), Cyber Space Security and Cryptography
Grade: 90.5
Reichman University
2011 – 2014
Master of Science (M.S.), Computer Science
Bar-Ilan University
2005 – 2009
Bachelor's Degree, Economics

Ph.D. Focus

Yotam's doctoral research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev centered on developing distributed algorithms. That academic grounding now underpins his technical work in AI architecture, AI security, and post-quantum cryptography.

Published Research

Three peer-reviewed papers grew out of the doctoral work, spanning self-stabilizing robot swarms and distributed coordination — the same territory that continues to shape his approach to complex systems today.

Forgive and Forget: Self-Stabilizing Swarms in Spite of Byzantine Robots
Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, Vol. 35, Issue 11 (2023)
Y. Ashkenazi, S. Dolev, S. Kamei, F. Ooshita, K. Wada

Proposes a framework for robot swarms to keep collaborating safely even when some robots behave maliciously (Byzantine faults) — showing that periodically "forgiving and forgetting" suspected robots lets the swarm complete tasks like patrolling or cleaning without permanent disruption.

Read on Wiley Online Library →
Location Functions for Self-Stabilizing Byzantine Tolerant Swarms
Theoretical Computer Science, Vol. 954, 113755 (2023)
Y. Ashkenazi, S. Dolev, S. Kamei, Y. Katayama, F. Ooshita, K. Wada

Introduces a general framework where non-Byzantine robots follow "location functions" to keep a swarm self-stabilizing and Byzantine-resilient, with efficient implementations for polynomial-based and shape-based tasks.

Read on ScienceDirect →
Distributed Coordination Based on Quantum Entanglement (Work in Progress)
IEEE NCA 2022 — 21st International Symposium on Network Computing and Applications, pp. 303–305
Y. Ashkenazi, S. Dolev

Demonstrates and proves that coordination of actions in a distributed swarm can be enhanced by using quantum entanglement — extending his distributed algorithms research into quantum-based coordination.

Read on IEEE Xplore →
Institution
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Field
Computer Science
Research Focus
Distributed Algorithms
Current Role
AI & Innovation Group Lead, Security Principal Director
Location
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Details on this page are drawn from Yotam's public LinkedIn profile and his published research.