Professors Goodrich and Tamassia are well-recognized researchers in data structures and algorithms, having published many papers in this field, with applications to internet computing, information visualization, geographic information systems, computer security, and computer-aided layout. They have an extensive record of research collaboration and have served as principal investigators in several joint projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. They are also active in educational technology research, with special emphasis on algorithm visualization systems and infrastructure support for distance learning.
Michael Goodrich received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University in 1987. He is currently a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University, and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Algorithm Engineering. He is an editor for the International Journal of Computational Geometry & Applications, Journal of Computational and System Sciences, and Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications.
Roberto Tamassia received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988. He is currently a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Brown University. He is also an editor for Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications and the Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications, and previously an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Computers.
In addition to their research accomplishments, the authors also have extensive experience in the classroom. For example, Dr. Goodrich has taught data structures and algorithms courses at Johns Hopkins University since 1987, including Data Structures as a freshman-sophomore level course and Introduction to Algorithms as a upper level course. He has earned several teaching awards in this capacity. His teaching style is to involve the students in lively interactive classroom sessions that bring out the intuition and insights behind data structuring and algorithmic techniques, as well as in formulating solutions whose analysis is mathematically rigorous. Dr. Tamassia has taught Data Structures and Algorithms as an introductory freshman-level course at Brown University since 1988. He has also attracted many students (including several undergraduates) to his advanced course on Computational Geometry, which is a popular graduate-level CS course at Brown. One thing that has set his teaching style apart is his effective use of interactive hypermedia presentations, continuing the tradition of Brown's ``electronic classroom.'' The carefully designed Web pages of the courses taught by Dr. Tamassia have been used as reference material by students and professionals worldwide.