His research is in cryptography, both its theory and application. He holds the firm belief that good theory should reflect real-world practice, and should strive to make life easier for those who implement, deploy and standardize cryptographic primitives. With the help of excellent collaborators, Tom's work has resulted in new RFCs, changes to international standards, and cryptographic technologies that impact a wide range of areas (e.g. the payment-processing industry, and censorship-circumvention systems.) Tom earned his PhD under Phillip Rogaway at UC-Davis in 2004, an NSF CAREER award in 2009, and a surprise gift from Eric Schmidt in 2014. He is an organizer of the annual Real World Cryptography event.