Steven Skiena is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Computer Science and the Director of the Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation at Stony Brook University. His research interests include data science, bioinformatics, and algorithms. He is the author of six books, including "The Algorithm Design Manual,"  "The Data Science Design Manual," and "Who's Bigger: Where Historical Figures Really Rank."

Skiena received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in 1988. He is the author of more than 150 technical papers. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a former Fulbright scholar, and recipient of the ONR Young Investigator Award and the IEEE Computer Science and Engineer Teaching Award.  More info is available at http://www.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/.