Toniann Pitassi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Toniann Pitassi
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Pitassi at the MFO workshop Proof Complexity and Beyond, 2017
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| Spouse(s) | Richard Zemel |
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| Fields | Mathematics, computer science |
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| Doctoral advisor | Stephen Cook |
Toniann Pitassi is a smart Canadian-American mathematician and computer scientist. She studies computational complexity theory, which is about how much time and resources computers need to solve problems. Currently, she is a special professor at Columbia University. Before that, she was a top researcher at the University of Toronto.
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Her Journey in Science
Toniann Pitassi grew up in Pittsburgh. She went to Pennsylvania State University for her first degrees. Later, she moved to the University of Toronto to earn her PhD in 1992. Her main teacher there was Stephen Cook, a very famous computer scientist.
After finishing her studies, she worked at other universities. These included the University of California, San Diego, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Arizona. In 2001, she went back to the University of Toronto. She taught computer science and mathematics there until 2021. Then, she joined the team at Columbia University.
Important Events in Her Career
In 1998, Toniann Pitassi was asked to speak at a big meeting for mathematicians in Berlin. This is a great honor. She also helped organize a major computer science conference in 2012. It was called the Symposium on Theory of Computing. From September to December 2017, she was a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study. This is a special place where top scientists do research.
What She Researches
Toniann Pitassi's main research area is called proof complexity. This is a part of computational complexity theory. Imagine you have a math problem or a puzzle. Proof complexity tries to figure out how long or how complicated the shortest possible proof for that problem would be.
Understanding Proof Complexity
The goal of this research is to understand how much "work" a computer needs to do to find a proof. It also helps scientists compare different ways of proving things. They want to see which proof methods are stronger or more efficient.
For example, her work has shown how hard it is to prove certain math ideas. She found out how long proofs can be for things like the "pigeonhole principle." This principle says if you have more pigeons than pigeonholes, at least one pigeonhole must have more than one pigeon. She also studied problems related to finding the largest group of connected points in a network.
Awards and Recognition
Toniann Pitassi has received several important awards for her work.
ACM Fellow
In 2018, she was named an ACM Fellow. This award is given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). She got it for her important contributions to computer science research and teaching. Especially for her work in computational and proof complexity.
EATCS Award
She also received the EATCS Award in 2021. EATCS stands for the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. This award recognized her "fundamental and wide-ranging contributions" to how computers solve problems.
National Academy of Sciences
In 2022, Toniann Pitassi was chosen to be part of the National Academy of Sciences. This is a very high honor in the United States. It means she is recognized as one of the country's top scientists.
