Mehran Sahami
{{Short description|Iranian computer scientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Mehran Sahami
| image = File:Mehran Sahami Stanford October 2024 (cropped).jpg
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| birth_date = May 10
| birth_place = Iran
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| fields = Computer science education
Machine learning
Information retrieval
| workplaces = Stanford University
Google Inc
Epiphany, Inc.
| alma_mater = Stanford University (BS, PhD)
| doctoral_advisor = Daphne Koller
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| thesis_title = Using Machine Learning to Improve Information Access
| thesis_year = 1999
| thesis_url = http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/98/1615/CS-TR-98-1615.pdf
| notable_students =
| known_for = Spam filter
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| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
Mehran Sahami is an Iranian-born American computer scientist, engineer, and professor. He is the James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor in the School of Engineering, and Professor (Teaching) and Chair of the Computer Science department at Stanford University.{{Google scholar id}}{{DBLP}} He is also the Robert and Ruth Halperin University Fellow in Undergraduate Education.
Education
Sahami earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1992 and PhD in 1999 from Stanford University{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Mehran|last=Sahami |title=Using Machine Learning to Improve Information Access |publisher=Stanford University |date=1999 |url=http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/98/1615/CS-TR-98-1615.pdf |website=stanford.edu |oclc=42295094 |doi= |hdl=}} for research supervised by Daphne Koller.{{MathGenealogy}}
Career and research
Sahami's research interests are in computer science education,{{citation | last1 = Reich | first1 = Rob | last2 = Sahami | first2 = Mehran | last3 = Weinstein | first3 = Jeremy M. | last4 = Cohen | first4 = Hilary | title = Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education | chapter = Teaching Computer Ethics | date = 2020 | pages = 296–302 | publisher = ACM | doi = 10.1145/3328778.3366951 | isbn = 9781450367936 | s2cid = 211520552 | chapter-url = }}{{citation | last1 = Sahami | first1 = Mehran | last2 = Astrachan | first2 = Owen | last3 = Czajka | first3 = Sandy | last4 = Decker | first4 = Adrienne | last5 = Rosato | first5 = Jennifer | title = Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2 | chapter = Should the AP Computer Science A Exam Switch to Using Python? | date = 2022 | pages = 1015–1016 | publisher = ACM | doi = 10.1145/3478432.3499230 | isbn = 9781450390712 | s2cid = 247026722 | chapter-url = }} machine learning and information retrieval.
Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was a senior research scientist at Google, Inc. as well as a senior engineering manager at Epiphany, Inc.{{Official URL}}
Sahami teaches the introductory computer science sequence at Stanford. He led Stanford's computer science curriculum redesign from a large core to a smaller core with specialization tracks.Mehran Sahami [http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/CurriculumRevision-Overview-09-26-08.pdf Overview of the New Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum]. September 26, 2008 Some of his lectures are made available on YouTube and iTunesU.[http://see.stanford.edu/see/courseinfo.aspx?coll=824a47e1-135f-4508-a5aa-866adcae1111 Stanford School of Engineering] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511142707/http://see.stanford.edu/see/courseinfo.aspx?coll=824a47e1-135f-4508-a5aa-866adcae1111 |date=2011-05-11 }} - Stanford Engineering Everywhere. See.stanford.edu. Retrieved on 2011-07-31.
His research interests include computer science education, artificial intelligence, and ethics. He served as co-chair of the ACM/IEEE-CS joint task force on Computer Science Curricula 2013, which created curricular guidelines for college programs in Computer Science at an international level. He has also served as chair of the ACM Education Board, an elected member of the ACM Council, and was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the state's Computer Science Strategic Implementation Plan Advisory Panel.
=Awards and honors=
Sahami was selected by the 2013 graduating senior class to give the annual Class Day Lecture at Stanford University's Commencement Weekend ceremonies.{{cite web|url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/june/classday-address-sahami-061513.html |title=Stanford Professor Sahami to Class of '13: Use your 'superpower' to improve the world|date=15 June 2013 |publisher=Stanford University|accessdate=October 12, 2015}}
In 2014, Sahami received the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Presidential Award for "outstanding leadership of, and commitment to, the three-year ACM/IEEE-CS effort to produce CS2013, a comprehensive revision of the curricular guidelines for undergraduate programs in computer science".{{cite web|url=http://awards.acm.org/award_winners/sahami_ui13610.cfm |title=ACM Presidential Award|publisher=ACM|accessdate=October 29, 2015}}
References
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Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:Stanford University School of Engineering faculty
Category:Computer science educators