Establishing the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing

A $60 million award to the University of California, Berkeley, from the Simons Foundation will establish the campus as a worldwide center for theoretical computer science. The grant funds the creation of a new institute where top computer theorists and researchers from around the globe will converge to explore the mathematical foundations of computer science and extend them to tackle challenges in fields as diverse as mathematics, health care, climate modeling, astrophysics, genetics, economics and business.

UC Berkeley will celebrate the establishment of the new Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing on May 21, 2012. Find out more about the award. To RSVP for the May 21 celebration, please click here.

Celebrating the establishment of the
Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley

May 21, 2012

Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley

 

9:30 – 9:55am          Arrival (light refreshments)
                                  Kvamme Atrium, Sutardja Dai Hall 

 

10:00 – 10:15am      Welcome, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau
                                  Opening Remarks, James Simons
                                  Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall

 

10:20 – 11:35am      Panel Discussion moderated by Dean Shankar Sastry, College of Engineering                

Invited panelists include: 

  • Robert Bryant, Director, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute; Professor of Mathematics
  • Joshua Bloom, Associate Professor of Astronomy
  • David Culler, Chair, Computer Science Division; Professor of EECS
  • David Eisenbud, Director, Mathematics and the Physical Sciences, Simons Foundation
  • Richard Karp, Simons Institute Faculty Director; Professor of EECS, BioE, IEOR, and Mathematics
  • Maria Klawe, Co-Chair, Simons Institute Scientific Advisory Board; President, Harvey Mudd College
  • Lior Pachter, Professor of Mathematics, EECS, and Molecular and Cell Biology
  • Prabhakar Raghavan, Co-Chair, Simons Institute Scientific Advisory Board; Vice President, Engineering, Google
  • Mark Richards, Executive Dean, College of Letters & Science; Professor of Earth and Planetary Science
  • Kimmen Sjolander, Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Plant & Microbial Biology
  • Horst Simon, Deputy Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

 

11:35 – 11:40am      Closing Remarks, Vice Chancellor for Research Graham Fleming