Image courtesy National Academy of Sciences
The CCC congratulates three computer scientists recently elected as members to the National Academy of Sciences: Naomi Halas, Juris Hartmanis, and Éva Tardos. Last week, 84 new members and 21 foreign associates from 14 countries were elected to the organization in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Halas is the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and founding director of the Laboratory for Nanophotonics and director of the Rice Quantum Institute at Rice University. From the Rice news release:
“Since joining the Rice faculty in 1990, Halas has specialized in studying how light interacts with engineered nanoparticles. Her research spans a broad spectrum from electromagnetic theory to chemical nanofabrication. Her lab has created and studied dozens of new varieties of nanoparticles that are engineered to interact with light in specific ways, often to perform a function in unique applications that have societal and technological impact.”
Hartmanis is the Walter R. Read Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and founding chair of the Department of Computer Science, at Cornell University. From the Cornell news release:
“Hartmanis is a pioneer in the theory of computational complexity, which deals with determining whether a problem can be solved by a computer, and what computing resources might be required for a solution. He arguably founded the field with a seminal paper, co-authored with Richard Stearns, “On the Computational Complexity of Algorithms,” which earned the 1993 Turing Award.”
Also at Cornell, Tardos is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Science, former chair of the Department of Computer Science, and senior associate dean of the Faculty of Computing and Information Science,
“Her recent work concerns algorithmic game theory applied to networks. She is most known for her work on network-flow algorithms, approximation algorithms, and quantifying the efficiency of selfish routing, an emerging new area of designing systems for “selfish users” who all seek the best possible outcome for themselves, as in competing for bandwidth on the Internet.”
