A is for Algorithms —what else would it be?
Of A-groups we’re strongest, most arguably.
We started out small but with high quality,
With Hopcroft the focus, the center, the key.
It’s bigger than him now, as you can see,
Ever since we became multidisciplin’ry.

The range of our contributions to algorithms is impressive and extensive.

Hopcroft: an ACM Turing Prize for his 1971-72 work with Bob Tarjan on planarity algorithms.

Dexter Kozen: algorithms in computer algebra and symbolic computation.

Eva Tardos: a Fulkerson Prize for her work on network flow algorithms, with newer work on networks like the Internet and social networks, and the new 2006 George B. Dantzig Prize.

David Shmoys: influential in giving approximability the role it enjoys.

ORIE colleague David Williamson: a Fulkerson Prize for his work on semidefinite programming in approximation algorithms.

Jon Kleinberg: a MacArthur Genius Award for his work on hubs-and-authorities, which changed how search engines rank pages.

New faculty member Bobby Kleinberg: already recognized for his work on stochastic algorithms and learning-based models for networks.

There are others. Ramin Zabih and Dan Huttenlocher: major impacts in algorithms in computer vision. Bart Selman and Carla Gomes: AI algorithms. Johannes Gehrke: data mining algorithms. David Gries: the methodological side of algorithm design brings another perspective to the table.

On top of that, the group influenced the teaching of algorithmic design, beginning with the classic text on The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms by Aho, Hopcroft, and Ullman (1974), and moving through Kozen’s text on The Design and Analysis of Algorithms (1991) to the new Kleinberg-Tardos text Algorithm Design (2005).