{"551571":{"#nid":"551571","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Director Appointed for Algorithms and Randomness Center","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThis week, Professor Eric Vigoda was named as the new director of Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/arc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAlgorithms and Randomness Center\u003C\/a\u003E (ARC).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA 12-year veteran of Georgia Tech, Vigoda is a former associate chair for the School of Computer Science and teaches courses in the Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization (ACO) Ph.D. program. His research interests include Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods and phase transitions in statistical physics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEric is the perfect person for this role,\u201d said School of Computer Science Chair Lance Fortnow. \u201cWith his longtime commitment to ARC and his intimate knowledge of randomized algorithms, he\u2019s ideally suited for this role.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/people\/eric-vigoda\u0022\u003EVigoda\u003C\/a\u003E has been part of ARC since its founding in 2006 by Professor Santosh Vempala. With this new appointment, Vigoda hopes to elevate the center\u2019s presence and continue the innovative programs and research that ARC has initiated.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt is a great honor to accept this new role and increase my involvement with the center,\u201d said Vigoda. \u201cI look forward to building on the success of previous ARC directors \u2013 Professors Dana Randall, Prasad Tetali, and Santosh Vempala.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVigoda completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1999 at the University of California at Berkeley. He then held postdoctoral positions at University of Edinburgh and the Weizmann Institute, before starting as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago in 2002. Vigoda joined Georgia Tech as an associate professor in 2004.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EARC identifies and works to understand and solve problems with natural connections to algorithms and randomness. Vigoda takes on his new role as the ARC\u2019s most recent director, Dana Randall, becomes the co-director of Georgia Tech\u2019s new \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2016\/07\/01\/georgia-tech-meets-big-data-challenges-uniting-under-new-institute\u0022\u003EInstitute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS)\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about ARC, please visit the ARC \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/arc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ewebsite\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech announces Professor Eric Vigoda as the new director of the ARC."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2016-07-08 09:17:17","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:22:04","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-07-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-07-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDevin Young, communications assistant\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["devin.young@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}