Every year, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications bestows its Test of Time Award on regular or special issue papers published by the magazine that have made “profound and long-lasting impacts in bridging the theory and practice of computer graphics.” A recently announced winner of the 2021 award is a 1989 paper (“The Application Visualization System: A Computational Environment for Scientific Visualization”) co-authored by Brown CS Professor David Laidlaw and Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education and Professor of Computer Science Andy van Dam with two Brown CS alums, Robert Gurwitz (now at EY-Parthenon) and Jeff Vroom …
Until the things that interest you really become yours, says Brown CS alum Edwina Rissland, you’re not very deep into them. Over an eclectic career spanning more than five decades, she’s dug well below the surface as a computer scientist, mathematician, legal scholar, musician, artist, photographer, and teacher. A true student of the world, her boundless love of learning has allowed her to master and connect fields often considered distinct or even unrelated.
Last year, Brown CS alum Ed Lazowska received a surprise for his birthday: a fund supporting multiple endowed professorships, named in his honor, to commemorate his extensive contributions as a professor of computer science at the University of Washington. Launched by friends at Microsoft and Google and supported by more than 100 others, the professorship fund is a testament to Ed’s long-standing work in promoting computer science research and education over his long career.
The Computing Research Association (CRA) is a coalition of more than 200 organizations with the mission of enhancing innovation by joining with industry, government, and academia to strengthen research and advance education in computing. Every year, they recognize North American students who show phenomenal research potential with their Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, and in 2022, Brown CS student Rachel Ma was one of only thirty-two students to receive an Honorable Mention.
Last summer, I interned at Brown University’s Data Science Initiative (DSI) with Professor Ritambhara Singh. The work I was doing, in computational genetics, was fascinating. And the office space was modern and light-filled. But most importantly, the lab was filled with welcoming grad students and amazing professors who worked right next to me.
Last month, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) named Brown CS alum Danfeng (Daphne) Yao (now Professor of Computer Science, Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. '56 Faculty Fellow, and CACI Faculty Fellow at Virginia Tech) an IEEE Fellow, recognizing her “for contributions to enterprise data security and high-precision vulnerability screening”.
The latest cover story from Conduit, the Brown CS annual magazine, is our deepest dive yet into the inner workings of our courses and how they advance our mission of serving an increasing diversity of students who have a broader set of career and life goals. It documents a new introductory course pathway, CSCI 0111-0112, as well as a new course, CSCI 0200, where all four introductory courses come together.
In the pages below, we situate the new sequence by giving brief histories of earlier ones, examine the phenomenon of introductory course tribalism, explain the motivation for this latest …
"Computer systems are the backbone of modern applications," says Brown CS Professor Malte Schwarzkopf, "and the science of building efficient, easy-to-use, and trustworthy computer systems is about discovering key ideas that help make people get more out of their computers. Great ideas in systems have had stunning practical impact on the industry. But systems research, like much of CS research in general, suffers from a lack of diversity: only a handful of papers in the top systems conferences have non-male lead authors."
Brown CS is hiring multiple tenure-track faculty members at the level of Assistant Professor and a faculty position at the rank of lecturer, senior lecturer, or distinguished senior lecturer. We also have two postdoctoral opportunities available.
Brown Engineering and Computer Science Professor Sherief Reda has been elevated to a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for class of 2023. Reda was recognized for contributions to energy-efficient and approximate computing.
