Brown CS alum James Hendler has recently been honored with the 2025 Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Feigenbaum Prize for his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence. The award recognizes Jim’s sustained and seminal contributions to experimental AI, especially related to AI planning systems, knowledge representation, and the Semantic Web, fields that have helped lay the foundation for modern AI applications. Jim completed his PhD at Brown under the late Eugene Charniak, whose mentorship, he says, played a formative role in his career.
Brown CS faculty member Serena Booth has been named a 2025 Azrieli Global Scholar for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), an honor that recognizes outstanding early-career researchers from around the world. This award will support Serena’s work in human-AI interaction and AI policy, connecting her with a global network of scientists as she develops new approaches for AI systems that better align with human values. As part of this recognition, Serena will receive $100,000 CAD in unrestricted research support to advance her work.
Brown CS alum Layla Oesper has been honored with the 2025 Computing Research Association (CRA) Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award, which recognizes individual faculty members who have provided exceptional mentorship, undergraduate research experiences, and in parallel, guidance on admission and matriculation of these students to research-focused graduate programs in computing. Currently an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Carleton College, Layla specializes in developing algorithms for computational biology, with a particular emphasis on cancer research.
In the space of a month, Brown CS faculty member Maurice Herlihy has been awarded honorary doctorates from two different institutions: Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), located in Haifa, Israel, and Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in Lugano, Switzerland. Technion conferred upon him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa on June 9, during its annual Board of Governors meeting, while USI presented him with the honorary doctorate on May 10, during its Dies Academicus ceremony.
When Brown CS alum Matt Meyer enrolled in his first computer science course at Brown, he never imagined it would shape his approach to governance. Now the newly inaugurated Governor of Delaware, Meyer tells us about his journey from software to public service, highlighting the growing intersection of technology and leadership.
The Computing Research Association (CRA) is a coalition of more than 200 organizations with the mission of enhancing innovation by joining with industry, government, and academia to strengthen research and advance education in computing. Every year, they recognize North American students who show phenomenal research potential with their Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, and for 2024-2025, four Brown CS students received honors: Artem Agvanian and Corinn Tiffany (Finalists) alongside Byron Butaney and Kaleb Newman (Honorable Mentions).
Brown CS PhD alum Evgenios Kornaropoulos has just received an National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, the most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty in science and engineering. He is currently an assistant professor at the Computer Science Department at George Mason University and completed his graduate studies at Brown under the mentorship of Professor Roberto Tamassia.
Brown CS alum Heidi Erwin was recently named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Games category, which recognizes early-career professionals making significant contributions in the gaming industry. Heidi is currently a senior game designer at The New York Times and was the sole designer from her hiring in May, 2021 until August, 2024. She led the design for several games, including Connections and Strands, which now have millions of daily players.
Last semester, Brown CS PhD alum Olya Ohrimenko (now a professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne) received the 2025 Award for Outstanding Research Contribution from the Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia (CORE). CORE will co-host ACSW 2025 (Australian Computer Science Week) with the Australian Council of Deans of Information and Communications Technology (ACDICT) in early February, where Olya and other CORE winners will receive their awards formally in Brisbane and give keynote talks.
Over the weekend of October 5, three Brown CS undergraduates, Noah Kim, Sean Kim, and Eric Yoon, won first place in the Healthcare Track at Yale University’s annual hackathon, dubbed YHack, with their personal project fueled by artificial intelligence.
