The Department of Computer Science (CS) at Stony Brook University (SBU) is pleased to announce three new faculty members joined its ranks this fall. Francesco Orabona, Roy Shilkrot and Omkant Pandey are all newly appointed assistant professors in the department, each of which bring an exciting research focus to the department. The professors’ fields of interest span a wide variety of computer science topics including; encompassing algorithm design, cryptography, and augmented reality.

Francesco Orabona earned his PhD from the University of Genoa in Italy. Before arriving at Stony Brook, Orabona was a senior research scientist at Yahoo Research NY, which applies various scientific findings to its parent company’s (Yahoo) products. Prior to that, Orabona was at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, the University of Milan, and the IDIAP Research Institute. His research focuses on making machine-learning algorithms truly automatic, without the need for a human to fine tune it along the way. When asked why he chose to become part of the SBU community, Orabona remarked, “Stony Brook was a great fit for my expertise and I knew that I wanted to remain close to New York City.”

Coming to SBU after earning his PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and working as a researcher in the computer graphics lab in Tel-Aviv University, Roy Shilkrot’s research centers around augmented reality, human computer interaction, computer graphics and computer vision. Shilkrot gained experience at Microsoft Research in Redmond and describes his new role in higher education as a platform to chart the human agenda in computation and technology.

As a key member of Stony Brook University’s National Security Institute (NSI), Omkant Pandey is excited to share his passion for cryptography with students as his research projects evolve. Through NSI, which was founded as part of the recent New York SUNY 2020 vision plan, Pandey’s research will focus on applied and theoretical cryptography, web security and privacy. Pandey earned a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and he says his biggest adjustment to life on the east coast is “the fast-paced lifestyle”.

Upon their arrival to the department, Dr. Arie Kaufman, chair and distinguished professor remarked, “Stony Brook University and CS are very excited to welcome all three of these esteemed professors to our campus community. Their diverse backgrounds and expertise are sure to provide a substantial benefit for everyone.”

Ranked among the top 10% of computer science programs in the United States by the National Research Council, the Department of Computer Science (CS) has 10+ world-class centers and institutes. With the addition of these new faculty, CS is home to 90+ faculty. The department continues to seek out the most innovative and forward-thinking educators to mentor its 800+ undergraduate and 500+ graduate students. Faculty work closely with students to give them a competitive edge in areas such as cybersecurity, mobile applications, big data,  visualization, human-computer interaction, computer architecture, programming and software engineering.