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Theory and Algorithms Research |
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Overview: Theoretical computer science aims to understand the nature of efficient computation. This is important not only for the pervasive role that computers play in today's society, but also for purely foundational reasons --- theory helps us map the potential and limits of what nature permit us to solve quickly, and which problems are truly beyond the realm of solvability (regardless of Moore's law or other short term technological improvements). Theory of computation gives a way to exploit tractability via a choice of several powerful algorithmic techniques. It also provides a formalism for identifying and quantifying intractability, coping with it (eg., using approximation algorithms and provable heuristics), and even putting intractability to work for us such as in crytography and random number generators.
Today, research in theory is thriving, with long standing open questions being solved at regular intervals. In addition, the field is ever-evolving and ready to take on new challenges raised by new computing phenomena (such as the internet, large peer-peer networks, massive data sets). The dynamism and innovative thinking of the field has led to whole new areas such as quantum computing, computational aspects of game theory and economics, algorithms for large scale networks, streaming computation, etc. There is also lot of conceptual progress, and unsuspected connections between seemingly disparate areas continue to emerge and clarify our picture of the computational landscape.
The theory group at UW has interests and expertise in most active areas of current research within theory. The collaborative environment within the department fosters exchange of ideas not just within the theory group, but also enables, on a consistent basis, extremely productive and successful collaborations that apply theory to new application areas and the present-day computing challenges.
External to the department, too, Seattle provides a great environment to do theory (and this isn't just because of the coffee!). The theory and crypto groups at Microsoft Research are invaluable resources -- on top of research collaborations, we benefit from their innumerable seminars and the advanced theory courses their members often offer at UW.
We are also pleased to announce the formation of a new joint UW-MSR Theory Center.
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Computer Science & Engineering University of Washington Box 352350 Seattle, WA 98195-2350 (206) 543-1695 voice, (206) 543-2969 FAX [comments to karlin] |