By Saif Kureishi, Staff Writer
Amidst complaints and requests concerning the lack of sufficient faculty in Haverford’s Computer Science Department, Haverford College began the process of hiring new tenure-track faculty members this past semester. Outrage over the limited amount of faculty made such a great impact that several complaints were featured in an article written by the New York Times.
The Tenure-Track Search Committee for computer science was chaired by professor Andrea Lommen of the Haverford physics department, and included computer science professor Steve Lindell, computer science and linguistics professor Jane Chandlee, computer science professor Sorelle Friedler, Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Hiring and Review Georgia Davidis, and computer science majors Alison Rosenman ’20 and Charles Marx ’20.
This semester, the committee brought final candidates to campus in order to gauge student interest around the candidates’ research as well as get student input on whom to hire. Candidates held a short demonstration class, a formal lecture, and then had a casual lunch with students. Four candidates were brought to campus, including Rebecca Knowles HC ’12.
Alison Rosenman HC ’20, student representative on the committee, stressed the committee’s goals to be as inclusive as possible in the search process, “I was really glad to see that students, staff and non-departmental representatives were on this committee, especially the role Georgia Davidis played in ensuring equal employment opportunity compliance.”
The search process culminated with the hiring of professor Sara Mathieson. Currently a visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College, Mathieson completed her PhD at UC Berkeley, specializing in computational and genomic biology. Her current research interests focus on developing statistical and machine learning methods for problems in biology. This interest allows for the possibility of strong synergies amongst Haverford’s current faculty, including professor Sorelle Friedler, whose research utilizes machine learning algorithms, and newly hired assistant professor in mathematics Rebecca Everett, whose research involves computational biology.
Mathieson not only has experience in computational science, but is familiar with the culture and workings of a liberal arts community. Mathieson attended Harvey Mudd College before completing her Bachelors in Mathematics with Computer Science at MIT, and has also taught at Smith College.
The computer science department is continuing to search for two visiting computer science Professors.
Image credit: Smith College
