Sepandar Kamvar
Encyclopedia
Sepandar David Kamvar, also known as Sep Kamvar, is a Persian American computer scientist
, artist
, and entrepreneur
based in San Francisco, CA
. He is a consulting assistant professor of computational and mathematical engineering at Stanford University
http://icme.stanford.edu/people/faculty/profile.php?personnel_id=17.
and peer-to-peer networks
.
As a graduate student at Stanford University, he, with Taher Haveliwala and Glen Jeh, explored the mathematical fundamentals behind personalized search
http://www-nlp.stanford.edu/publications.shtml. In early 2003, he dropped out of his Ph.D. program at the age of 25 to found Kaltix
, a personalized search engine company which was acquired by Google later that year http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/kaltix.html. At Google, he was responsible for building and leading the engineering efforts in personalization at Google, most notably Google Personalized Search
and iGoogle
. He later finished his Ph.D. and is currently a consulting assistant professor at Stanford.
In addition to personalized search, Kamvar's other main contribution to computer science has been in peer-to-peer networks
. His 2003 paper, EigenTrust
, is one of the most cited papers in the field http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=p2p%20networks.
. These pieces use material found in blogs, social networks, and online dating sites to illuminate human emotions and desires. We Feel Fine has been exhibited in San Francisco, New York, Seoul, and Prague, and was a Yahoo Pick of the Day http://picks.yahoo.com/picks/i/20060822.html. I Want You To Want Me was a commission for the Design and The Elastic Mind exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art
.
, where he received a bachelors in Chemistry in 1999. He received his Ph.D. in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics at Stanford University in 2004.
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
based in San Francisco, CA
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He is a consulting assistant professor of computational and mathematical engineering at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
http://icme.stanford.edu/people/faculty/profile.php?personnel_id=17.
Computer science
Kamvar's main contributions to computer science have been at the intersection between computer science and mathematics, particularly in the fields of personalized searchPersonalized search
Personalized search refers to search experiences that are tailored specifically to an individual's interests by incorporating information about the individual beyond specific query provided. Pitkow et al...
and peer-to-peer networks
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
.
As a graduate student at Stanford University, he, with Taher Haveliwala and Glen Jeh, explored the mathematical fundamentals behind personalized search
Personalized search
Personalized search refers to search experiences that are tailored specifically to an individual's interests by incorporating information about the individual beyond specific query provided. Pitkow et al...
http://www-nlp.stanford.edu/publications.shtml. In early 2003, he dropped out of his Ph.D. program at the age of 25 to found Kaltix
Kaltix
Kaltix Corp. was a web search engine that was formed by Stanford University in June 2003 in Palo Alto, California. It was established to personalise and contextualise web searches by designers Taher Haveliwala, Glen Jeh and Sepandar Kamvar...
, a personalized search engine company which was acquired by Google later that year http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/kaltix.html. At Google, he was responsible for building and leading the engineering efforts in personalization at Google, most notably Google Personalized Search
Google Personalized Search
Google Personalized Search is a feature of Google Search and provided by Google. When a user is logged into a Google Account, all of their searches on Google Search are recorded into Google Web History...
and iGoogle
IGoogle
iGoogle , a service of Google, is a customizable Ajax-based startpage or personal web portal . Google originally launched the service in May 2005...
. He later finished his Ph.D. and is currently a consulting assistant professor at Stanford.
In addition to personalized search, Kamvar's other main contribution to computer science has been in peer-to-peer networks
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
. His 2003 paper, EigenTrust
EigenTrust
EigenTrust algorithm is a reputation management algorithm for peer-to-peer networks, developed by Sep Kamvar, Mario Schlosser, and Hector Garcia-Molina...
, is one of the most cited papers in the field http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=p2p%20networks.
Art
Kamvar's most well-known art works have been the web-based pieces We Feel Fine http://www.wefeelfine.org, I Want You To Want Me http://www.iwantyoutowantme.org and Lovelines http://www.love-lines.com, all collaborations with Jonathan HarrisJonathan Harris (artist)
Jonathan Harris is an internet artist and designer living in Brooklyn, New York. He has won three Webby Awards and was honoured as "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum. His work has received coverage by CNN and BBC and has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the...
. These pieces use material found in blogs, social networks, and online dating sites to illuminate human emotions and desires. We Feel Fine has been exhibited in San Francisco, New York, Seoul, and Prague, and was a Yahoo Pick of the Day http://picks.yahoo.com/picks/i/20060822.html. I Want You To Want Me was a commission for the Design and The Elastic Mind exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
Education
Kamvar attended Princeton UniversityPrinceton 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....
, where he received a bachelors in Chemistry in 1999. He received his Ph.D. in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics at Stanford University in 2004.