Peter Lee

My current research is in three main areas: (1) Design of languages for programming large-scale distributed systems, (2) program analysis and verification of programs, and (3) "proof-carrying" techniques for enhanced software security.

As examples of these themes, currently I am working on programming models for very large-scale modular robotics systems in the Claytronics Project. My most recent paper, "A Language for Large Ensembles of Independently Executing Nodes," by Michael Ashley-Rollman, Peter Lee, Seth Copen Goldstein, Padmanabhan Pillai and Jason Campbell, will be appearing in July at the International Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP). A short blog post about this paper can be seen here.

I am also doing work on shape analysis and verification of C-like programs that manipulate mutable heap structures. Finally, I am involved in a project to use proof-carrying techniques in ultra-secure file systems.

I do a lot of service work for the research community. I am the Chair of the CRA Board of Directors, and also chair its Government Affairs Committee. I am also a member of the CCC Council, the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB), and am Vice-Chair of the DARPA Information Science and Technology Board. I have a weblog, CSDiary, which is read by people who are interested in contemporary issues in academic computing research and education at CMU. I also help maintain the CCC Blog.

Recently, I testified before the Science and Technology Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, on the importance of federal investment in IT research.

I also am the Principal Investigator for the Computing Innovation Fellows Project, which seeks to rescue hundreds of new computing PhDs from being lost to research and higher education.

Finally, I am the Head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, one of the largest and most important organizations in computing research and education in the world today. This keeps me very busy. But in a good, fun sort of way. :-)

I've been involved in a CCC project to gather ideas for "computing research initiatives for the 21st century". I was involved in writing several pieces, including one on Re-Envisioning DARPA and another on Infrastructure for eScience and eLearning. The latter has now morphed into a more extensive piece, Unleashing Waves of Innovation. Lots of other pieces on the connection between IT research and U.S. innovation (not all of them written by me) are also available.

Back From the Inauguration

Well, my attempts to live-blog from the Inauguration fizzled. The signal strength was usually very good but actually getting bits transmitted reliably from my iPhone was another matter. This hardly mattered, though. Today was wonderful. I realize it sounds corny, but today was a day that made me proud of my country and especially proud of my fellow Americans.

I brought my wife and son with me, partly to spend time with my father and stepmother in Falls Church, and partly to go to the Inauguration. One problem, however, was that I had only two "yellow" tickets for the close-in seated area. My third ticket was "purple," for the mid-level standing-room area. I decided to give the yellow tickets to my wife and son and use the purple ticket for myself. (Most of the women who heard about this were impressed by my thoughtfulness and generosity. Most of the men realized instantly that I was motivated just as much by fear as by magnanimity. :-) This decision would largely define my experience at the Inauguration...