Mathematician, Lemur Specialist, Expert in Computer Vision Named to Endowed Posts at Yale University

Three Yale University scientists – a Hungarian mathematician known for his work on the theory of computers, an anthropologist specializing in lemurs, and an expert in computer vision and robotics – recently were named to endowed chairs by vote of the Yale Corporation.

They are Laszlo Lovasz, who was named the William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics; University Provost Alison F. Richard, who was appointed the Franklin Muzzy Crosby Professor of the Human Environment; and Steven W. Zucker, named the David and Lucille Packard Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Lovasz, a Yale faculty member since 1993, is a specialist in discrete mathematics, in particular its applications in the theory of algorithms and the theory of computing. He has written more than 200 research papers and four monographs as well as two books: “Geometric Algorithms and Combinatorial Optimization” (with Grotschel and A. Schrijver) and “Matching Theory” (with M.D. Plummer).

A native of Hungary, Lovasz holds a doctorate in mathematics from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest and another doctorate in mathematical sciences from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, also in Budapest. He held the Chair of Geometry at the University of Szeged 1975-82 and the Chair of Computer Science at Eotvos Lorand University 1983-93. He was the A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University 1982-87. He is also affiliated with the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics, a program in English for American and Canadian undergraduates.

Lovasz is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and editor-in-chief of the journal Combinatorica as well as 12 other journals. His awards include the George Polya Prize of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the Ray D. Fulkerson Prize of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Programming Society, and the Brouwer Medal of the Dutch Mathematical Society.

RICHARD Provost Richard, a longtime member of the anthropology department, has focused her research on the ecology and social behavior of primates and on what these close relatives of humans reveal about the evolution of society. She has studied primates throughout the world, but is best known for her work on the lemurs of Madagascar, which has been ongoing for some 20 years. She has written about her research in the books “Primates in Nature” and “Behavioral Variation: Case Study of a Malagasy Lemur.” Richard has also played an active role in efforts to conserve the remaining forests and wildlife of Madagascar, and for the past 20 years has helped lead efforts to integrate conservation and community development in southern Madagascar.

A native of Britain, Richard studied anthropology and primate biology at Cambridge University and London University, earning a B.A. degree from the former and a Ph.D. degree from the latter. She joined the Yale faculty in 1972.

Richard has been an active participant in Yale affairs, serving on numerous University committees. She was director of graduate studies in anthropology 1980-86 and chair of the department 1986-90. As director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 1990-95, Richard oversaw one of the most important university natural history collections in the nation and played a leading role in initiating plans for the environmental science facility that will house the Peabody’s collections.

In her current role as Provost, which she assumed in 1994, Richard coordinates and oversees academic policies of all sectors of the University, and prepares the University’s operating and capital budgets. She also maintains her collaborative research program with colleagues in Madagascar.

ZUCKER At Yale’s Center for Computational Vision and Control, Zucker is integrating computation, neuroscience and mathematics to develop an abstract theory of computational vision for use in robotics and biomedicine. He is currently collaborating with the University of California at San Francisco on studies of visual cortex function using state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques transmitted over the high-speed vBNS network (Internet2).

Zucker came to Yale in 1996 from McGill University in Montreal, where he was professor of electrical engineering, director of the Program in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and codirector of the Computer Vision and Robotics Laboratory in the McGill Research Center for Intelligent Machines. He earned a bachelor of engineering degree from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh and master of engineering and Ph.D. degrees from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He held a postdoctoral fellowship in computer science at the University of Maryland at College Park.

A fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Zucker has been invited to lecture and/or hold visiting posts at numerous institutions, including the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique in France, Tel Aviv University and the University of Cambridge. He is the author or coauthor of more than 130 research papers, a number of them prize-winning publications, and serves on the editorial boards of eight journals.