Matt Welsh Named Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science

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Matt Welsh Named Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science

Cambridge, Mass. - July 26, 2010 - Computer scientist Matt Welsh, whose work to develop sensor networks has benefited data-intensive disciplines from seismology to medicine, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University.

Welsh was previously Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor of Computer Science in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), where he has been a member of the faculty since 2003. He is currently on sabbatical at Google.

"From monitoring volcanoes to sniffing out the weather of a city to checking up on stroke patients, Matt Welsh is a computer scientist who bridges the virtual world with the real one," says SEAS Dean Cherry A. Murray. "His work on programming and deploying sensor nets has and will continue to bring together some of the major initiatives at SEAS such as biomimetics and data privacy and security. Moreover, Matt is deeply committed to teaching and to his students -- having long said his favorite thing about Harvard is working with the ’scary-smart’ undergraduates. We are very pleased that he is now a tenured faculty member and are eager to learn about his experiences during his sabbatical year at Google."

Welsh’s research in the emerging area of sensor networks could allow inexpensive collection of tremendous volumes of data over large areas. Scientists might use sensor networks to track weather, environmental factors, and seismic signals, while businesses could use sensors to monitor systems’ reliability and security.

Welsh has helped address some of the major constraints on sensor networks, particularly the reduced power available to networks operating over large areas. He has helped move the field forward with new communication architectures and new models of computation that can automatically process signals in energy-efficient fashion.

Welsh has frequently embedded himself in disciplines other than computer science to build practical sensor networks that address real-world problems. He has worked with seismologists to fit several Ecuadorian mountains with wireless arrays to monitor volcanic activity, helping researchers, officials, and residents understand and plan for eruptions of Ecuador’s most active volcanoes.

Working with physicians studying Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, Welsh has investigated the use of lightweight wireless sensors for continuous monitoring of the body’s motion and vital signs. He is part of a project to install wireless sensors atop streetlights in Cambridge, Mass., creating the world’s first city-wide network of wireless sensors for everything from meteorological data to traffic conditions and noise pollution.

Welsh has also made research contributions in the areas of operating systems, general networking, programming languages, and distributed systems.

Welsh holds a B.S. from Cornell University, awarded in 1996, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, awarded in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He was a senior researcher with Intel Research in Berkeley, Calif., from 2002 to 2003, when he became an assistant professor of computer science at Harvard. He was named associate professor in 2007.

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