Hey Everyone,<br><br>Hope the test went well Monday. I am currently still in Germany checking e-mail very occasionally. Below<br>is the abstract to our guest speaker's, Eric Miles', talk for next Wednesday, Oct. 16. If you know anyone else who would be interested<br>please ask them to come.<br><br>Best,<br>Chris<br><br><br>Pseudorandomness, Cryptography, and P vs. NP<br>Pseudorandomness is the study of objects that &quot;appear random&quot; but that are constructed using little or no randomness at all. In this talk I will explain how this idea is formalized, and highlight some applications of pseudorandom generators (PRGs), a particular type of pseudorandom object. Specifically, I will discuss how PRGs are used in cryptography, as well as the implications that PRGs have for resolving the P vs. NP question. Along the way I will mention some of my past and ongoing research in this area.