Dexter Kozen is the Joseph Newton Pew, Jr. Professor in Engineering at Cornell University. He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in mathematics in 1974 and his PhD from Cornell in computer science in 1977. After working as a member of the research staff at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center for several years, he returned to Ithaca to join the Cornell faculty in computer science in 1985. He is a former Guggenheim fellow and a fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the European Association of Theoretical Computer Science. He is a recipient of the John G. Kemeny Prize in Computing, an IBM Outstanding Innovation Award, and the 2016 EATCS Award. Kozen’s research interests span a variety of topics on the boundary of computer science and mathematics: design and analysis of algorithms, computational complexity theory, complexity of decision problems in logic and algebra, and logics and semantics of programming languages.
He is the author of over 150 research articles and four books. Kozen lives with his wife Frances, Director of the Cornell Institute for Fiber and Fashion Innovation in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell. They have three sons, Alex 31, a research scientist at the Naval Research Labs in Washington, DC; Geoff 29, a lawyer in Washington, DC; and Tim 27, a geologist with Schlumberger Corporation. For leisure activities, he enjoys music of all types, but especially modern rock. He can be seen occasionally playing guitar with a local Ithaca rock band. He also enjoys sports, especially rugby, ice hockey, and skiing.
Awards
2016 W. Wallace McDowell Award Recipient
“For groundbreaking contributions to topics ranging from computational complexity, to the analysis of algebraic computations, to logics of programs and verification.” Learn more about the W. Wallace McDowell Award
