Deborah Estrin

Deborah Estrin is a prominent computer scientist and academic leader currently serving as a Professor of Computer Science and Associate Dean for Impact at Cornell Tech in New York City.14 Here are some key details about her background and accomplishments:

Academic Career

Deborah Estrin holds The Robert V. Tishman Founder's Chair at Cornell Tech and is also an Affiliate Faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine.1 Prior to joining Cornell in 2013, she was a faculty member at UCLA, where she founded and directed the NSF Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS).34 Her academic journey began with a B.S. from UC Berkeley in 1980, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from MIT in 1982 and 1985 respectively.2

Research Focus

Estrin's research primarily focuses on:

• Digital health technologies
• Emerging technologies for caregiving
• Small data applications
• Public Interest Technology

She is known for pioneering work in mobile and wireless systems for collecting and analyzing real-time data about the physical world.14

Achievements and Recognition

Estrin has received numerous accolades for her contributions to computer science:

• Elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (2009) and National Academy of Medicine (2019)14
• MacArthur Fellowship recipient (2018)34
• IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2022)1
• ACM Athena Lecture (2006)1
• IEEE Internet Award (2017)1

Professional Activities

Beyond her academic role, Estrin:

• Co-founded the non-profit startup Open mHealth14
• Served as an Amazon Scholar (2019-2020)4
• Founded the Public Interest Technology Initiative (PiTech) at Cornell Tech1

Deborah Estrin's work has significantly impacted the fields of sensor networks, mobile health, and public interest technology, making her one of the most cited computer scientists of all time.5