Steven S. Skiena

Steven S. Skiena is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Computer Science at Stony Brook University. His research interests include the design of graph, string, and geometric algorithms, and their applications (particularly to biology). He is the  author of four books, most notably the popular "The Algorithm Design Manual." His book "Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win" uses a gambling system he developed for the sport of jai-alai to explain the workings of financial trading systems. Skiena heads the Lydia news/blog analysis project at Stony Brook, using large-scale text analysis to chart the frequency, sentiment and relationships among millions of people, places, and things.   This technology forms the foundation of General Sentiment (www.generalsentiment.com), which he serves as chief scientist and co-founder. He received his PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1988, and is recipient of the ONR Young Investigator Award.