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 Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Data Communications announced earlier this summer that a paper by Brown CS Professor Theophilus A. Benson won their 2022 Test of Time Award. The paper, “Network traffic characteristics of data centers in the wild,” was written by Theophilus, Aditya Akella of UT Austin, and David A. Maltz of Microsoft Research. Bestowed annually, the award recognizes 10- to 12-year-old papers published in sponsored or co-sponsored conferences that remain relevant and valuable in the present.
Tatyana Dyshlova’s last few years have been fast-moving. In 2020, she co-founded and took on the role of CEO at FuzzyBot, a video game development studio, with a small but experienced team of colleagues. Late last year, FuzzyBot announced that it had received $3.5 million in seed funding, a major step forward for the burgeoning company. And her team is now in the midst of developing its first game, which Tatyana says will merge elements of the popular “action rogue” and “life sim” genres to create a unique experience for players.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced recently that Professor Michael Littman of Brown CS will join as their division director for information and intelligent systems for the next two years. While retaining his role at Brown, Michael will oversee AI-related research funding and coordinate AI efforts between government agencies in his new role.
“As a software developer,” says Brown CS alum Gaurav Manek, “it is your duty to society to make sure that your code is reliable and doesn’t fall apart.” For the last four years, Gaurav — now a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University — has been developing Visigoth, a piece of software that automatically creates schedules based on the availability of participants. Now, Brown CS and a number of departments at other universities are adopting the software to handle the logistics that surround PhD visit days.
Five Brown CS students and alums, Jessica Dai, Arman Maesumi, Shane Parr, Seiji Shaw, and Benjamin Spiegel, received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships last month for their research in computer science. The fellowship program, which is the oldest of its kind, recognizes and supports graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and math who show significant potential for future contributions to their field.
Brown CS alums Shira Abramovich, Jessica Dai, and Hal Triedman are three of thirteen students chosen for the inaugural 2022 design and technology program of the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE).
