Brown CS News

In a testament to Brown’s tradition of leadership in computer security for 2.5 decades, members of the Brown CS community co-authored 14 of the conference’s accepted papers, served as 7 members of its Program Committee, and were recognized as one of its Distinguished Reviewers. 

Ellie and her collaborators are conducting new research to enable us to understand and control so-called “black box” AI by creating tools that inspect, diagnose, and manipulate high-level algorithms. 

As large language models play an increasing role in public discourse, a new study led by Brown researchers raises important ethical questions about the potential ways AI tools can be adapted by users.

Brown CS is pleased to announce a new endowed lecture series in honor of An Wang Professor Emeritus of Computer Science Franco Preparata, an esteemed member of our faculty who retired a decade ago. To be held annually, the Franco Preparata Distinguished Lecture Series brings prominent scientists to Brown to address timely research in theoretical computer science.

The Paragon Policy Fellowship, co-led by Brown senior Jenn Wang and advised by CNTR Director Suresh Venkatasubramanian, connects students to local governments to work on tech policy issues and plans to develop a playbook for building lasting talent pipelines.

Brown University Programming Languages Team (Brown PLT) has had three papers accepted at OOPSLA 2024, one of the most prominent international conferences on programming languages and software engineering. Two of them will receive Distinguished Paper Awards.

When used responsibly, AI can serve the public good: robotic assistants for people with disabilities; tools to help people express their creative visions; systems that help people improve their wellbeing; and more. Brown CS is partnering with Google Research to offer exploreCSR: Socially-Responsible Artificial Intelligence, a semester-long immersive research experience program for undergraduate students.

Brown University’s Department of Computer Science (Brown CS) is pleased to announce a new endowed lecture series in honor of An Wang Professor Emeritus of Computer Science Franco Preparata, an esteemed member of the Brown CS faculty who retired a decade ago. To be held annually, this year at 4 PM on October 10 in CIT 368, the Franco Preparata Distinguished Lecture Series will bring prominent scientists to Brown to address timely research in theoretical computer science, an area of particular interest to Franco. This year’s lecture (“From Consensus To Agreement”) will be delivered by Silvio Micali, Ford Foundation Professor …

Earlier this month, Brown CS doctoral student Alexander J. Gaidis, advised by faculty member Vasileios (Vasilis) Kemerlis, has been named a Distinguished Artifact Reviewer for the 33rd Advanced Computing Systems Association (USENIX) Security Symposium. Held in Philadelphia this year, USENIX Security ​​brings together researchers, practitioners, system programmers, and others interested in the latest advances in the security and privacy of computer systems and networks. 

This summer, Randall Balestriero has joined Brown CS as assistant professor. Visitors to his personal web page may find it somewhat atypical for a young academic. The first words that greet the viewer’s eye are a research area: Practical Deep Learning Theory. Randall’s name appears lower, in a sidebar. The reasoning, he says, is less about humility than the importance of good science and his excitement for a rapidly-evolving field.