Jennifer Tour Chayes is dean of the college of computing, data science, and society at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. Before joining Berkeley, she was a technical fellow and managing director of

Microsoft Research New England Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which she founded in 2008, and Microsoft Research New York City, which she founded in 2012. Chayes is best known for her work on

phase transitions In physics, chemistry, and other related fields like biology, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic Sta ...

in discrete mathematics and computer science, structural and dynamical properties of self-engineered networks, and

algorithmic game theory Algorithmic game theory (AGT) is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of game theory and computer science, focused on understanding and designing algorithms for environments where multiple strategic agents interact. This research area com ...

. She is considered one of the world's experts in the modeling and analysis of dynamically growing graphs.2012 Women to Watch: Jennifer Chayes
Massachusetts High Tech. By Scott Pickering. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012. Chayes joined Microsoft Research in 1997, when she co-founded the Theory Group. She received her Ph.D. in mathematical physics at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1983. She is affiliate professor of mathematics and physics at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, and was a professor of mathematics at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

from 1987 to 2001. She is an author on almost 120 scientific papers and the inventor on more than 25 patents.

Early life and education

Chayes was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and grew up in White Plains, New York, the child of Iranian immigrants. She received her B.A. in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in 1979 where she graduated first in her class. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics at Princeton University. She did her postdoctoral work in the Mathematics and Physics departments at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and

Cornell Cornell University is a 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 White in 1865. Since ...

Career

She became a tenured mathematics professor at UCLA in 1987. While she was on sabbatical at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

in 1997,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

CTO

Nathan Myhrvold Nathan Paul Myhrvold (born August 3, 1959), formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, is co-founder of Intellectual Ventures and the principal author of ''Modernist Cuisine'' and its successor books. Early life and education Myhrvold w ...

, a classmate of Chayes's from Princeton, asked her to start and lead the Theory Group at Microsoft Research Redmond. The Theory Group analyzes fundamental questions in theoretical computer science using techniques from statistical physics and discrete mathematics. Chayes opened

in July 2008 with Borgs. The lab is located at the Microsoft New England Research & Development Center and is pursuing new, interdisciplinary areas of research that bring together core computer scientists and social scientists to understand, model, and enable future computing and online experiences. On May 3, 2012, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported, "Microsoft is opening a research lab in New York City…" which Chayes will co-manage. The new lab also brings together computer scientists and social scientists, particularly in the areas of economics, computational and behavioral social sciences, and machine learning. Prior to joining Berkeley, Chayes was Managing Director of both

and Microsoft Research New York City. She has contributed to the development of methods to analyze the structure and behavior of various networks, the design of

auction algorithm The term "auction algorithm" Dimitri P. Bertsekas. "A distributed algorithm for the assignment problem"original paper, 1979 applies to several variations of a combinatorial optimization algorithm which solves assignment problems, and network optim ...

s, and the design and analysis of various business models for the online world. She also served on the Mathematical Sciences jury for the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award granted to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards for researc ...

from 2016 to 2018.

Affiliations

Chayes serves on numerous institute boards, advisory committees and editorial boards, including the

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the fi ...

Selection Committee of the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

, the board of trustees of the

Mathematical Sciences Research Institute The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath), formerly the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), is an independent nonprofit mathematical research institution on the University of California campus in Berkeley, Califor ...

and the

Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics The Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM), founded in 2011, is an American research institute in mathematics at Brown University, funded since 2010 by a grant from the National Science Foundation. About A ...

, the Advisory Boards of the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus, and Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology. Chayes is a past chair of the Mathematics Section of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

, and a past vice-president of the American Mathematical Society. She is the recipient of a

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

Postdoctoral Fellowship, a

Sloan Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

, and the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. Chayes is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the

Fields Institute The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, commonly known simply as the Fields Institute, is an international centre for scientific research in mathematical sciences. It is an independent non-profit with strong ties to 20 Ontar ...

, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

, as well as a National Associate of the National Academies. The

Association for Women in Mathematics The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a professional society whose mission is to encourage women and girls to study and to have active careers in the mathematical sciences, and to promote equal opportunity for and the equal treatment o ...

has included her in the 2020 class of AWM Fellows for "pioneering the way for women in the mathematical sciences to have leading technical roles in the high-tech industry; for extraordinary leadership and mentoring on behalf of women in the mathematical sciences". She has been the recipient of many leadership awards, including one of the 2012

Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Awards The Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Awards honor exceptional technical women. Three awards are presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (renamed AnitaB.org in 2017) each year, recognizing women in the categories of Inn ...

. In 2019 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Chayes is featured in the Notable Women in Computing cards.

Awards and honors

* Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship (1989) * Member of

, Princeton, NJ (1994–95, 1997) * Invited Speaker at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

(1998) *

Fellow (2006) *

Fellow (2010) *

Fellow (2012) * Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision Award (2012) *

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific soci ...

John von Neumann Lecture Prize John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

(2015) *

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

honorary doctorate (2016)University of Leiden news
retrieved 2017-06-26 *

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

member (2019)

Personal life

Chayes married Christian Borgs in 1993 and was previously married to Lincoln Chayes whom she met at Wesleyan.

References

External links

Jennifer Tour Chayes homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chayes, Jennifer Tour 21st-century American physicists American theoretical computer scientists American women computer scientists American women physicists 1956 births Living people Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 2010 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Cornell University alumni Harvard University alumni Microsoft employees Microsoft Research people Microsoft technical fellows Princeton University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Washington faculty Wesleyan University alumni Scientists from New York (state) 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics American game theorists Sloan Research Fellows American people of Iranian descent Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences