News 2009

• Liskov Kicks Off Dertouzos Lecture Series
  November 6, 2009
  On Thursday, November 5. CSAIL Principal Investigator Barbara Liskov gave the opening talk of the 2009-2010 Dertouzos Lecture Series.
• Prince Albert of Monaco Comes to CSAIL
  October 28, 2009
  On October 26th, His Royal Highness of Monaco became the second head of state to visit MIT in a four day period. A guest of Ray Stata, the prince visited the labs of both Daniela Rus and Russ Tedrake while on campus.
• Researcher Tomaso Poggio Receives Okawa Prize
  October 27, 2009
  Principal Investigator Tomaso Poggio has just received the 2009 Okawa Prize. Awarded by the Okawa Foundation, it is meant to recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to research, technological development and business in the fields of information and telecommunications.
• Shafi Goldwasser Honored by Franklin Institute
  October 23, 2009
  Shafrira Goldwasser, CSAIL theory professor, is a 2010 recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science. The award recognizes her study of cryptography, which has led to significant improvements in Internet security.
• Berthold Horn Wins IEEE Life Time Achievement Award
  October 21, 2009
  CSAIL PI Berthold Horn has just received IEEE’s Azriel Rosenfeld Life Time Achievement Award. Founded in 2007, the award is meant to honor those who have made significant contributions to the field of computer vision over the course of longtime careers.
• Students Honored for Outstanding Doctoral Theses
  October 19, 2009
  Three students have been selected to receive this year’s George M. Sprowls Award for the best doctoral theses in computer science.
• Berners-Lee and Langer Honored As Recipients of Millenium Prize
  October 13, 2009
  CSAIL PI Tim Berners-Lee, along with MIT Professor Robert Langer, was honored for the Millennium Prize Awards at a forum and dinner at the Finnish Embassy where they discussed their work and views on advances in their fields on Thursday, October 8th before a large group of technology and policy leaders. They are the first two recipients of the Millennium Prize created by the Finnish government.
• Promotion and Changes in CSAIL’s Faculty Lineup
  September 23, 2009
  This fall as the Institute begins another academic year, CSAIL does so with a number of promotions and new appointments. The Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation approved all changes effective July 1; we are sure that they will only serve to deepen and strengthen the lab’s base of talent.
• Lab Spinoff Causes Biotech Stir
  September 18, 2009
  In a recent edition of The Economist, Ginkgo BioWorks was profiled as one of a handful of companies spurring biotechnological innovation. The iGem competition, which is also administered through the lab, was similarly cited as a model for understanding the path that biological engineering projects may take in the future.
• Lynch Recognized by IEEE
  September 15, 2009
  CSAIL PI Nancy Lynch has been awarded this year’s Emanuel R. Piore Award. Administered by the IEEE, the award is intended to reward outstanding achievement in the field of information processing.
• CSAIL New Graduate Student Orientation
  August 31, 2009
  We are very pleased to welcome 58 new graduate students this year. The annual graduate student orientation and lab ice cream social will be held this Friday.
• Remembering Senator Kennedy: A Personal Look
  August 27, 2009
  In the wake of Edward Kennedy’s death on Tuesday, Massachusetts is dealing with the loss of one of its most outsize figures. In addition to being a politician and scion of the nation’s most iconic family, Kennedy also had a quiet history of advocacy that spread across the country and the world – and may be one of his greatest legacies.
  
  In 1978, Boris Katz was presented with a byzantine series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Although his infant daughter was severely ill and in need of medical care that could only be found outside the USSR, the family was unable to obtain approval for their exit visas. In a situation common to many Soviet Jews, they were accused of having been exposed to sensitive state information, obviating the possibility of their departure.
  
  The situation changed, though, when a powerful advocate stepped in on their behalf.
• CSAIL Student Workshop Promotes Collaboration, Interaction
  August 17, 2009
  The call for papers is now open for the fifth annual CSAIL Student Workshop. Conceived as a way for students to meet, discuss their research, and take a much-needed break from the city. With transportation provided and free registration, this working retreat is equal parts work and play (not to mention an excellent chance for students to connect with others working in similar areas).
• CSAIL Video Archive Launches
  August 11, 2009
  If you’ve ever been curious about a video you saw on the kiosk screens in Stata, a lecture you saw last year, or even archived research footage from the vaults of the AI Lab and LCS, you’re in luck. The CSAIL Video Archive has just debuted on the homepage.
• Crypto in the Clouds Workshop Hosted by CSAIL
  August 6, 2009
  From August 3rd to 5th, CSAIL played host to a workshop dedicated to understanding the challenges and opportunities presented by cloud computing. The conference aimed specifically to discuss implementation of the techniques needed to render cloud computing secure and trustworthy.
• CSAIL Researchers Win First Prize at Aerial Robotics Competition
  August 4, 2009
  A team of students working under PI Nicholas Roy has taken top honors at the International Aerial Robotics Competition. Now in its 19th year, the challenges given at each competition become successively more complex. They are organized into a series of missions; this year’s competition was the fifth.
• Quanta and CSAIL Continue Collaboration
  July 19, 2009
  On Thursday, July 17th, Quanta Computers and CSAIL/MIT formalized their ongoing commitment to research collaboration and continued innovation. T-Party, the original partnership between the two entities, was launched in 2005 as a way to explore the future of mobile communication.
• Rivest Sounds Off About Security In The Clouds
  June 29, 2009
  At this year’s annual RSA Security Conference, Ron Rivest noted some of the difficulties in securing cloud computing. The CSAIL PI points out that terminology matters, particularly where sensitive data is concerned.
• CSAIL PIs Teach Summer Courses
  June 20, 2009
  This summer, three CSAIL Principal Investigators are teaching courses on a variety of subjects. Dina Katabi’s course, an introduction to network coding, provides a foundation for that type of work. Tom Knight is offering a class in synthetic biology, an opener in beginning to understand the field. And Charles Leiserson will be giving three courses: two on concepts in multicore programming, another on leadership skills in the arena of engineering education.
• Autonomous Forklift Demonstration in Virginia
  June 19, 2009
  During the week of June 8th, researchers working on the agile robotics forklift project took their craft south for demonstration. The forklift was put through its paces in front of a host of industry and military notables in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
• CSAIL Graduates Begin New Chapter
  June 2, 2009
  On Friday, June 5th, the Institute will hold its 143rd commencement ceremony. We here at CSAIL would like to join the speaker, Governor Deval Patrick, in wishing our graduates luck on the next leg of their journey. The CSAIL students matriculating in both Masters and PhD programs are listed below; congratulations, and best wishes for an exciting future!
• Annual Industry Affiliates Meeting Returns to CSAIL
  May 27, 2009
  On May 27th and 28th, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory will play host to the annual meeting of its industrial partnership organization. The Industry Affiliates Program, or IAP, is a consortium of companies working in concert with CSAIL on a wide host of technological innovations.
• Researchers Rewarded by Department of Defense
  May 26, 2009
  A team of researchers headed by CSAIL PI Daniela Rus is to receive a grant in support of a project called Smart Adaptive Reliable Teams for Persistent Surveillance (SMARTS). The grant is one of nine awarded to teams of researchers who count members of the Institute community among their number. The SMARTS award was given through the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, by the Office of Naval Research.
• CSAIL Groups Win Computer Vision Honors
  May 19, 2009
  On June 23rd, CSAIL researchers will have the unique honor of receiving two out of four awards presented for excellence at the IEEE’s Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.
• Incoming PI Honored By ACM
  May 14, 2009
  Costis Daskalakis, who will be a CSAIL faculty member beginning this fall, has just been awarded the 2008 Doctoral Dissertation Award by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Daskalakis is the second CSAIL PI to have been honored by the ACM this year. In March, Professor Barbara Liskov was announced as the winner of this year’s ACM Turing Award.
• Brooks to Deliver Keynote for MIT$100K Competition
  May 12, 2009
  Former CSAIL Director Rodney Brooks will deliver the keynote address tomorrow at the Grand Finale of MIT’s $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The competition was founded to encourage MIT community members to funnel their talent, energy and ideas into creating the leading businesses of the future.
• CSAIL PI Named AAAI Fellow
  May 6, 2009
  Professor Daniela Rus has just been named a 2009 Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. The fellowship, now in its nineteenth year, was created to recognize those who have made dedicated and sustained contributions to the field.
• Three of CSAIL’s Finest Win Infinite Mile Awards
  April 30, 2009
  On April 29th, three CSAIL staff members were honored with the Infinite Mile Award, the School of Engineering’s highest honor. Financial Officer Kris Lantheaume and Administrative Assistant Joanne Hanley received two of nine Infinite Mile Awards for Excellence, while Assistant Director of Infrastructure Jack Costanza was awarded one of two Infinite Mile Awards for Sustained Excellence.
• Berners-Lee Elected to National Academy of Sciences
  April 29, 2009
  Yesterday, CSAIL Principal Investigator Tim Berners-Lee was one of six MIT faculty members elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The NAS, established in 1863, is an organization whose membership is conferred only on those most distinguished in their fields.
• JHU Collaboration Brings Talented Youth To CSAIL
  April 19, 2009
  On Saturday, April 4th, seventy-five middle- and high school students from Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth made a visit to CSAIL for robotics workshops, project demonstrations, and an inside view of life here at the lab. Accompanied by their parents, the trip marked the first year of collaboration with CTY, spearheaded by CSAIL’s Daniela Rus.
• CSAIL Student’s Video Garners Playful Award
  April 15, 2009
  Graduate student Michael Bernstein and a group of collaborators have been awarded a Golden Mouse Award from the prestigious CHI Conference. The conference, an event on human factors in computing systems, has been held annually since 1982; this is the first year in which a video showcase has been held.
• Researchers Make Breakthrough in Antibody Understanding
  March 30, 2009
  A finding by a team of MIT engineers suggests that an attached sugar found on antibodies is unnecessary for effective functioning. This discovery means that the last barrier to mass producing therapeutic antibodies using bacterial or fungal means, rather than mammalian cells.
• Synthetic Biology at CSAIL Takes Off
  March 26, 2009
  Former CSAIL graduate student Reshma Shetty has been busy since she left the Institute. The biological engineering PhD has founded a new company called Gingko BioWorks which is working hard to make the fabrication of biological building blocks a reality.
• Rinard To Win ACM-ICPC Coaching Award
  March 20, 2009
  Electrical engineering Professor Martin Rinard will be the winner of a coaching honor this April at the International Collegiate Programming Contest. The competition, which has taken place for over thirty years, is designed to challenge the best and brightest young minds in computer science to solve a computational problem collectively in just five hours.
• Sally Lee, Administrative Assistant in CSAIL, receives book award
  March 13, 2009
  Sally Lee, Administrative Assistant in CSAIL, has received an award for her book, “The Tutu Ballet”.
• Liskov Receives Turing Award
  March 10, 2009
  Professor Barbara Liskov has just become the second woman to receive the Association for Computing Machinery’s A. M. Turing Award. First awarded in 1966, the Turing is considered the “Nobel Prize of computing.” The other CSAIL PIs to have won the award are Ron Rivest (2002), Butler Lampson (1992) and Fernando J. Corbató (1990).
• Daniel Jackson Made MacVicar Fellow
  March 9, 2009
  CSAIL PI Daniel Jackson has been named one of four MacVicar Faculty Fellows this year. The honor is conferred in recognition of innovative teaching practices and excellence in education. It commemorates a late Dean for Undergraduate Education, Margaret MacVicar.
• Aaronson Named Sloan Fellow
  February 26, 2009
  CSAIL Professor Scott Aaronson has just secured a coveted Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship for the year 2009. The fellowships are intended to support promising young faculty as they embark on their research and academic careers.
• CSAIL PI Jack Dennis Named to NAE
  February 19, 2009
  Professor Emeritus Jack Dennis has just been made a member of the National Academy of Engineering, for contributions to sharing and protection in computer systems and parallel architectures.
• CSAIL Researchers Honored for Contributions
  February 6, 2009

  A trio of CSAIL PIs has been hailed for their work in each of their respective fields.

• CSAIL Members Named ACM Fellows
  January 27, 2009
  Four CSAIL Principal Investigators have been elected Fellows of the prestigious Association for Computing Machinery. That four of this year's forty-four new members came from one lab is a testament to the lab's continuing excellence in the field.
  
  The new members are:
• Research Group Picks Up the Pieces
  January 6, 2009

  A group of researchers headed by CSAIL Professor David Karger has just released a program which may help organize the ephemera of our messy daily lives. List.it, a new information capture tool, tries to efficiently serve the purpose of all the tools we use – and misuse – to create a kind of sprawling paper trail of memory.