Dexter Campbell Kozen (born December 20, 1951) is an American theoretical

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

. He is Professor Emeritus and Joseph Newton Pew, Jr. Professor in Engineering at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Career

Kozen received his BA in mathematics from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1974 and his PhD in computer science in 1977 from Cornell University, where he was advised by Juris Hartmanis on the thesis, ''Complexity of Finitely Presented Algebras''. He is known for his work at the intersection of

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

and

complexity Complexity characterizes the behavior of a system or model whose components interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to non-linearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generally used to c ...

. He is one of the fathers of dynamic logic and developed the version of the modal μ-calculus most used today. His work on Kleene algebra with tests was recognized with an Alonzo Church Award in 2022. Moreover, he has written several textbooks on the

theory of computation In theoretical computer science and mathematics, the theory of computation is the branch that deals with what problems can be solved on a model of computation, using an algorithm, how efficiently they can be solved or to what degree (e.g., app ...

automata theory Automata theory is the study of abstract machines and automata, as well as the computational problems that can be solved using them. It is a theory in theoretical computer science with close connections to cognitive science and mathematical l ...

, dynamic logic, and

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for per ...

. Kozen was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter in the band "Harmful if Swallowed". He also holds the position of faculty advisor for Cornell's rugby football club.

Awards and honors

* John G. Kemeny Prize in Computing, Dartmouth College (1974) * Outstanding Innovation Award, IBM Corporation (1974) * Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1991) * Stephen and Margery Russell Distinguished Teaching Award, College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell (2001) *

ACM Fellow ACM Fellowship is an award and fellowship that recognises outstanding members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The title of ACM Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals ...

, for contributions to theoretical computer science (2003) * Fellow, AAAS (2008) * 2001 LICS Test-of-Time Award for the paper "A completeness theorem for Kleene algebras and the algebra of regular events" (2011) * Faculty of the Year, ACSU
Association of Computer Science Undergraduates
at Cornell) (2013) * Radboud Excellence professorship at the

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public university, public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistentl ...

(2014) * Fellow, EATCS (2015) * EATCS Distinguished Achievements Award (2016) * McDowell Award, for groundbreaking contributions to topics ranging from computational complexity to the analysis of algebraic computations to logics of programs and verification (2016) * Weiss Presidential Fellow (2018) * POPL Distinguished Paper Award for the paper "Guarded Kleene algebra with tests: verification of uninterpreted programs in nearly linear time" (2020) * Alonzo Church Award, for his fundamental work on developing the theory and applications of Kleene Algebra with Tests, an equational system for reasoning about iterative programs, published in the paper "Kleene algebra with tests" (2022) * OOPSLA Distinguished Paper Award for the paper "Formal abstractions for packet scheduling" (2023)

References

External links

Dexter Kozen's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozen, Dexter 2003 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Living people American theoretical computer scientists Cornell University faculty Cornell University alumni Dartmouth College alumni Computer scientists Theoretical computer scientists 1951 births Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen