Srinivasan Receives CMNS Board of Visitors Distinguished Faculty Award

Aravind Srinivasan, a professor of computer science with an appointment in UMIACS, has been honored with the 2016 College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences’ Board of Visitors Distinguished Faculty Award.

The award recognizes tenure-track faculty who have made significant scientific contributions to their respective academic disciplines, and whose research has gained significant national or international attention.

Srinivasan is a noted expert in randomized algorithms, social networks and combinatorial optimization. Much of this work involves the confluence of algorithms, networks and randomness in society as they relate to public health.

In a nomination letter for Srinivasan, Ben Shneiderman, a Distinguished University Professor of computer science and a longtime UMIACS member, wrote: “Aravind is a hard-working leader in foundational research on network theory, which he wisely applies to practical problems such as community structure and epidemiology. He raises the national and international profile of our campus in valuable ways.”

In addition to his research and scholarship at Maryland, Srinivasan is editor-in-chief of the ACM Transactions on Algorithms, a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research of the highest quality dealing with algorithms.

“Aravind is a role model for many of us with his tireless dedication to outstanding research, teaching and service that benefits the scientific community, our students, and society as a whole,” says Amitabh Varshney, a professor of computer science and director of UMIACS.

Srinivasan received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and his doctorate from Cornell University, both in computer science. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and at DIMACS. Additionally, Srinivasan has worked in industrial research at Bell Labs.

He will be formally recognized with the faculty award at the college’s Academic Festival on Wednesday, May 11 at 2 p.m. in the lobby of the Physical Sciences Complex.