College of Engineering honors two CS faculty with Founder Professorships

12/18/2017 Colin Robertson, CS @ ILLINOIS

Timothy M. Chan and Sheldon H. Jacobson have been recognized with one of the highest honors in the academy.

Written by Colin Robertson, CS @ ILLINOIS

One of the highest honors in the academy, named chairs and professorships acknowledge faculty for outstanding accomplishments in research, service, and education.  During a ceremony in November, two CS faculty—Timothy M. Chan and Sheldon H. Jacobson—were invested as Founder Professors by the College of Engineering, thanks to the generosity of the Grainger Foundation.

Founder Professorships

The Founder Professorships are made possible by the Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative, the result of a $100 million investment in the College of Engineering. The name commemorates Stillman Williams Robinson, the first faculty member to teach engineering at the University of Illinois and the first dean when the College of Engineering was organized in 1878.


Timothy M. Chan is a world leader in computational geometry and, more broadly, in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures. Chan's research is changing the way we think about dyanmic geometric data structures. He is one of the most productive and influential researchers in his field, with nearly 120 conference papers and 80 journal publications. His long-term research plans include pivoting powerful theoretical tools in the Big Data arena, where he argues that critical tasks in high-volume streaming/sketching can be formulated as geometry problems.

In 2016, Chan joined CS @ ILLINOIS after having served as a full professor in computer science and a University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo's Cheriton School of Computer Science.  Chan is one of the most popular and respected professors among students. He excels at clearly explaining difficult concepts, making it easier for students to understand and apply information.

Founder Professor Timothy M. Chan
Founder Professor Timothy M. Chan
Chan is the associate editor of ACM Transactions on Algorithms, the SIAM Journal on Computing, and the International Journal of Computational Geometry and Applications. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Algorithmica as well as Discrete and Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications. Because of his research accomplishments, Chan has been invited to speak at many conferences, including SODA 2011, ISAA 2012, WADS 2013, CCCG 2014, and SoGC/STOC 2016.

Chan graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Rice University and completed his PhD in computer science at the University of British Columbia at the age of 19. He is a former recipient of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's Doctoral Prize.


Sheldon H. Jacobson joined the Department of Computer Science faculty at Illinois in 2006.  Prior to that, he was in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Illinois from 1999.  He currently serves as the director of the Simulation and Optimization Laboratory and is the founding director of the Bed Time Research Institute at Illinois.  He also holds appointments in the Departments of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mathematics, and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana.

Founder Professor Sheldon H. Jacobson
Founder Professor Sheldon H. Jacobson
As a data scientist, Jacobson’s research focuses on using operations research models and advanced analytics to address public policy issues and societal problems of national interest.  His pioneering research on multi-level aviation security passenger screening at airports was the precursor to risk-based security, providing the foundational concepts that led to TSA Precheck©.  He researched the design of pediatric vaccine formularies, which introduced the use of operations research in the pediatric immunization domain.  Also, his research on bridging obesity, transportation, and fuel consumption established the impact of transportation on obesity, providing the foundation for non-medical obesity interventions based on modes of transportation.    

He has published over 260 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and professional/editorial publications, and delivered more than 470 presentations. Also, he has directed 21 Ph.D. dissertations and has been awarded research support from the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Jacobson is a national leader in communicating technical research to a broad audience, with his research widely published and discussed in the press and on radio and television networks worldwide.  Government and professional organizations, including the Office of President George W. Bush, have sought his expertise. He has also served on committees for the National Academy of Medicine and the National Research Council.  In 2016, he led a workshop on new directions for Broader Impacts in engineering at the National Science Foundation.

Numerous organizations have recognized Jacobson’s accomplishments, including Aviation Security International and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.  He was named a Guggenheim Fellow for his work on aviation security, and is an elected Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE).

Jacobson has a bachelor’s and a master’s of science degree in mathematics from McGill University and a Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University. He has previously served on the faculties of Case Western Reserve University and Virginia Tech, and served as a program director for the National Science Foundation from 2012 to 2014.  


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This story was published December 18, 2017.