Eli Upfal was recently awarded a substantial research grant from Yahoo! for his research on algorithms for large-scale stochastic data. He intends to develop a theoretically well-founded framework for the design and analysis of algorithms for a number of large-scale web-related applications. The primary efforts of this work will focus on two areas:

1) Computing global properties of dynamic structures, such as efficiently maintaining a close to minimum spanning tree in a network, when edge weights are dynamically changing according to some stochastic process; and 2) Developing and analyzing tools for decision-making in a stochastically changing environment. In 2006, Eli ...

Undergraduate student Theodor Moldovan was recently selected for Honorable Mention in the Computing Research Association's Outstanding Undergraduate Award competition for 2009. The 2009 awards mark the twelfth consecutive year that Brown CS students have been recognized by this competition.

Teodor will graduate in May with full majors in Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics. His research focuses on optimization problems and statistical physics methods, especially those that can be applied to computer vision. As a freshman he wrote a paper, along with Michael Black and Stefan Roth, that was accepted at the International Conference on Image Processing.

Theodor's record ...

Andy van Dam was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from ETH Zurich, his fourth such honor. This degree honors Andy’s fundamental contributions to research and development of graphics in general and interactive graphical user interfaces in particular. He is also known for pioneering work on multiple hypertext systems, starting in 1967 with the Hypertext Editing System, co-designed with Ted Nelson and largely implemented by undergraduates, and for the use of hypertext systems in the humanities. Andy also co-founded ACM SICGRAPH, the precursor of today’s ACM SIGGRAPH, and is the co-author of field-defining textbooks in computer graphics “Fundamentals of ...

The IEEE Board of Directors, at its meeting on November 12, 2008, has elevated Roberto Tamassia to IEEE Fellow, effective January 1, 2009, “for contributions to graph drawing and computer-science education.”

The grade of Fellow recognizes unusual distinction in the profession and is conferred upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. The IEEE Fellows are an elite group from around the globe. The IEEE looks to the Fellows for guidance and leadership as the world of electrical and electronic technology continues to evolve.

“I feel honored to be included in ...

Brown computer scientists have developed a program that creates an accurate computerized image of a person's body even when the subject is clothed. The technology could be useful in in fashion, film, forensics, sports medicine, and video gaming.

Imagine you are a police detective trying to identify a suspect wearing a trench coat, baggy pants and a baseball cap pulled low. Or imagine you are a fashion industry executive who wants to market virtual clothing that customers of all shapes and sizes can try online before they purchase. Perhaps you want to create the next generation of “Guitar Hero ...

David Laidlaw was recently presented with the IEEE VGTC Visualization Technical Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding technical work in the area of multi-valued data visualization. His work, which visually portrays a lot of data simultaneously, has been presented at IEEE Visualization. The award was given by the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee on October 22, 2008 at IEEE Visualization 2008, held in Columbus, Ohio.

The IEEE VGTC Visualization Technical Achievement Award was established in 2004 to recognize an individual for a seminal technical achievement. David is the fifth recipient of this award.

“I’m thrilled to be given ...

The Department of Computer Science at Brown University was mentioned as one of the seven most influential institutions in the area of middleware technology in a recent issue of ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology. According to authors Wolfgang Emmerich, Mikio Aoyama and Joe Sventek, “Without researchers laying the foundations in Computer Science departments at Brown, CMU, Cambridge, Newcastle, MIT, Vrije and University of Washington and without industrial researchers at Xerox, PARC, IBM Research, HP Labs, DEC Research, AT&T Research and APM consolidating basic research results, contributing them to standards and informing product development departments we would not ...

Pascal Van Hentenryck was recently honored with a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Université catholique de Louvain in recognition of his fundamental contributions to constraint programming, his remarkable scientific and technological impact in the optimization field, as well as the industrial applications of his research. Along with Pascal, the other recipients of this honorary doctorate include Japan prize and Nobel Prize winner Professor Albert Fert, Turing Award winner Professor Ronald L. Rivest, and National Academy of Engineering member Professor John N. Tsitsiklis

“It is a wonderful honor,” said Pascal. “Louvain is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the ...

The National Science Foundation has recently awarded to Brown University funding in the expected overall amount of $2.2 million for the research projects of six faculty members: Michael Black, Maurice Herlihy, Shriram Krishnamurthi, Anna Lysyanskaya, Roberto Tamassia and Andy van Dam.

Michael Black Michael’s project, entitled “Detailed Human Shape and Pose from Images,” aims to develop methods to perfect the estimation of human pose in video sequences. Over a three-year period, funding in the expected amount of $370,000 will be provided for this research.

Michael’s project will go beyond previous work on estimating human pose from ...

Assistant Professors Rodrigo Fonseca and Erik Sudderth

The Department is pleased to announce the addition of two new faculty members, Rodrigo Fonseca and Erik Sudderth, who will both start at Brown in the fall of 2009. Rodrigo will join the Department after doing postdoctoral work at Yahoo! Research and receiving his Ph.D. from the Computer Science Division of the University of California at Berkeley. His interests lie at the intersection of networking, operating systems and distributed systems. Erik will come to Brown after serving as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at Berkeley. He received his Ph ...