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Brown University’s Dean of the Faculty gives out five different awards annually to recognize continued excellence in teaching, and this year, Brown CS faculty member Shriram Krishnamurthi has received the Philip J. Bray Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Physical Sciences. 

“It’s humbling to receive the same award as all our prior honorees,” says Shriram, “and I’d like to mention Philip Klein in particular. When I first interviewed at Brown, he was one of the first people I met. As a grad student I'd worked with minimum spanning trees, so I had of course read Philip's seminal MST paper, and was in awe. I was therefore surprised and delighted when Philip wanted to talk not just about his speciality but also about programming and teaching, down to the introductory level. Right then I knew that the department's culture was just what I was looking for: that you could (and should) excel at both research and teaching, without prejudice towards either (and Philip embodies this). This sentiment was not widespread then, and I think is not now, either. So what makes me happiest is to see that our junior faculty are following the same tradition that Andy, John, and Peter established in the 60s and that has been a cultural touchstone for us ever since.”

Other accolades for Shriram’s teaching include the SIGPLAN Distinguished Educator Award (received jointly with Brown CS faculty member Kathi Fisler), the SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award, and Brown University’s Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowship.

Shriram joins six prior Brown CS recipients of a Bray Award, with Sohini Ramachandran as the most recent (2021). A list of earlier recipients is available here.

For more information, click the link that follows to contact Brown CS Communications Manager Jesse C. Polhemus.