UT Computer Scientist Named Simons Foundation Investigator
Computer scientist David Zuckerman of The University of Texas at Austin has been selected as a 2016 Simons Investigator in Theoretical Computer Science by the Simons Foundation for his work in pseudorandomness and randomness extraction.
The Simons Investigator program is designed to support outstanding scientists during their most productive years, when they are establishing creative new research directions, providing leadership to the field and effectively mentoring junior scientists. Awardees receive substantial research support of $100,000 per year for a period of five years, with the option to renew for another five years if their work shows scientific promise. An additional $10,000 per year is provided to the Investigator’s department.
Zuckerman is a professor of computer science whose research focuses primarily on pseudorandomness and the role of randomness in computing. He is best known for his work on randomness extractors and their applications, an area that his early work pioneered. Recently, he helped develop a new method of producing random numbers that could improve cybersecurity. His other research interests include coding theory, distributed computing, cryptography, inapproximability, and other areas of complexity theory.
Zuckerman was previously elected as an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Fellow and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, a Sloan Research Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award.
One of two Simons Foundation awardees at UT Austin this year, Zuckerman is joined by Andrea Alù of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, who was chosen as a 2016 Simons Investigator in Physics.
The Simons Foundation was founded by Jim and Marilyn Simons in 1994 to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.
