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Brown University's Department of Computer Science (Brown CS) is pleased to announce that Associate Professor (Research), Vice Chair, and Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies Tom Doeppner has received a named professorship. Effective July 1, 2024, Tom will be the Royce Family Associate Professor of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science. Awarded for terms of three years each, and renewable for one successive term, Royce Family Professorships recognize, reward, and encourage innovation and excellence in teaching and are given to faculty who “have demonstrated a high level of commitment to teaching and to advising students and to innovation and excellence in pedagogy”. Among Brown CS faculty, Michael Littman has previously held a Royce Professorship. 

“Tom epitomizes the criteria of the Royce Professorship,” says Brown CS Department Chair Roberto Tamassia, adding, “Under Tom’s decades-long leadership, our undergraduate and master’s programs have flourished, reaching a towering campus presence and a prominent global reputation. Also, generations of students have learned the foundations of computer systems and the intricate details of operating systems. This training has prepared them to become leaders in one of the most complex and competitive fields in computing.”

One of the Department’s founding seven faculty members, Tom joined the university in 1976, three years before Brown CS became a department. He is a recipient of Brown’s Hazeltine Citation for Excellence in Teaching, Guidance, and Support and President’s Award for Excellent in Faculty Governance. His teaching includes CSCI 0330 Introduction to Computer Systems and its advanced version, CSCI 1330; CSCI 1670 Operating Systems; CSCI 1690 Operating Systems Laboratory and its graduate-level version, CSCI 2670. He has also served as an instructor for CSCI 0081 and CSCI 0082, the undergraduate Teaching Assistant apprenticeship courses. Over the last decade, Tom has taught more students than any other Brown CS faculty member.

Thomas J. Watson, Junior University Professor of Technology and Education and Professor of Computer Science Andries van Dam has known Doeppner since the Department’s founding. “No one could be more deserving of this honor than Tom,” he says. “He’s been the backbone of the department for decades, working tirelessly and often behind the scene, on behalf of students and faculty alike. His courses are legendary, as is the legion of students he’s advised.  He exemplifies the best of our student-centric department.”

Tom joins eight other holders of Brown CS endowed senior professorships: Ugur Çetintemel (Khosrowshahi University Professor of Computer Science), Maurice Herlihy (An Wang Professor of Computer Science), Sorin Istrail (Julie Nguyen Brown Professor of Computational and Mathematical Sciences and Professor of Computer Science), Michael Littman (University Professor of Computer Science), Anna Lysyanskaya (James A. and Julie N. Brown Professor of Computer Science)  Roberto Tamassia (James A. and Julie N. Brown Professor of Computer Science), Eliezer Upfal (Rush Hawkins Professor of Computer Science), and Andries van Dam (Thomas J. Watson, Junior University Professor of Technology and Education and Professor of Computer Science).

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