Photo of Ross Evans

Ross Evans

PhD Student & Sessional Lecturer
Computer Science, University of Waterloo

I’m a PhD student in the Cryptography, Security, and Privacy (CrySP) group at the University of Waterloo, advised by Diogo Barradas. I research blackout-resistant technologies, which provide substitutes for internet-based services during outages caused by natural disasters, warfare, and censorship. More broadly, I’m interested in systems and network security topics, including censorship resistance and the privacy of offline finding networks.

I completed my Master’s in the same group under Douglas Stebila, where I built ProofFrog, a tool for verifying cryptographic game-hopping proofs.

I’ve taught at Waterloo since 2020, starting as an undergraduate instructional support assistant, where most of my time went to helping students one-on-one in office hours. That’s still my favourite part of the job, though since 2022 I’ve mostly been at the front of the room as a sessional lecturer for CS 246, CS 247, and CS 146.

Outside of work I enjoy trying new recipes, reading, and the occasional roguelike. My greatest gaming feat is beating the cosmic ocean in Spelunky 2.

News

Publications

Preprints

Theses

Teaching

Instructor for nine lecture sections with student-rated effectiveness of 91–97%, plus ten terms as an ISA, IA, or TA. Recipient of a 2025 University of Waterloo TA Award.

I like trying new ways to engage students. In CS 247, after students told me they felt unprepared for the short-answer questions on the midterm, I started opening lectures with ungraded Blooket quizzes (similar to Kahoot), and several students mentioned them in their evaluations. A few other things students have said:

“Answers student questions effectively and succinctly. As someone with very limited prior knowledge to programing, I was able to understand clearly.”

CS 146 student, Winter 2026

“Only class in my entire university degree where I understood everything taught in every lecture.”

CS 247 student, Spring 2024

“Ross Evans takes each question asked seriously and without judgement, and provided clear answers.”

CS 246 student, Fall 2023

Course-by-course evaluations and reflections →