Deborah Estrin receives MacArthur ‘genius’ award

2008 Distinguished CS Alumna Deborah Estrin (B.S. EECS  ’80) has been awarded a 2018 ‘genius’ grant from the the MacArthur Foundation.  Winners are chosen for “solving long-standing scientific and mathematical problems, pushing art forms into new and emerging territories, and addressing the urgent needs of under-resourced communities.”  Estrin completed her graduate work at MIT before becoming a professor at USC, UCLA, and eventually Cornell Tech in New York, where she is currently Associate Dean.  She designs “open-source platforms that leverage mobile devices and data to address socio-technological challenges such as personal health management.”  She was among the first to ascertain the potential of using the digital traces of people’s daily lives for participatory mobile health.