Department of Computer Science
Duke Computer Science professors accommodate students over multiple time zones as classes transition online. Reinventing education and teaching worldwide classes, Vincent Conitzer and Owen Astrachan support students through an unimaginably disruptive time with a focus on preparing resilient leaders of tomorrow. read more about Duke students, professors scattered around the world work across time zones »
Phitonex, Inc., a startup co-founded by Duke Computer Science Professor Alvin Lebeck, has pushed flow cytometry to the upper limit of what is currently possible and announced the first data set showing 40 colors measured simultaneously on single cells in an experiment. The timing is critical, as these developers of next-gen fluorescent labels for biomarker detection collaborate in the fight against diseases like COVID-19 to understand the immune response. Congratulations! read more about Duke Comp Sci Startup Phitonex Pushes the Envelope of Immunology Research »
Nikos Pitsianis and Xiaobai Sun with Aristotle University's Dimitris Floros announce the launch of a a COVID-19 scholarly articles website, database and literature graph which contain more than 100,000 hot-off-the-press (HOTP) articles worldwide. read more about COVID-19 Scholarly Articles Website, Database & Literature Graph »
Duke students developed an app to trace contacts of coronavirus patients and help stop the spread. Shehzan Maredia, computer science/math major + developer and junior Alyssa Nicholas, who's marketing ContainIt say "With this app, you can help other people in your community stay informed." read more about Duke students develop an app that can trace contacts of coronavirus patients »
During #WomensHistoryMonth, Working@Duke recently recognized Susan Rodger, Duke Computer Science Professor of the Practice for her accomplishments. read more about Working@Duke recognizes Susan Rodger »
In compliance with Duke’s COVID-19 policies, Duke Computer Science is moving events like in-person seminars to a virtual platform. Information about how to join these events via Zoom will be posted when available. read more about Duke CS Presents Virtual Events »
Duke Computer Science Professor Emerita Carla Ellis recently won the 2020 CRA A. Nico Habermann Award for her tireless efforts to address diversity at all stages of the computing education pipeline. Congratulations! read more about Professor Emerita Carla Ellis Receives the 2020 CRA Habermann Award »
Duke Computer Science Associate Professor Alberto Bartesaghi and colleagues Tamir Bendory of Tel Aviv University and Princeton University's Amit Singer published an article "Single-Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy: Mathematical Theory, Computational Challenges, and Opportunities" in the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine that is featured on the cover page. Congratulations! read more about Alberto Bartesaghi and colleagues publish article in the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine »
Duke's Computer Science and Linguistics departments have joined forces to create a new interdepartmental major. Students can choose one of two defined pathways, focusing on cognitive neurolinguistics or sociolinguistics, preparing for future careers in a wide variety of fields. This new major is one of only three such programs in the U.S. read more about Duke CS+Linguistics Major Opens New Pathways »
Distinguished from research proposals originating in 26 countries and more than 100 universities worldwide, Lisa Wu Wills' project "Accelerating and Deploying Natural Language Processing Systems in Data Centers" placed Duke in the top 10 Facebook award winners for most prestigious universities for architecture and systems research. Wills plans to explore how accelerated NLP systems can help with drug discovery and more. read more about Lisa Wu Wills, Duke's Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of CS/ECE selected for the Systems for ML Facebook Research Award »
Duke Computer Science Professor Vince Conitzer is a meritorious prize winner of the National Science Foundation (NSF) 2026 Idea Machine competition for his grand challenge "Theory of Conscious Experience." While Conitzer's idea was identified as "exciting, ambitious, creative, and highly interdisciplinary" and his team won a $10K prize, the real win is the opportunity to promote the progress of science by helping NSF identify new areas of research. Congratulations! read more about Vince Conitzer wins NSF 2026 Idea Machine Meritorious Prize »
The 2020 Information Fair for Data+, Code+ and CS+ summer programs took place on January 17. Applications are open through February 2020. read more about Data+/Code+/CS+ Information Fair »
Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and former Department Chair Donald Loveland was among seven Duke University faculty to be named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Loveland was recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of automated deduction and development of the model elimination theorem-proving procedure. read more about Professor Emeritus Donald Loveland Named AAAS Fellow »
Four Duke Computer Science students received awards from the Computing Research Association (CRA) for Outstanding Undergraduate Research in 2020. Finalists: Caroline L. Wang, Rohith Kuditipudi, and Sachit Menon. Liang "Charles" Lyu received an Honorable Mention. Congratulations! read more about Duke CS Students Win CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Research Awards for 2020 »
Vince Conitzer, University Professor of New Technologies and Professor of Computer Science, Economics, and Philosophy has been named an ACM Fellow for his contributions to game theory, social choice theory, and mechanism design. Conitzer joins a select group of the top 1% of 2019 ACM professional members recognized for far-reaching accomplishments that define the digital age. ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society. read more about Vince Conitzer Named ACM Fellow »
In this BBC interview on privacy issues, 3D scanning and mobile phones, Cynthia Rudin explains why bird identification was the perfect model to test and check computers’ abilities to make decisions about image classification, helping reduce mistakes by AI in medical imaging (begins at 22:33). read more about Duke Computer Science Professor Cynthia Rudin's BBC interview on AI »
Duke CS Alumnus Kevin Zheng was named a Schwarzman Scholar, and will pursue a master's degree in AI in China. Just 4 additional Duke students were chosen for this prestigious honor. As an undergrad, Zheng served as an EMT and then co-founded Optiml, which uses AI to detect eye diseases. Zheng's long-term goal is to develop equitable health care technologies through global collaboration. Congratulations! read more about Kevin Zheng, Trinity '19 Biology/Computer Science Double Major named a Schwarzman Scholar »
"We’re looking to train next-generation computer scientists who can really make their impact felt across society: visionary individuals who are energized by thinking about the broad implications of computing." Jun Yang, PhDAssociate Chair, Professor of Computer Science When you choose Duke Computer Science, you’re not only joining one of the top 25 computer science programs in the country – you’re also joining Duke University, one of the world’s leading academic institutions, with premier programs across a wide… read more about Undergraduate Programs: The Duke Difference »
Tom Gallie, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, passed away recently. Joining Duke as a Math Research Instructor in 1954 and then becoming a Professor, he helped to develop a computer science program in the Math Department in the 1960s, and also built a student computing facility. He led the creation of the Duke Computer Science Program in 1971 and became its Director. A founding member of the Duke Computer Science department in 1972, he served in multiple roles, including Interim Chair before retiring from Duke in 1989. read more about In Memoriam: Tom Gallie, Duke Computer Science Professor Emeritus »
Duke Computer Science Professor John Reif and a student research team recently published an article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) about a new cancer-detecting tool which uses tiny circuits made of DNA to identify cancer cells by the molecular signatures on their surface. This innovation provides researchers with the hope that their work could improve diagnosis, or give cancer therapies better aim. read more about Groundbreaking research at Duke Computer Science: Tiny devices made of DNA can detect cancer with fewer false alarms »
Hosted by Dr. Kristin Stephens-Martinez at Duke University's Computer Science Department, this new podcast series focuses on the best teaching practices for computer science. Featuring engaging and compelling discussions on teaching with computer science educators as guests, we'll learn how they teach and manage their classrooms, their research and more. read more about CS-Ed Podcast: NEW! Duke Computer Science Education Podcast Series »
This article profiles Adolfo Rodriguez, who was an adjunct professor after getting his PhD from Duke in CS, and then worked at IBM as a distinguished engineer and CTO of connectivity and integration. He also worked at Citrix prior to Advance Auto Parts (AAP), where he is the senior vice president of IT transformation. Rodriguez is also actively involved in athletics and music through his family, coaching his daugher's soccer team, and playing in a band for charity. read more about Duke CS PhD Alum Adolfo Rodriguez's tech career at IBM, Citrix and Advance Auto Parts »
Amit Bagga talks about his career journey from Duke Comp Sci PhD student to Vice President of AI & Discovery at Comcast in this Duke Graduate School interview. Among other benefits of a Duke education, he enjoyed the diversity, flexibility and freedom to explore programs and specialties before deciding on a topic for his PhD. Bagga's management skills like effective communication, trust, and empowerment were modeled by his advisor and former Duke computer science department chair, Alan Biermann. read more about Alumni Profile: Amit Bagga »
Duke Computer Science Professors Ben Lee, Kamesh Munagala, and Jun Yang were selected as ACM Distinguished Members for outstanding scientific contributions to computing. Landon Cox, former Duke Computer Science Professor now at Microsoft, was also selected. Congratulations to all on this well deserved recognition for "accomplishments that have contributed to technologies that underpin how we live, work and play." read more about Ben Lee, Kamesh Munagala, Jun Yang and Landon Cox named ACM Distinguished Members »
Graduate student awards for 2018-2019 were presented at the 2019 annual departmental meeting. Congratulations to the recipients: Outstanding PhD Dissertation Brandon Fain Advisor: Kamesh MunagalaAlgorithms for Public Decision Making Outstanding PhD Prelim Exam Yuan Deng Advisor: Vincent ConitzerDynamic Mechanism Design in Complex Environments Outstanding RIP Award Zhengjie Miao Advisor: Sudeepa RoyExplaining Wrong Queries Using… read more about Grad Student Awards 2018-2019 »
Phitonex, Inc., a startup co-founded by Duke Computer Science Professor Alvin Lebeck with former Duke research colleagues Chris Dwyer and Craig LaBoda, recently announced that it received a $2M seed round mainly from private investors. Phitonex's groundbreaking new platform provides unmatched cell population resolution to drive enhanced biological insight. Congrats on this significant accomplishment! read more about Duke Comp Sci Startup Phitonex Announces $2M Seed Funding »
Computer science is the most popular major at Duke, with 734 undergrad students majoring in it. Also, 1,746 undergrad and 376 grad students are enrolled in comp sci courses. What is the student experience like? The Duke Chronicle reports that even with some packed lectures, students appreciate new options like expanded course offerings, online resources, and TA-led review sessions. read more about How computer science students feel about Duke’s most popular major »
Duke Computer Science professors Jun Yang and Ashwin Machanavajjhala are collaborating with Lavanya Vasudevan from Duke Community and Family Medicine and Global Health and also a multi-institution, multi-disciplinary research team in an NSF ~$1M project award to help combat misinformation. read more about Ashwin Machanavajjhala and Jun Yang collaborate with research team in $1M NSF Program Award to Combat Misinformation »
Several Duke Computer Science faculty members redesigned their courses and learned from each other's teaching experiences during a Duke Learning Innovation session this summer. Faculty participants explored research-supported, interactive teaching practices and innovative ideas around facilitating group work, holding students to seven programming steps, and helping them to think through problems. read more about Duke CS Faculty Meet with Duke Learning Innovation to Design Courses »
Published in the Oct. 2019 Communications of the ACM (CACM), the new review article "Protein Design by Provable Algorithms" by Bruce Donald and Mark Hallen explores designing synthetic proteins to suit our biomedical and industrial needs by using mathematically provable algorithms such as those included in OSPREY, the Donald Laboratory’s open-source suite of molecular design software. read more about New "Protein Design by Provable Algorithms" Article by Bruce Donald and Mark Hallen Published in the Communications of the ACM »