USC professor wins Gödel Prize in computer science


Seeley G. Mudd Professor for Computer Science Shang-Hua Teng was chosen as a recipient of the Gödel Prize with Daniel A. Spielman of Yale University for their work in smoothing of graph algorithms. Teng and Spielman were announced as the prize recipients by the Association for Computing Machinery on May 27.

The Gödel Prize — named after Kurt Gödel, one of the pioneers of scientific and philosophical thinking in the 20th century — is awarded annually by the Association for Computer Machinery Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory and the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science for major contributions to mathematical logic and computer science

The coming of age of social media and handheld devices has brought forth many complex problems. Technology users are now generating mountains of data and navigating and sifting through that data swiftly and efficiently. This became a focal point for Teng and Spielman’s work.

“We need to develop faster algorithms because you can’t wait forever for your Google searches and social media searches. Linear time is the benchmark for modern day databases,” Teng said.

Efficiency of searching and sorting algorithms is key to modern day computing, and that is where Teng and Spielman have helped develop powerful algorithms. These algorithms are used to produce faster results for complex search problems with the same amount of computing power at their disposal.

“Graph algorithms have interested me since my days as a Ph.D. scholar, not just because they are central to a lot of modern day computing problems, but also because of their interdisciplinary nature,” Teng said.

During the course of his career, Teng has worked at a number of organizations such as IBM and Intel. At NASA, Teng helped develop pioneering computer software that uses finite element techniques to simulate aerodynamic models.

Teng spoke fondly about his co-recipient of the award, Spielman, with whom he shares a friendship that goes back many years, describing him as a man of great intellect.

The two first met when Teng was a Ph.D. student and common interests allowed them to collaborate on several occasions. This is the second time that they have been awarded the Gödel Prize. The previous was in 2008.

On being asked if he sometimes wishes for more computing power, Teng said that he’s learned to deal with it as more of a constraint.

“Greater computing power is something that has allowed us to solve and look at problems of greater complexity,” Teng said. “The scale of the problems change drastically. The two always go hand in hand.”

The award will be presented to Teng at the ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing, June 14-17 in Portland, Oregon.

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