Department of Computer Science
The Department congratulates our newest graduates who were awarded degrees for 2014-15 at commencement ceremonies on May 10. PhD Degrees Sandeep Agrawal Advisor: Alvin Lebeck Harnessing Data Parallel Hardware for Server Workloads Qiang Cao Advisor: Xiaowei Yang Understanding and Defending against Malicious Identities in Online Social Networks Yin Lin Advisor: Bruce Maggs Efficient, Reliable and Secure Content Delivery John MacMaster… read more about Graduation: Degrees Conferred for 2014-15 »
Alex Vasilos Memorial Award Friends and colleagues of the late Alex Vasilos donated the Alex Vasilos Memorial Award to the Department of Computer Science to recognize deserving students. This year's recipient: Michael Gloudemans For excellence in research and coursework including graduation with highest distinction, superb work in courses at Duke, and sophistication and depth in his intellectual achievements. DeNardis Memorial Award Family, friends and colleagues of the late Rebecca DeNardis donated the… read more about Undergraduate Awards Presented 2015 »
Vincent Conitzer has been named Arts and Sciences Professor of Computer Science. A distinguished professorship such as this is the highest honor Duke can award to its faculty members. read more about Conitzer Awarded Distinguished Professorship »
Vincent Conitzer has been named a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow. Fellows are appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise. Duke Econ article read more about Conitzer Selected as Guggenheim Fellow »
Meet the newest member of the department, George Konidaris's robot. It will be his primary research platform, to be used in three broad areas: 1) research into automatically learning motor control skills, like opening doors or playing table tennis, 2) learning abstract representations of the world that can be used to reason and plan at a high level, and 3) learning how to manipulate every-day objects - figuring out what they do and how they work; for example, discovering how to operate a microwave, what… read more about Introducing the New CS Robot »
Since 2010, computer science professors have been revamping course COMPSCI 101 to place more emphasis on real-world applications and solving problems in small groups with peer tutors. Many lectures include discussions about Duke alumni who took the course, or professionals doing creative work in the field. read more about Department Overhauls Introductory Course »
Duke Magazine features CS undergrads who use coding skills and imagination to catch cancer early, sustain farmers, and boost safety for athletes. read more about Code is Powerful Blueprint for Ugrad Programmers »
Thirty-one top applicants attended this year's visit for prospective grad students, which was held February 19-21. The event included talks by faculty and students, one-on-one meetings with faculty, a poster session, and a campus tour. Mayuresh Kunji (G) is shown discussing his poster. read more about Graduate Admissions Visit 2015 »
Alex Hartemink is part of a diverse Duke team to receive $5.9 million from the National Human Genome Research Institute to characterize how human lung epithelial cells respond to anti-inflammatory drugs called glucocorticoids. The team includes Medical School faculty members Tim Reddy and Greg Crawford, and the Pratt School's Charles Gersbach. read more about Hartemink Receives NHGRI Grant »
Lirong Xia (G '11) is a 2015 recipient of an NSF CAREER Award. This grant will support work on his project, "A New Theory of Social Choice for More than Two Alternatives: Combining Economics, Statistics, and Computation." Xia is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Duke Econ article | NSF award abstract read more about Alum Update: Xia »
Symon Perriman (U '07) has been named Vice President, Business Development & Marketing by 5nine Software. read more about Alum Update: Perriman »
Yahoo! has donated 300 servers and four switches to Duke CS. The equipment will enable Shivnath Babu and Theo Benson to study the problems that big-data frameworks (e.g. Hadoop) and cluster management paradigms (e.g. Software Defined Networking and OpenStack) encounter, and search for ways to make them perform better and more reliably. read more about Yahoo! Donates Equipment »
Tong Luo (G '00), founder and CEO of HandScape, made a splash at this year's Consumer Electronics Show with his company's smart case for the iPad. read more about Alum Update: Luo »
Software created by the Donald Lab aids scientists in devloping pre-emptive drug strategies. read more about OSPREY Software Predicts Superbugs' Countermoves to New Drugs »
Pablo Gainza (G) and his colleagues in the Donald Lab created OSPREY software which predicts the most likely mutations to come out of certain bacteria. read more about TIME Reports on Gainza's Research »
Graduate student awards for 2013-4 were presented at the annual departmental meeting. Congratulations to the recipients: Outstanding PhD Award Jeff Martin Advisor: Bruce Donald Geometric Algorithms for Protein Structure Determination using Measurements from NMR Spectroscopy Outstanding Prelim Award Yuqian Li Advisor: Vince Conitzer Computing How to Optimally Commit in Games and Mechanisms Jiangwei Pan Advisor: Pankaj Agarwal… read more about Grad Student Awards 2013-14 »
Pictured from left: Yuqian Li, Rupert Freeman, Jeff Martin, Chair Ron Parr, and Jiangwei Pan Graduate student awards for 2013-4 were presented at the annual departmental meeting. Congratulations to the recipients: Outstanding PhD Award Jeff Martin Advisor: Bruce Donald Geometric Algorithms for Protein Structure Determination using Measurements from NMR Spectroscopy Outstanding Prelim Award Yuqian Li Advisor: Vince Conitzer Computing How to Optimally… read more about Grad Student Awards 2013-14 »
This summer Computer Science once again hosts undergraduate researchers, providing the students with unique research opportunities and with encouragement to continue on to graduate school. Mostly juniors and seniors, the undergraduates meet for a weekly series of lunchtime talks where they have the opportunity to hear faculty present their research and graduate students share different aspects of the roles they play in the department. The 2014 group is one of the largest in recent years and is working for faculty on a… read more about Summer Undergraduate Enrichment Experiences 2014 »
Raluca Gordan (G '09) has been named a 2014 Sloan Fellow for her work in computational and molecular biology. read more about Gordan Named Sloan Fellow »
Neuroscientists may soon be modern-day harpooners, snaring individual brain-cell signals instead of whales with tiny spears made of carbon nanotubes. The new brain cell spear is a millimeter long, only a few nanometers wide and harnesses the superior electromechanical properties of carbon nanotubes to capture electrical signals from individual neurons. "To our knowledge, this is the first time scientists have used carbon nanotubes to record signals from individual neurons, what we call intracellular recordings, in brain… read more about Donald Develops Carbon Nanotube Spear to Study Brain Cell Signals »
For Jun Yang, computer science means creativity. Whether he’s at the computer terminal or talking with others about the topic, he enjoys the inspiring and innovative moments computer science brings him. "I’ve always been fascinated with computers and the feeling of creating something out of nothing - you can build a useful program out of the blue using no materials other than a computer,” Yang said. “It’s a sort of creative freedom in the same way that composers, architects, and painters get to be creative.” Today,… read more about Jun Yang Receives Brooks Teaching Award »
The Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Bruce Donald as the James B. Duke Professor of Computer Science, effective July 2012. "This is an unexpected and delightful honor. Professors who have been named to this chair previously are very distinguished," said Donald, who is also a Professor of Biochemistry in the Duke University Medical Center. "Many of the people who have held it are heroes of mine." The chair, named for the founder of Duke University, is given to a small number of faculty members with… read more about Bruce Donald Named James B. Duke Distinguished Professor »
The Department is pleased to announce that Professor Bruce Donald has been named an IEEE Fellow, effective January 2011. The distinction, bestowed by the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, is awarded to Donald for his outstanding contributions in robotics, microelectromechanical systems, and computational molecular biology. The prestigious award is given to less than one-tenth of one percent of all voting IEEE members each year. "It was an unexpected and delightful honor," says Donald. Donald has been a… read more about Bruce Donald Named IEEE Fellow »
Congratulations to Professor Carlo Tomasi, 2010 recipient of the David and Janet Vaughan Brooks Award. The award is one of Trinity College's four teaching awards which recognize faculty members for teaching excellence and their ability to encourage intellectual excitement, inspire the discovery of knowledge, and foster critical inquiry in the classroom, lab, or studio. The awards affirm professors' commitment to teaching over time and a willingness to invest substantial effort in meeting the College's instructional needs… read more about Carlo Tomasi Wins Brooks Teaching Award »
What is the best way to win rock, paper, scissors? Game theory -- the study of how to optimally "play" in a situation where multiple people or machines interact -- suggests it is to play a random assortment of one-third rock, one-third paper, and one-third scissors. But what about a higher stakes "game," like assigning a limited number of security guards across multiple airport terminals to cast the optimal safety net? Do you randomize their movements? Do you concentrate their time in vulnerable locations? "The… read more about Vincent Conitzer Receives NSF CAREER Award »
Bruce Donald, William and Sue Gross Professor of Computer Science at Duke University, and Professor of Biochemistry in the Duke University Medical Center, has been named an ACM Fellow for his contributions in robotics, MEMS, and computational molecular biology. Donald came to Duke in Fall 2006. He received a B.A. from Yale, and a Ph.D. from MIT, and was on the faculty of Cornell and Dartmouth. He has been a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work on… read more about Bruce Donald Named ACM Fellow »
In 2008, an overseas telecommunications company seized control of YouTube.com for two hours. Last August, an attack on Facebook and Twitter left the popular networking sites crippled. Today's Internet is vulnerable (and regularly succumbs) to attacks on many levels, from network hijacking to denial of service attacks and more. "We want to design a more trustworthy Internet," says Professor Xiaowei Yang, a recent recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award to fund such a project. Yang will receive $… read more about Xiaowei Yang Receives NSF CAREER Award »
The Department extends its congratulations to Kamesh Munagala, recently honored with the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award. The award is given "in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations," according to the NSF. Other recent NSF CAREER award recipients in the Department include Landon Cox, Shivnath Babu, and Ronald Parr.… read more about Kamesh Munagala Receives NSF CAREER Award »
Tea and Computer Science Teaching award winner challenges students without intimidation In small classes, Alexander Hartemink makes tea for his students throughout the semester. "It promotes the notion that we're working together to accomplish something, that we\'re on the same team; and besides, it's soothing," said Hartemink, a 34-year-old assistant professor of computer science. Hartemink's effort to create a welcoming classroom environment for his students is just one of the reasons why he won the 2007 David and… read more about Alex Hartemink Wins Brooks Teaching Award »
I am thrilled to inform you that Alex Hartemink is the recipient of the David and Janet Vaughan Brooks Teaching Award for 2006-2007. His passion and dedication for teaching, his deep commitment to both undergraduate and graduate students, his broad knowledge, and his superb communication and organizational skills have made him an extraordinary teacher and mentor. Duke has benefited a great deal from his teaching and research skills. This is a well deserved honor. Congratulations, Alex. Pankaj Agarwal Chair, Computer… read more about Alex Hartemink Recipient of Brooks Teaching Award »