Prof. Andreas Krause honored with the Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow Award
Redmond, Washington, May 23rd, 2012 – This year’s Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow honorees span the physical globe as well as the world of computer research. The researchers are advancing computing research in novel directions with potential for high impact on the state of the art. Recipients also must demonstrate the likelihood of becoming thought leaders in their fields.
This year’s fellows were recognized for their computing research in areas such as robotics, machine learning, human-computer interaction, and social networking – most of which are significant focus areas for Microsoft Research.
Each fellowship includes a cash award, which enables the Faculty Fellows to increase the amount of research occurring during the critical years of their careers and includes access to other Microsoft resources, such as software, invitations to conferences, and engagements with Microsoft Research personnel. Microsoft’s annual outlay for the program is more than $1 million annually, and the aggregate total since the awards were instituted is more than $8 million.
The 2012 Microsoft Research Faculty Fellows officially receive their fellowship awards during the Faculty Summit, to be held July 16 and 17 in Redmond, Washington.
The 2012 Faculty Fellows:
Emma Brunskill, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on creating automated decision systems that interact with people, a challenge that spans artificial intelligence, machine learning, and human-computer interaction.
Constantinos Daskalakis, assistant professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Daskalakis studies the interface of computer science and economics, with a focus on computational aspects of the Internet, online markets, and social networks.
Stephen Gould, fellow, ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science, The Australian National University. He was recognized for his research in developing mathematical models that enable computers to learn how to interpret scenes from images.
Andreas Krause, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. Krause's research is in learning and adaptive systems that actively acquire information, reason, and make decisions in large, distributed, and uncertain domains, such as sensor networks and the web.
Miriah Meyer, assistant professor, School of Computing, University of Utah. Her current work focuses on nimble, intuitive visualization tools that support research in genomics and molecular biology.
Juan Carlos Niebles, assistant professor, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universidad del Norte. Niebles works on designing novel algorithms for automatic recognition and detailed understanding of human motions, activities, and behaviors from images and videos, all of which can be used in robotics.
Ashutosh Saxena, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science, Cornell University. His research is focused on the development of new machine-learning algorithms that enable robots to process massive amounts of sensory input data in real time and learn how to perform tasks in unstructured environments.
The recipients were exhilarated and surprised to receive the awards. By achieving this recognition, they will be able to expand their research and try new directions in their work.
Harold Javid, a director with Microsoft Research Connections, says the fellowships help important researchers further their careers and gain assistance in exploring new research. “The main thing you hear again and again from past recipients is that this gives them instant recognition within their field,” Javid says. “They are recognized at conferences, younger researchers ask them about the process, and they get a chance to network in a way they could not before. “And, of course, the funds are a big help. They can go down more risky paths, because they don’t have to make a promise at the start that they will achieve a certain result. This lets them be bold, and that can really help them with their career.”
Tony Hey, vice president of Microsoft Research Connections, notes that the fellowship program addresses Microsoft Research’s broader vision for the future of computing. “Of course, we want to see an exciting future for computing,” he says. “One of the keys to that is to create high-quality research and have a positive influence on young researchers. This award is one way we can accelerate change and bring new people into computing.”