Nick Pippenger
Encyclopedia
Nicholas John Pippenger is a researcher in computer science
. He has produced a number of fundamental results many of which are being widely used in the field of theoretical computer science
, database processing
and compiler optimization
. He has also achieved the rank of IBM Fellow
at Almaden IBM Research Center
in San Jose, California
. He has taught at the University of British Columbia
in Vancouver, Canada and at Princeton University
in the US. In the Fall of 2006 Pippenger joined the faculty of Harvey Mudd College
.
Pippenger holds a B.S. in Natural Sciences from Shimer College
and a PhD
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. He is married to Maria Klawe
, President of Harvey Mudd College
. In 1997 he was inducted as a Fellow
of the Association for Computing Machinery
.
The complexity class, Nick's Class
(NC), of problems quickly solvable on a parallel computer, was named by Stephen Cook
after Nick Pippenger for his research on circuits with polylogarithmic
depth and polynomial size.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
. He has produced a number of fundamental results many of which are being widely used in the field of theoretical computer science
Theoretical computer science
Theoretical computer science is a division or subset of general computer science and mathematics which focuses on more abstract or mathematical aspects of computing....
, database processing
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
and compiler optimization
Compiler optimization
Compiler optimization is the process of tuning the output of a compiler to minimize or maximize some attributes of an executable computer program. The most common requirement is to minimize the time taken to execute a program; a less common one is to minimize the amount of memory occupied...
. He has also achieved the rank of IBM Fellow
IBM Fellow
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM’s CEO. Typically only 4 to 9 IBM Fellows are appointed each year, at the annual Corporate Technical Recognition Event in May or June. It is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve.The IBM Fellows program...
at Almaden IBM Research Center
Almaden Research Center
The IBM Almaden Research Center is in San Jose, California, and is one of IBM's nine worldwide research labs. Its scientists perform basic and applied research in computer science, services, storage systems, physical sciences, and materials science and technology. The center opened in 1986, and...
in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. He has taught at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
in Vancouver, Canada and at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in the US. In the Fall of 2006 Pippenger joined the faculty of Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college of science, engineering, and mathematics, located in Claremont, California. It is one of the institutions of the contiguous Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds....
.
Pippenger holds a B.S. in Natural Sciences from Shimer College
Shimer College
Shimer College is a very small, private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded by Frances Wood Shimer in 1853 in the frontier town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, it was a women's school for most of its first century. It joined with the University of...
and a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. He is married to Maria Klawe
Maria Klawe
Maria M. Klawe is a computer scientist and the fifth president of Harvey Mudd College . Although born in Toronto in 1951, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009. She was previously Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University.-Biography:Klawe was born in...
, President of Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college of science, engineering, and mathematics, located in Claremont, California. It is one of the institutions of the contiguous Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds....
. In 1997 he was inducted as a Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
.
The complexity class, Nick's Class
NC (complexity)
In complexity theory, the class NC is the set of decision problems decidable in polylogarithmic time on a parallel computer with a polynomial number of processors. In other words, a problem is in NC if there exist constants c and k such that it can be solved in time O using O parallel processors...
(NC), of problems quickly solvable on a parallel computer, was named by Stephen Cook
Stephen Cook
Stephen Arthur Cook is a renowned American-Canadian computer scientist and mathematician who has made major contributions to the fields of complexity theory and proof complexity...
after Nick Pippenger for his research on circuits with polylogarithmic
Polylogarithmic
A polylogarithmic function in n is a polynomial in the logarithm of n,In computer science, polylogarithmic functions occur as the order of memory used by some algorithms .All polylogarithmic functions are...
depth and polynomial size.
External links
- Pippenger's web page at HMC