Vadhan, Vlassak appointed tenure

Vadhan named McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard

Computational theorist Salil P. Vadhan, whose research has addressed fundamental issues in computational complexity and cryptography, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, effective Jan. 1, 2007.

Vadhan, 34, was previously Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor of Computer Science at Harvard, where he has been on the faculty since 2001.

“It is safe to say that Professor Vadhan is among the next generation of premier computational theorists in this country,” says Venkatesh Narayanamurti, dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “His stellar work on complexity, cryptography, and randomness has already garnered him numerous accolades.”

“Further, it is particularly fitting that he is at Harvard,” Narayanamurti adds. “He not only received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science here, but worked with Leslie Valiant, one of the fathers of theoretical computer science and a leading expert in complexity theory. We are extremely fortunate to have two world-class computer scientists from successive generations teaching and doing research side-by-side.”

As a computational theorist, Vadhan seeks to understand the mathematical laws governing efficient computation and the resources required for computation, and to apply this understanding to challenges in computer science. His primary research interests are in computational complexity theory, cryptography, randomness in computation, and the interplay among these areas.

Vadhan’s work in computational complexity has helped scientists formulate the resource cost – in time, space, and information – of various computing tasks. He has also made important contributions such as the “zig zag” product construction of expanders, wherein a small subset of nodes can serve to represent a substantially larger set of nodes. In cryptography, Vadhan has elucidated key properties of zero-knowledge proofs, which allow information to be conveyed without sharing other closely related information.

Vadhan is a member of SEAS’ new Center for Research on Computation and Society, created to bring together computer scientists with a broad range of researchers in economics, psychology, the law, ethics, neuroscience, and other fields.

Vadhan holds an A.B. from Harvard College, awarded summa cum laude in 1995, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, awarded in 1999. Following postdoctoral positions at MIT and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., he joined Harvard as an assistant professor in 2001, rising to associate professor in 2004. He has served as an editor of the journals SIAM Journal on Computing and Computational Complexity.

Among other honors, Vadhan has earned the Young Investigator Award from the Office for Naval Research in 2004 and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and the National Science Foundation’s Early Career Development Award, both in 2002. At Harvard, he received the Phi Beta Kappa Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004. He received a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship and will be a visiting Miller Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in spring 2008.

Joost Vlassak named McKay Professor of Materials Engineering

Joost J. Vlassak, a materials scientist whose study of thin films and coatings has fueled the ongoing shrinking of semiconductors and microelectromechanical systems, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Materials Engineering in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, effective Jan. 1, 2007.

Vlassak, 41, was previously associate professor of materials engineering at Harvard.

“Professor Vlassak has been remarkable in helping the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences further bolster its presence in materials and mechanical engineering,” says Venkatesh Narayanamurti, dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “His work on studying thin films has implications ranging from improved  integrated circuit design to the creation of next-generation micro-electromechanical devices to the development of new types of magnetic storage.”

“He deserves particular praise for his dedicated involvement in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program,” Narayanamurti says. “Through that program and other research opportunities, over the last six years, more than a dozen undergraduate students have spent their summers working in his lab. He is truly an inspiration for other faculty in the way he balances research with mentorship.”

Working with materials similar in size to those found in advanced integrated circuits, Vlassak studies the mechanical and thermomechanical behavior of thin films and coatings. Small volumes of these materials, as found in electronics, behave quite differently than they do in bulk; Vlassak’s research has helped understand the behavior of electronic and mechanical components as these devices have become ever-smaller.

Vlassakis also interested in environmental effects in fractures of multilayer structures. While much of his work is oriented toward microelectronics, thin films such as those Vlassak studies have a wide range of applications, including optical coatings, magnetic storage devices, actuators, and wear-resistant coatings on machining tools. Vlassak’s group is known for developing and employing specialized experimental techniques to study specific phenomena. Many of these methods have been adopted by researchers around the U.S. and in Europe.

Vlassak holds a degree in metallurgical engineering, awarded in 1989 by KU Leuven in Belgium, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science from Stanford University, awarded in 1990 and 1994, respectively. Following a two-year postdoctoral appointment at Stanford, he worked at MicroUnity Systems Engineering, National Semiconductor Corporation, and at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center before joining Harvard as an assistant professor in 2000. In 2001 Vlassak received the National Science Foundation’s Early Career Development Award, and he was named associate professor at Harvard in 2004.