Northwestern Computer Science 2019-20 Distinguished Lecture Series explores CS+X, virtual reality, and complex networks

Continuing its rich history of bringing influential, innovative, and inspiring speakers to campus, the Computer Science Department is bringing thought-provoking conversations and ideas at the cutting edge of technology to the Northwestern Engineering community with its 2019-20 CS Distinguished Lecture Series, featuring Jon Kleinberg as a Dean’s Series Speaker.

This year’s topics range from the intersection of computer science and law to high-performance computer systems to virtual reality. 

Wednesday, November 20, 2019: Victoria Stodden

Victoria Stodden is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Stodden’s research centers on enabling reproducibility in computer science, including the study of adequacy and robustness in replicated results. She co-chairs the NSF Advisory Committee for CyberInfrastructure and is a member of the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering Advisory Committee, and earned a PhD in statistics and a law degree from Stanford University.

Monday, December 9, 2019: Jens Palsberg

Jens Palsberg is a professor and former department chair of computer science at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Palsberg’s research interests span the areas of compilers, embedded systems, programming languages, software engineering, and information security. He is the chair of the Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN), a member of the editorial board of Information and Computation, and recipient of the 2012 ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award. He received a PhD in computer science from University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Monday, January 13, 2020: Divesh Srivastava

Divesh Srivastava is the head of the Database Research Department at AT&T Labs-Research. Srivastava’s research interests include data quality, data stream management systems, and XML databases. He is a fellow of the ACM, serves on the board of trustees of the VLDB Endowment, and is an associate editor of the ACM Transactions on Database Systems. He received a PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Monday, April 20, 2020: Valerie Taylor

Valerie Taylor is the director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory. Taylor’s research focus is in performance analysis and modeling of parallel, scientific applications. She is a fellow of IEEE and ACM. She received a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1991 Taylor joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Northwestern University and was a faculty member for 11 years.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020: Christos Papadimitriou

Christos Papadimitriou is a professor of computer science at Columbia University. Papadimitriou authored “Computational Complexity,” one of the most widely used textbooks in the field of computational complexity theory. He also wrote three novels, including the best-selling “Logicomix” and “Independence.” He is a fellow of the ACM and the National Academy of Engineering, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He received a PhD in electrical engineering/computer science from Princeton.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020: Jon Kleinberg

Jon Kleinberg is the Tisch University Professor in the Computer Science Department at Cornell University. Kleinberg’s research interests include issues at the interface of networks and information, with an emphasis on social and information networks. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received a PhD in computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Time and date TBD: Jim Kurose

Jim Kurose is a Distinguished University Professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Kurose’s research interests are in the areas of computer networks protocols and architecture, network measurement, sensor networks, and multimedia communication. From 2015 – 2019, Kurose served as Assistant Director at the US National Science Foundation, where he led the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). He received a PhD from University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

All lectures take place in Mudd Hall (formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library), Room 3514. View the complete calendar.