Éva Tardos, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Science and Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in Computing and Information Science (CIS), has been elected to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States. She is also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is the recipient of Packard, Sloan Foundation, and Guggenheim fellowships. Tardos has received numerous awards, including most recently, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ John von Neumann Medal (2019), the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science Award (2017), and the Goedel Prize (2012); she received the Fulkerson Prize in 1988.
As reported by Melanie Lefkowitz in the Cornell Chronicle:
Tardos, whose research focuses on algorithms and algorithmic game theory, is best-known for her work on network flow algorithms, approximation algorithms and quantifying the efficiency of selfish routing.
She is the author of the book “Algorithmic Game Theory,” and, with Jon Kleinberg, the Tisch University Professor of Computer Science and interim dean of Computing and Information Science, “Algorithm Design.”
She received her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary, and joined the Cornell faculty in 1989. She served as chair of computer science from 2006-10, and takes an active role in fostering diversity in computer science at Cornell and nationwide.
Some history of the American Philosophical Society:
The American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” The Society sustains its mission in four principal ways. It honors and engages distinguished scientists, humanists, social scientists, and leaders in civic and cultural affairs through elected membership and opportunities for interdisciplinary, intellectual fellowship, particularly in the semi-annual Meetings in Philadelphia. It supports research and discovery through grants and fellowships, lectures, publications, prizes, exhibitions, and public education. It serves scholars through a research library of some 13 million manuscripts and other collections internationally recognized for their enduring scholarly value. The American Philosophical Society’s current activities reflect the founder’s spirit of inquiry, provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas, and convey the conviction of its members that intellectual inquiry and critical thought are inherently in the public interest.
Early members included George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Marshall. In the nineteenth century, John James Audubon, Robert Fulton, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, and Louis Pasteur were among those elected.
In related CS news, read about Tardos' IEEE John von Neumann Medal.