Joan Feigenbaum (born 1958 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) is a

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 ...

with a background in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. She is the

Grace Murray Hopper Grace Brewster Hopper (; December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. She was a pioneer of computer programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of mach ...

Professor of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and an Amazon Scholar in the

AWS Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. Clients will often use this in combination w ...

Cryptography group. At Yale, she also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. She has worked in several research areas over the course of her career, including cryptography, security, and privacy; computational complexity; algorithmic mechanism design; massive-data-stream algorithmics; and, most recently, computer science and law.

Education and career

Feigenbaum did her undergraduate work in Mathematics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. She became interested in computers during the Summer Research Program at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

between her junior and senior years. She then earned a Ph.D. in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, under the supervision of

Andrew Yao Andrew Chi-Chih Yao ( zh , c = 姚期智 , p = Yáo Qīzhì; born December 24, 1946) is a Chinese computer scientist, physicist, and computational theorist. He is currently a professor and the dean of Institute for Interdisciplinary Informati ...

, while working summers at

. Upon finishing her PhD in 1986, she joined

AT&T Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the company operates several labo ...

. She moved to Yale in 2000, became the Hopper Professor at Yale in 2008, and became an Amazon Scholar in 2018.

Family

She is married to Jeffrey Nussbaum. They have a son, Sam Baum. Baum was chosen as the child's surname, because it is the greatest common suffix of Feigenbaum and Nussbaum.

Awards and honors

In 1998, Feigenbaum was an 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 ...

in Berlin and, in 1999, she was a Plenary Speaker at 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, ...

Winter Meeting in San Antonio. In 2001, she was named a fellow 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 ...

for her "foundational and highly influential contributions to cryptographic complexity theory, authorization and trust management, massive-data-stream computation, and algorithmic mechanism design." In 2012, she was named a fellow 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 chosen by the Connecticut Technology Council as a Woman of Innovation. In 2013, she was elected as a member of the

Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) is a 501(c)3 non-profit institution patterned after the National Academy of Sciences to identify, study, and provide expert guidance on science and technological advancements that are or ...

. In 2024, she was named a fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

and a fellow of the

International Association for Cryptologic Research The International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) is a non-profit scientific organization that furthers research in cryptology and related fields. The IACR was organized at the initiative of David Chaum at the CRYPTO '82 conference. ...

. In May 2020, she won the Test-of-Time Award from the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy for her 1996 paper (with

Matt Blaze Matt Blaze is an American researcher who focuses on the areas of secure systems, cryptography, and trust management. He is currently the McDevitt Chair of Computer Science and Law at Georgetown University, and is on the board of directors of the ...

and Jack Lacy) entitled "Decentralized Trust Management." Professor Feigenbaum has served the computing community in many roles over the course of her career. Currently, she serves as an Editorial-Board Member for the

Communications of the ACM ''Communications of the ACM'' (''CACM'') is the monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). History It was established in 1958, with Saul Rosen as its first managing editor. It is sent to all ACM members. Articles are i ...

and a Steering-Committee Member for the ACM Symposium on Computer Science and Law.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feigenbaum, Joan 1958 births American women computer scientists Living people American theoretical computer scientists Harvard College alumni Stanford University alumni Yale University faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 2001 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery 21st-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians American women academics 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians