Download TCS Strategic Information

TCS A1: Strategic Information
Culture Carrier in
Theoretical Computer Science
Backbone of CS
Engineering program
Training PhD:s for industry
Algorithms and Complexity
Computer and Information
Security and Safety
Language Technology
Uncertainty management
Following both CUDOS (Merton)
and PLACE (Ziman) Ethoses
Foundational
studies
Algorithms and complexity:
Can computation problem P be
solved efficiently? If so, how?
If not, can it be solved efficiently
with high probability, approximatetly
correct, etc.? How to prove that it can’t?
Cryptography and information security:
Can I prove that electronic voting
results are correct without revealing
individual votes? Similar in auctions.
Program safety and security:
rapid formal verification, theory of
testing
Uncertainty and Language technology
Utility-driven
research
Software security
(EU S3MS, 4WARD)
Program analysis and testing
Software safety
Language tools:
anonymization of public
documents, Swedish and minority
languages
Realistic decision support:
CC/psychiatry/primary health care
Effects-Based operations
Strategic Impact
• Trained PhD:s (many with postdocs at MIT, ETH,..) at
Saab, Ericsson, Swedish Defense, Ernest&Young,
Cinnober Financial Technology, Nasdaq Omx
Spotify, Google,
scholars at KTH, UU, MHD, Imperial College, Cornell
university,
• 200 Master’s theses since year 2003: trained CS
engineers everywhere.
• Spectacular performances can recruit good students:
Cipher Challenge, ACM ICPC,
24-hour Extreme Challenge
• Security: exploitable technology area
Some results:
• Per Austrin: Towards sharp inapproximability for any 2CSP, FOCS 2007 (Machtey Award)
• Mika Cohen, Mads Dam: A Complete axiomatization of
Knowledge and Cryptography, LICS 2007
• Jakob Nordström: Narrow proofs may be spacious:
separating space and width in resolution, STOC 2006
(Lewin best student papers award)
• Douglas Wikström: A sender-verifiable mix-net and a new
proof of a shuffle (ASIACRYPT 2005) (author got an
Ingvar Carlsson award in 2007)
• Torbjörn Granlund: GMP: Code for multiple precision
arithmetic on most of the worlds computers.
SWOC
• Strength: Competence, reputation, breadth
• Weakness: Financing, KTH organization
• Opportunity: Regroup around security and
safety issues, competitive Master’s programs
in theory/security/software
• Challenge/threat: Little CSC involvment in
KTH strategic discussions, student
recruitment, PhD student financing,
inappropriate KTH organization.
SWOC
• Strength: Competence, reputation, breadth
Competence: Four (and more coming) full professors,
five Docents
Reputation: Membership in International panels:
Gödel, Nevanlinna prizes, University, department
and research proposal/program evaluations,
selections and promotions.
Best (Swedish) engineering teacher prize.
Breadth: Spans discrete
math/complexity/logic/automata/semantics/inference/
statistics/…
SWOC
• Strength: Competence, reputation, breadth
• Weakness: Financing, KTH organization
Financing from internal faculty grants and Swedish
research councils have decreased dramatically.
Alternative financing (Vinnova, Vårdal) is random,
and no feedback to applicants is typically given.
It is not completely obvious that the KTH organization
of ICT/CS is appropriate.
SWOC
• Strength: Competence, reputation, breadth
• Weakness: Financing, KTH organization
• Opportunity: Regroup around security and
safety issues, competitive Master’s programs
in theory/security/software. Work has just
started.
SWOC
• Strength: Competence, reputation, breadth
• Weakness: Financing, KTH organization
• Opportunity: security and safety issues,
competitive Master’s programs
• Challenge/threat: Little CSC involvement in
KTH strategic discussions, student
recruitment, PhD student financing,
inappropriate KTH organization.