Looking Back on 2023

The Era of Information, Data, and Computing

Computer science was in the news all year — largely for advances in machine learning and AI, but also because computing has moved mainstream into society. Similar to how mathematics and physics were considered major areas of critical research in the first half of the 20th century, followed by engineering and technology in the second half of the century, we now find ourselves in the era of information, data, and computing. All of the infrastructure needed to process and store data is finally here! What an exciting time to be in the field.

Continued Growth

(Left to right): Karan Ahuja, David Demeter, Anastasia Kurdia, Manling Li, Kate Smith

The department has continued its expansion. We welcomed new teaching-track faculty members: Assistant Professor of Instruction David Demeter and Professor of Instruction and Assistant Chair Anastasia Kurdia. In addition, we hired three new assistant professors of computer science, including Kate Smith (joining January 2024), Manling Li (joining August 2024 after completing a postdoctoral position at Stanford), and Karan Ahuja (joining August 2024 following a year with Google’s Blended Interaction Research and Devices team).

Celebrating Our Students and Alumni

(Left to right): Amil Dravid, Amy Guo, Liam O’Carroll

We also welcomed a cohort of more than 30 new PhD students and more than 100 new master’s students.

I would also like to highlight a few recent alumni from our department. Amil Dravid was a finalist for the CRA Undergraduate Research Awards, and joined UC Berkeley to pursue his PhD in computer vision working with Alexei Efros. Liam O’Carroll joined Stanford to pursue his PhD studying theoretical CS. Amy Guo is now working as an engineer at Amazon and served as the director of WildHacks this past spring. You may view a list of all of our graduating PhD students and their placements on our website.

If there is one recent project from 2023 that I want to highlight, it is the undergraduate student research showcase. This summer, several students conducted practical, immersive research in labs alongside graduate students and faculty members. During the fall showcase event, the students presented their research via 10-minute talks. The breadth and depth of their research was particularly impressive. The cohort served as wonderful role models to other students looking to get involved in research.

Collaborations and Partnerships

We welcomed researchers from Dolby Labs in California to discuss potential research collaborations and engagement with Northwestern faculty and students in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and communication.

(Left to right): Varun Gupta, Jason Hartline, Jessica Hullman

Our colleagues were also involved in running many conferences this year. Jessica Hullman was a program co-chair of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (ACM FAccT) this past June. Jason Hartline was a program co-chair of the Twenty-Fourth ACM Conference on Economics and Computation in London in July. Visiting associate professor Varun Gupta was the local arrangements chair for the 41st International Symposium on Computer Performance, Modeling, Measurements and Evaluation, held in November at Northwestern’s Chicago campus.

We celebrated several faculty awards this year. A few notable accolades include:
 

I owe a special thanks to our wonderful staff and faculty who kept the department running smoothly all year, even as the number of visitors and activities is at an all-time high. They include: Katie Winters (business administrator), Anastasia Kurdia (professor of instruction and assistant chair), Sara Sood (associate chair for undergraduate education), Kostya Makarychev (associate chair for graduate education), Chris Riesbeck (master’s program director), Kris Hammond (MSAI director) and Andy Fano (MBAi director). In addition, thank you to all of the faculty who have done an incredible job leading and serving on major committees and faculty searches in the department.
 

Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season,

Northwestern Department of Computer Science

Mudd Hall, 2233 Tech Drive, Third Floor, Evanston, Illinois, 60208

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