Debo
rah Estrin, a professor of computer science and the founding director of the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing at the University of California-Los Angeles, is the first faculty member hired for the CornellNYC Tech, the new tech campus being developed on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The $2 billion campus will be built on the southern end of Roosevelt Island in the East River. While the campus is being built, classes will be held beginning this fall in temporary space in the New York City’s offices of Google Inc.
Professor Estrin is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. She earned a Ph.D. in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Estrin is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She is the winner of the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame Award (2008) and Anita Borg Institute’s Women of Vision Award for Innovation (2007). She serves on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
“My entire career has been about applying technology to improve people’s lives, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to help CornellNYC Tech create a new university model that removes the barriers between research and application,” Professor Estrin said. “CornellNYC Tech will help us use technology to lead healthier lives, to protect our environment, and to change the way we communicate with each other, and it was something of which I just had to be a part.”