Tim Roughgarden

Tim Roughgarden

Professor of Computer Science

Tim Roughgarden is Professor in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University and the Founding Head of Research at a16z crypto.

Prior to joining Columbia, he spent 15 years on the computer science faculty at Stanford, following a PhD at Cornell and a postdoc at UC Berkeley. His research interests include the many connections between computer science and economics, as well as the design, analysis, applications, and limitations of algorithms. 

For his research, he has been awarded the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the Kalai Prize in Computer Science and Game Theory, the Social Choice and Welfare Prize, the Mathematical Programming Society's Tucker Prize, and the EATCS-SIGACT Gödel Prize. He was an invited speaker at the 2006 International Congress of Mathematicians, the Shapley Lecturer at the 2008 World Congress of the Game Theory Society, and a Guggenheim Fellow in 2017. 

He has written or edited ten books and monographs, including Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory (2016), Beyond the Worst-Case Analysis of Algorithms (2020), and the Algorithms Illuminated book series (2017-2020). 

 

Research Areas

  • Economics & Computation
  • Game Theory
  • Web3 & Blockchain
  • Cryptoeconomics
  • Algorithms
  • Optimization

Additional information

  • Professional Experience
    • Professor, Department of Computer Science, Columbia University, January 2019–present.
    • Head of Research, a16z crypto, January 2022–present.
    • Visiting Professor, Department of Mathematics, London School of Economics, September 2017–August 2018.
    • Professor, Department of Computer Science and (by courtesy) Management Science and Engineering,
    • Stanford University, February 2017–December 2018.
    • Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and (by courtesy) Management Science and
    • Engineering, Stanford University, September 2011–January 2017.
    • Assistant Professor (by courtesy), Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford Uni- versity, September 2004–August 2011.
  • Honors & Awards
    • ACM Fellow, 2024
    • Fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory, 2021 
    • FOCS Test of Time Award, 2020
    • INFORMS Lanchester Prize, 2019
    • Fellow of the Game Theory Society, 2019
    • Guggenheim Fellowship, 2017
    • Stanford Tau Beta Pi Teaching Honor Roll, 2017
    • Kalai Prize in Game Theory and Computer Science, 2016
    • Social Choice and Welfare Prize, 2014
    • EATCS-SIGACT G ̈odel Prize, 2012
    • ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, 2009
    • Shapley Lecturer, Third World Congress of the Game Theory Society, 2008
    • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2007
    • ONR Young Investigator, 2007–2010
    • Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 2006–2008
    • International Congress of Mathematicians Invited Speaker, 2006 
    • INFORMS Optimization Prize for Young Researchers, 2003 
    • Mathematical Programming Society’s Tucker Prize, 2003
    • ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award, Honorable Mention, 2002 
    • Danny Lewin Best Student Paper Award, STOC 2002
  • Education
    • PhD, Computer Science, Cornell University
    • MS, Mathematics, Cornell University
    • MS, Computer Science, Stanford University
    • BS, Applied Mathematics, Stanford Universoty