And the count stands at 6 in 2006! Dr. Mikhail (Misha) Belkin has been awarded a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. This is the second for CSE in the new 2007 NSF budget year, but the sixth CSE assistant professor recognized with an NSF Career Award in 2006.
Dr. Belkin's work is within our Artificial Intelligence group and concentrates on Machine Learning. As technology demands grow and more automated processing is required, the area Machine Learning likewise gains importance. Dr. Belkin's project, "Geometry and High-Dimensional Inference" aims to build a theoretical foundation for a new class of inference algorithms as well as to design new algorithms for high-dimensional inference and to consider its application. A rigorous theoretical understanding of unlabeled data and its use in learning tasks is likely to have a significant impact in algorithms design and in applications of machine learning techniques in practice.
Mikhail, or Misha as he is less formally known, became an OSU-CSE faculty member in Autumn 2005. Before arriving in Columbus, he worked as a Visiting Fellow or Postdoctoral Researcher at a few very prestigious programs; Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, UC, Berkeley, UCLA and the University of Chicago. Belkin received his PhD in Mathematics at the University of Chicago under the tutelage of Partha Niyogi in 2003 where he also received his Masters in 1997. It was at the University of Toronto in 1995 that he earned his Hon. Bachelors of Science with High Distinction.
The CAREER is the NSF's most prestigious award for junior faculty members. Established in 1995, the CAREER program aims at recognizing and supporting the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century. CAREER winners are selected on the basis of creative, career-development plans that effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their institution.
Computer Science and Engineering has a standing tradition of fostering its junior faculty members and is very proud of the faculty achievements at all levels. Since 1985, faculty members at the CSE Department have received:
3 NSF PYI/NYI Awards
1 NSF PECASE Award,
17 NSF Career Awards,
3 ONR Young Investigator Awards,
4 DOE Career Awards, and
2 Sloan Foundation Fellowships.
This is only the beginning of what we know will be a long and distinguished research career for Dr. Belkin.