Alumni News

News Feed

Building for creatives: A CS alum’s path from U-M to Apple TV

From his days as a student at Michigan to presenting at Apple’s WWDC, alum Justin Washington continues to build tools that empower and inspire.

Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov discusses “prescience and patience”

The CSE alum details his journey from mathematical abstractions to vehicles safely navigating city streets.

U-M alum Andrew Barto wins Turing Award

Barto is the 5th U-M alum to receive this honor, considered the “Nobel Prize of Computing,” in recognition of his contributions to reinforcement learning, a fundamental area of artificial intelligence.

Jiong Zhu receives 2024 CSE David J. Kuck Dissertation Prize

The annual award recognizes the excellence of his dissertation on graph neural networks for complex data.

CSE alum Fan Lai receives dissertation recognition at SOSP 2024

The honor recognizes the excellence of Lai’s dissertation on minimalist approaches for pervasive machine learning.

CSE and UMSI team up for homecoming tailgate

Alums, faculty, and staff from UMSI and CSE came together to celebrate the Michigan homecoming football game.

These CSE PhD alums have accepted faculty positions

Congrats to these new faculty!

From U-M to the Big Leagues: How a data science alum became a baseball analytics pro

U-M alum Danny Vargovick is leveraging his data science degree to build prediction systems for the Detroit Tigers.

Fulbright scholar and CSE alum Kevin Wang melds English and CS education in Poland

One of 27 student 2023-24 Fulbright recipients from U-M, Wang is leveraging his unique background to teach Polish university students English and computer science.

U-M alums bring better finance tech to entertainment

CS alums Akanksha Singh and Caitlin Short have launched Backdrop, a financial management startup for the entertainment industry, earning them wide recognition, including a nod for Singh in the Forbes 30 Under 30.

Remembering alum David Mills, who brought the internet into perfect time

Mills created the Network Time Protocol, which enables any device online to know precisely what time it is.

CS alum Jill Bender: working at the intersection of tech and climate

Her career is driven by a passion for innovative technologies, a commitment to addressing global challenges, and expanding opportunities for underrepresented groups in tech.

U-M origins of legendary gaming mystery revealed

A look into the history of famed video game engine MUGEN and its University of Michigan beginnings.

Congrats to CSE alums who have accepted faculty positions

Congrats to these new faculty!

CSE alum Xinyu Zhang selected as recipient of ACM SIGMOBILE RockStar Award

The award recognizes Zhang’s outstanding contributions to the mobile computing field.

CSE alum and computer architecture innovator Kunle Olukotun chosen for top recognition by ACM/IEEE

He is recognized for his contributions and leadership in the development of parallel systems, especially multicore and multithreaded processors.

CSE announces updated National Advisory Board

New and continuing board members have been tapped to advise CSE on current academic and societal issues related to computing.

CSE alum Jennifer Rexford named provost at Princeton University

Rexford oversaw record growth and diversity initiatives as chair of the Princeton CS department.

Alumni profile: A conversation with Rich Uhlig

A Michigan engineer, Intel VP, and research lab director, Rich Uhlig is CSE’s Alumni Merit Award Winner for 2022.

Alum Paul Debevec honored with Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award for inventing a new kind of movie magic

Debevec’s groundbreaking imaging work revolutionized the film and television industry, helping create the special effects seen in Spider-Man 2, Avatar, The Hobbit, Blade Runner 2049, Gravity, The Mandalorian, and many more.

CSE alum Akshitha Sriraman's dissertation receives second ACM SIG recognition

Sriraman's dissertation has won two major ACM SIG awards, from ACM SIGOPS and SIGARCH, as well as two additional prizes from U-M.

$100,000 gift endows teaching faculty support fund inspired by David Chesney's socially conscious initiatives

The gift from the Daniel E. Offutt III Charitable Trust will provide teaching faculty with discretionary funding to enhance CSE's educational mission.

CSE alum Akshitha Sriraman's dissertation recognized by SIGARCH/TCCA

Sriraman was recognized for contributions enhancing the efficiency and scalability of hardware and software architecture for hyperscale datacenter systems.

Arch W. Naylor: In Memoriam (1929 - 2022)

Arch Naylor helped introduce the developing field of information and control engineering at Michigan.

CSE alum Akshitha Sriraman receives ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

Sriraman's dissertation explores how to bridge computer architecture and software systems to tackle new challenges posed by massive web services.

Alum Murali Annavaram elected IEEE fellow for contributions to heterogeneous architectures for energy-efficient computing systems

Prof. Annavaram was named an IEEE Fellow, Class of 2021, “for contributions to heterogeneous architectures for energy-efficient computing systems.”

Gift from Daniel E. Offutt III Charitable Trust supports construction of new building, lecturers in CSE

In recognition of this gift, the maker’s space on the first floor of the new building will be named the Richard Orenstein and Daniel Offutt Maker’s Laboratory.

Alumnus Peter Wurman named IEEE Fellow

Wurman is best known for his work as a technical co-founder of Kiva Systems

Akshitha Sriraman awarded David J. Kuck Dissertation Prize for work on hyperscale web services

Her dissertation explores how to bridge computer architecture and software systems to tackle new challenges posed by massive web services.

Alumnus Nam Sung Kim named endowed chair at UIUC

Kim is a 2004 alumnus of the CSE PhD program at Michigan.

Deltek’s Senior Director Shirin Mangold found her passion and her voice through Michigan Engineering’s Co-op program

The Engineering Cooperative Education Program introduced Mangold (CE 1993) to life as a working engineer and inspired her to pursue a career in software engineering.

Qi Zhang selected as first recipient of David J. Kuck Dissertation Prize

His work is in the area of coordinating systems of autonomous agents that operate in uncertain, dynamic environments.

Alumni profile: A conversation with Douglas Densmore

Densmore works at the pioneering intersection of biology and electronic design automation to develop next-generation technologies.

Alumni profile: A conversation with Robert Scott

A Michigan engineer and a corporate leader, Robert Scott is a team builder, a mentor to many, and champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Lawser family scholarship supports EECS wolverines

John and Sarah Lawser created the fund to give back to U-M by empowering the next generation of EECS engineers.

SambaNova, founded by alumnus Kunle Olukotun, emerges from stealth mode with AI-accelerated HPC system

Co-founded by alumnus Kunle Olukotun, the company has announced product and system-as-a-service solutions for AI-intensive applications.

Josh Meyer has built the software that your kids and teachers need

From his days as an online poker playing undergrad to his current role as a technology developer, Josh has discovered a passion – and built a platform – for online learning.

Alumnus Yi-Jun Chang Wins PODC Dissertation Award

His work is in complexity theory of distributed computing.

In memoriam: Frances Allen, the first woman to receive the Turing Award and U-M alumna

Frances Allen spent her career advancing the field of computing and inspired generations of technologists.

Gift from Daniel E. Offutt III Charitable Trust endows CSE chair and funds targeted activities

The gift will be extremely valuable as CSE continues to progress as a computer science powerhouse.

The Renaissance of the American City

Improving the lives of others has remained a consistent, fundamental value across the entirety of Dr. Wardell’s career.

Gift from EECS alumnus David J. Kuck establishes CSE Dissertation Prize

Kuck’s impacts in the area of parallel computing are an inspiration to all of us, and this award will carry real significance for its recipients.

Alumnus Peter Wurman inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame

Wurman and his cofounders were recognized for their invention of the Kiva system, a revolutionary warehouse order fulfillment system that uses mobile robots and control software to bring inventory shelves to workers.

Alumnus William Sanders appointed Dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering

Sanders has spent the past 25 years of his career at the University of Illinois, working on secure and dependable computing and security for critical infrastructures.

Five EECS faculty and alumni recognized for business success

Nominees were selected based on their career accomplishments, impact in their field, and contributions to their community.

Alum named director at major collaborative theory center

Pennock’s research is focused on designing intelligent markets to crowdsource forecasts and improve decision making.

CSE alum Qi Alfred Chen selected for ProQuest Dissertation Award

Chen’s dissertation research was dedicated to developing proactive defense approaches to the new security challenges of a hyper-connected world.

Art Meets Science: Tom Conrad’s Journey from Apple to Pandora to Snapchat

Conrad discussed his lifelong career in software and how he was drawn to the field for its creativity as much as its technical side.

Computing visionary Sam Fuller honored by Michigan Engineering

The highest accolade from the Michigan Engineering Alumni Board goes to a thought leader with a track record of predicting the industry’s future.

Two-wheeled teacher

7,500 miles of riding, wrenching and coding.

Yongjoo Park is runner-up for Jim Gray dissertation award

The annual SIGMOD Jim Gray Doctoral Dissertation Award recognizes excellent research by doctoral candidates in the database field.

Zuckerberg Capitol Hill testimony: Engineering experts offer comments

U-M profs weigh new business model, European-style regulation

CSE alum startup SambaNova collects $56m in funding for AI chip research

SambaNova’s approach, stemming from work by Olukotun and co-founder Christopher Ré at Stanford University, seeks to create a new platform from scratch that is optimized specifically for AI operations.

CSE alum earns IEEE award for pioneering work in CPU design

Olukotun is often called “the father of multi-core processors” for his early contributions to this now commonplace technology.

Alumnus Garlin Gilchrist II serves as inaugural director of U-M Center for Social Media Responsibility

To address the growing concern of fake news, U-M has formed the School of Information Center for Social Media Responsibility, and hired EECS alumnus Garlin Gilchrist II.

Alumnus Rob Rutenbar receives Phil Kaufman Award for distinguished contributions to electronic system design

Dr. Rutenbar (MSE, PhD CICE 1979, 1984), senior vice chancellor for Research at the University of Pittsburgh, was honored in a February 8th ceremony at the Glasshouse in San Jose, CA.

Computing and data wide across the curriculum

Rob Rutenbar points out that people need a systematic middle way to take CS “wide” into diverse disciplines.

CS alumnae Tara Safavi chosen for Google Women Techmakers scholarship

Tara graduated in April 2017 with Highest Distinction and High Honors in computer science, and will return this fall to pursue a PhD in CSE under the advisement of Prof. Danai Koutra.

Eric Vander Weele: Building Bloomberg LP

Since graduating from U-M, Eric N. Vander Weele has helped grow Bloomberg’s technology division and increased efficiency and production for employees and clients.

Shawn Cooper: Changing the game

Shawn Cooper is using computer science to change the way we coach.

CSE alumnus Jim Boerkoel awarded NSF CAREER Grant for research into autonomous systems

Boerkoel’s research will improve robustness and reliability in applications such as autonomous driving, automated warehousing, and personal robots.

For Black History Month, CSE Spotlights Faculty and Alumni in Academia

In this article, we profile three CSE faculty and three of our alumni.

Mount and Wu Scholarship Rewards Extracurriculars

This new fund will provide need-based support for in-state, undergraduate students with a preference for those engaged in College of Engineering extracurricular activities.

Alumnus Tim Howes chosen for Arbor Networks PhD Research Impact Lecture and Award

Dr. Howes’ doctoral research focused on Internet directory services, and he co-invented LDAP, the Internet directory protocol, while a graduate student at U-M.

Nancy Benovich Gilby chosen as Woman of the Year by Michigan Council of Women in Technology

Benovich Gilby, an entrepreneur with 10 successful high-tech startups to her credit, was nominated by students and local entrepreneurs whom she has coached, mentored, advised and taught.

D’Souza scholarship supports CSE undergrads

The scholarship will provide need-based support to undergraduate students pursuing a degree in Computer Science and Engineering.

‘The most interesting tech IPO of the year’ was founded by alums

A Q&A with the Michigan Engineering alumni who founded Twilio, a “unicorn” in the tech industry.

New undergraduate program in data science grows rapidly, graduates first student

The first engineering student to graduate with a degree in data science was Ryan Schrader.

CSE alumna Adriane Chapman recognized with Test of Time Award from ACM SIGMOD

The SIGMOD Test of Time Award recognizes the best paper from the SIGMOD proceedings 10 years prior.

CSE alumnus Hsin-Hao Su selected for Principles of Distributed Computing Dissertation Award

Hsin-Hao’s thesis provides efficient algorithms for fundamental graph problems that arise in networks.

New Wurman computer science fund

Peter (MSE ’88, MS ’96, PhD ’99) and Nancy Wurman of Acton, Massachusetts, recently endowed the Wurman Family Computer Science Fellowship Student Fund.

CSE Alumna Arzucan Ozgur receives Science Academy Young Scientist Award

Her research interests include text mining, natural language processing, and bioinformatics.

Power to the Pixel: Photoshop is Born

How Thomas Knoll, a procrastinating Michigan graduate student, and his brother changed our view of the world.

Machine learning proves useful for analyzing NBA ball screen defense

The team used machine learning to extract information from NBA sports data for automatically recognizing common defense strategies to ball screens.

Lees Make Gift to Empower CSE Student Activities

Dr. Peter Lee (BS MS PhD CCS ’82, ’82, ’87) and Susan Lee have made a $25,000 discretionary gift

Nadkarni gift invests in student entrepreneurs

Its purpose is to support student teams in junior/senior-level project-oriented courses in CSE in which students develop software and hardware prototypes, many of which have commercial potential.

Alumnus Nam Sung Kim Elected IEEE Fellow for Contributions to Circuits and Architectures for Power-Efficient Microprocessors

Kim (PhD CSE ‘04) is an associate professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Garlin Gilchrist II: Innovation for the People

Garlin Gilchrist II set out on a lifelong mission to bring engineering solutions to communities in need.

Four EECS companies make Crain’s list of most innovative companies, and one tops the list

This annual ranking of innovative companies in SE Michigan is based on the quality of patents received during the past year.

Health and Fitness Company Founded by CS Alum Gets Acquired by Practo

Entrepreneur Dhruv Gupta bui;d his web and mobile based weight management program that provides customized diet plans and exercises in 2011.

Eric M. Aupperle (1935 – 2015): An internet pioneer leaves a remarkable legacy

Mr. Aupperle was a true Michigan man, devoting his career to the University and to the state of Michigan in his role as director and later president of Merit Network.

Shift Collaborative: Providing Creative Space and Community for Tech Students with Business on the Brain

Funded by an alum, there's a place on campus for those who live to hack.

Advancing Computation: 4th U-M Alum Wins Turing Award

The Turing Award honors the computer scientists and engineers who created the systems and underlying theoretical foundations that have propelled the information technology industry.

Irma Wyman: Computer pioneer and advocate for women in engineering

Her experiences led her to establish the Irma M. Wyman Scholarship at the University’s Center for the Education of Women.

End of the Road for the Von Neumann Architecture? Not Yet.

So went the vote held in the debating chamber of the University of Cambridge Union.

Mourning the loss of an innovator

J. Robert Beyster, a namesake of the Bob and Betty Beyster Building and funder of Michigan Engineering’s largest fellowship program, has died. He was 90 years old.

EECS alums are flying high with drone startup Skyspecs

SkySpecs is currently in the process of launching their first product, the Guardian, which will help prevent collisions.

Smita Krishnaswamy's Research Paper Published in Science Magazine

The paper focuses on computational methods to analyze single cell data in order to obtain a better understanding of how cells process signals.

Stephen Plaza's research paper published in Nature Scientific Journal

Plaza’s paper provides key insights into neuronal computations.

UM Computer Science Alumni Create Cribspot.com

The startup helps college students find suitable places to live, while also helping landlords manage their properties.

Alumni explore lots of EECS-related engineering with their kids

Three hundred and eighty alumni and children stretched across North Campus, dabbling in drones and bones, rockets and radioactives.

CSE Alum Dongyoon Lee Selected for ProQuest Dissertation Award

Héctor J. García Selected for Bouchet Graduate Honor Society

Nancy Benovich: Entrepreneur x 10

Nancy visits campus regularly as a speaker and is currently the mentor for a Michigan I-Corps innovation team.

Larry D. Leinweber gives $2.4 million to fund students in computer science

Michigan @ ISSCC 2013: Alumni and Friends Mixer

“Many of these people have known each other for years; it’s a great time to catch up.”

Azarias Reda: Founder of Meritful.com

Azarias Reda spent his childhood shooting off rockets made of bamboo and firecrackers. Now he’s launching a new online social networking platform for high school students.

CSE Alum co-founds goal-tracking company Beeminder

Founded by CS Alums, DeepField Grows in Ann Arbor

CSE Alum and Entrepreneur Azarias Reda Delivers Best Pitch at SXSW

Duo security introduces hardware-level security, grows more than 400%

Kyla McMullen, first African American woman to graduate from Michigan with a CSE PhD

Duo of CSE Alums Form and Grow Security Company in Ann Arbor

Serial entrepreneur Dug Song (CS BS 1997) and recent alum Jon Oberheide (CSE PhD 2011) founded security firm Duo Security in early 2010 and have rapidly grown their company to serve over 500 customers in 40+ countries around the world.

CSE alums launch Ann Arbor-based cloud data company

Computer Science Alum Stephanie Forrest Selected for ACM Newell Award

CSE Alum Jon Oberheide Named One of Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Technology

U-M Alumni and Friends Mixer at ISSCC 2011

CSE alum Sushant Sinha named one of 18 "Young Innovators Under 35" in India

David Papa receives EDAA Outstanding Dissertation Award

Tony Fadell, Mastermind Behind the Apple iPod, Offers Advice for Students