Paris Kanellakis

in Memoriam

from left to right: Nikos, Aris, Alex, Christos, Olga, Manos and Ioannis

Nikolaos Triandopoulos was born and raised in Athens. He developed his love of computer science in high school, which led him to study at the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics at the University of Patras. After graduating in 1999, he spent a year in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Athens, pursuing graduate work on logic, algorithms and computation. In 2000, Nikos entered the PhD program at Brown CS; the Kanellakis Fellowship was the deciding factor in his coming to Brown. He feels honored to have been awarded this fellowship and is impressed with the importance and impact of Paris' work in computer science. Nikos received his ScM in 2002 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate; he is working on computer and information security under Prof. Roberto Tamassia's supervision. In his spare time he enjoys playing pool at the graduate student's bar.

Aris Anagnostopoulos was born in Houston, Texas, but spent much of his early years in Greece. He is able to call three towns his home, having lived in Thessaloniki and Athens before moving on to study at the University of Patras. Here Aris was introduced to the principles of theory and algorithms in computing. He was awarded the honor of a Kanellakis Fellowship and decided to explore these interests further at Brown. He is now in his fourth year, working with Eli Upfal. Spending time in the U.S. has allowed Aris to pursue other interests. His hobbies now include rock climbing, skiing, biking and soccer, all of which demonstrate his love of interacting with the ground! He has also taken time to travel widely, both domestically and internationally. In quieter moods, he enjoys relaxing with a book, or watching plays and movies.

Alexandru Balan was born in Bucharest, Romania, where he spent the first 19 years of his life. As the son of two computer scientists and brother of another, his choice of a career path in the same direction was somewhat predictable. Accordingly, in 1999 Alex graduated from a Bucharest computer science high-school and decided to attend Lafayette College in Easton, PA. After living all his life in a metropolitan area, it took him a while to adjust to a small place like Easton. Aside from his primary interest in computers, Alex also became interested in economics. He also discovered racquetball, and became addicted. Alex was valedictorian of his 2003 graduating class; he received a BS degree in computer science and a joint AB degree in mathematics and economics. He is now pursuing his PhD at Brown University, thanks to a fellowship from the CS department. He was especially honored when he discovered it was in fact a Kanellakis Fellowship; for this he is extremely grateful.

Christos Amanatidis was born in 1977 and raised in Athens. During high school he developed a great interest in mathematics and computer programming, so fortunately he knew just what he wanted to study. He attended the Athens University of Economics and Business in the Department of Informatics for four years. He then received an MSc degree in information systems. But he always wanted to unfold his wings in a more challenging and qualitative environment. The Kanellakis Fellowship gave him the fascinating opportunity to come to beautiful Providence and be part of Brown's community. His hobbies include listening to all kinds of music, watching movies (especially David Lynch's) and physical activities like soccer and running.

Born and raised in Alexandreia, a small city in Macedonia, Greece, Olga Papaemmanouil studied Computer Engineering and Informatics at the University of Patras. After graduating in 1999, she received her master's degree in Information Systems at the Athens University of Business and Economics and then joined the Athens Stock Exchange as a software engineer. After two years in industry, she decided to pursue a doctorate; "research is always more challenging," she feels. She joined the Brown graduate program in 2002 and is working with Ugur Cetintemel on distributed systems. Olga feels honored to have received the Kanellakis Fellowship, especially because she is the first female fellow. She has visited General and Mrs. Kanellakis twice and plans to see them again at Christmas. "I am very touched by the efforts they've made all these years to preserve Paris' memory," she says. In what little free time she has, Olga enjoys taking aerobics and dancing classes--last year she performed with the dancing group of the Hellenic Student Association and this year she plans to take tango lessons.

Emmanuel (Manos) Renieris, the first recipient of Brown's Kanellakis graduate fellowship, visited General and Mrs. Kanellakis in Athens during the summer, together with Christos Papadimitriou. He feels honored and privileged to be the first fellowship recipient. Born and raised in Athens, Manos attended the National Technical University, the oldest technical institution in Greece and the same university that Paris attended. Paris's advisor, Emmanual Protonotarios, is still teaching there.

Ioannis Tsochantaridis was born and raised in Athens, where he completed high school. At the age of 18 he moved to Patras to pursue his studies in Computer Engineering and Informatics. It was his enthusiasm for research, combined with his keen interest in foreign cultures and people, that brought him to the United States to pursue a graduate degree. He is honored to have been a Kanellakis Fellow and feels that, even though he never met Paris,
Paris's memory helped him overcome several hurdles he encountered during his tenure as a PhD student at Brown.