John Savage

An Wang Professor of Computer Science
Box 1910, Computer Science Department
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
401-863-7642 (voice)
401-863-7657 (fax)
Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Center for Information Technology, Room 503
Send me email at: john_savage@brown.edu

Biographical Sketch

Professor Savage earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT in 1965 specializing in coding and communication theory. He joined Bell Laboratories in 1965 and the faculty of the Division of Engineering at Brown University in 1967. In 1979 he co-founded the Department of Computer Science and served as its second chair from 1985 to 1991.

By the early 1970s his research interests changed from coding and communication theory to theoretical computer science. He has done research in computational complexity, VLSI synthesis and theory, parallel algorithms and theory, scientific computation, reliable computation with unreliable components, computational nanotechnology, efficient cache management on multicore chips, and I/O complexity. His current research interests are in cybersecurity technology and policy,

He is a Fellow of AAAS and ACM, a Life Fellow of IEEE, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He is a recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Research Award. He served as a Jefferson Science Fellow in the U.S. State Department during the 2009-2010 academic year. He is a Professorial Fellow of the EastWest Institute and member of the Board of Thinkers of the Boston Global Forum.

His professional service has included service on the editorial board of the Journal of Computer and Systems Sciences and as a member of the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1991-2002.

A more comprehensive, but incomplete, biographical statement can be found here.

Books

Models of Computation: Exploring the Power of Computing Addison-Wesley, 1998. (Freely available electronically!)
The Mystical Machine (with S. Magidson and A. Stein), Addison-Wesley, 1986.
The Complexity of Computing, John Wiley and Sons, 1976; Robert E. Kreiger Publishing Company, 1987; Russian Translation. by Factorial Publishing, 1998

Brown Faculty Bulletin Articles

J.E. Savage, Budgetary Priorities for Brown, Brown Faculty Bulletin, Volume XII, Number 2, (April 1999).
J.E. Savage, The Role of Tenure in Higher Education, Brown Faculty Bulletin, Volume X, Number 2 (May, 1998)
J.E. Savage, Strategic Directions Task Force Reports: An Evaluation, Brown Faculty Bulletin, Volume X, Number 1 (November, 1997).

Recent Publications	Research on Nanotechnology
Recently Taught Courses CSCI 0510, Models of Computation CSCI 1951-E, Computer Systems Security: Principles and Practice CSCI 1800, Cybersecurity and International Relations	Representative Brown Service Activities Secretary of the Faculty (2015), Secretary of the Faculty Forum (2014-2016) Vice Chair (2000-2001), Chair (2001-2002), and Past Chair (2002-2003) of the Faculty and the Faculty Executive Committee Chair (2002-2003) of the Task Force on Faculty Governance President (1999-2002) of the Board of Managers of the Brown Faculty Club Distance Learning Web Pages prepared for The Committee on Electronically Mediated Instruction
Talks, Interviews, Congressional Testimony
Cyberspace - Taming the Wild West, Jefferson Science Fellow Distinguished Lecture, US State Department, March 23, 2010	A December 18, 2015 report of CCTV on the Chinese 2nd World Internet Conference, Wuzhen, includes interviews with Dr. Cheng Li of the Brookings Institute, Fadi Chehadé of ICANN and John Savage.
Silver Bullet Interview of John Savage by Gary McGraw, a podcast posted January 24, 2011. Transcript of the Silver Bullet Interview appears in IEEE Security & Privacy magazine, July/August 2011. Blockchain Governance: Lessons learned from Internet Governance, A summary of a talk given at ETH Zurich, March 8, 2018	Hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on "Cyber Security: Responding to the Threat of Cyber Crime and Terrorism," April 12, 2011. John Savage was one of six witnesses giving testimony. The hearing begins about 21 minutes into the video. Cyberspace Policy and Technology, The Sarah and John Graves Distinguished Cybersecurity Lecture, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, October 14, 2016
Source Material on Topics of Current Interest
Russian Meddling in US 2016 Elections	Encryption and the FBI/Apple Dispute
Blockchain Technologies and Cryptocurrencies	Topics in Cybersecurity and International Relations
Deterrence in Cyberspace