Full Name
Christian Borgs
Job Title
Director, Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet; Professor, EECS and BAIR
University/Company
University of California, Berkeley
Speaker Bio
Christian Borgs is a professor of Computer Science in the EECS department at the University of California, Berkeley, a member of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) Lab, and director of the Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet (BIDMaP).
He graduated in Physics at the University of Munich, and holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics from the the University of Munich and the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, as well as a Habilitation in Mathematical Physics from the Free University in Berlin. He was the C4 chair of Statistical Mechanics at the University of Leipzig, before joining Microsoft Reseach in 1997 to co-found the Theory Group. He was manager of the Theory Group until 2008, when he co-founded Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a lab that brings together traditional CS and statistics research with economics as well as qualitative social science research. Borgs was Deputy Managing Director of this lab from 2008 until he left Microsoft for Berkeley in 2020.
Among the honors he has received are the Karl-Scheel Prize of the German Physical Society, and the Heisenberg Fellowship of the German Research Council. Borgs has twice been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is a a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, and the Association of the Advancement of Science. He served or serves on several editorial boards, prize committees, and governing boards, including the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), the Governing Board of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) where he was chair from 2017 until 2019, the Adivosry Board of the Harvard Insitute for Applied Computer Science (IACS) and the External Advisory Board for Computing at NYU.
Christian Borgs has authored almost 150 research papers and is named as coinventor of over 30 patents. His current research focuses on the science of networks, including mathematical foundations, particularly the theory of graph limits (which he co-invented about 15 years ago), graph processes, graph algorithms, and applications of graph theory from economics to systems biology and epidemcs. Borgs is also well known for his earlier work on mathematical statistical physics, including the theory of first-order phase transitions and finite-size effects. He was one of the first to apply methods from mathematical statistical physics to problems in theoretical computer science, including phase transitions in combinatorial optimization, and the study of Markov chains. He has recently begun to work on aspects of responsible AI, from differential privacy to questions of bias in automatic decision making; very recently, he became interested in AI for science, in particular AI for material science with possible applications to mitgate climate change.
Christian Borgs is married to Jennifer Chayes, who also works at Bekeley, and with whom he collaborates on most of his scientific work. In his spare time, he enjoys art, theatre and classical music, as well as skiing and swimming.
He graduated in Physics at the University of Munich, and holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics from the the University of Munich and the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, as well as a Habilitation in Mathematical Physics from the Free University in Berlin. He was the C4 chair of Statistical Mechanics at the University of Leipzig, before joining Microsoft Reseach in 1997 to co-found the Theory Group. He was manager of the Theory Group until 2008, when he co-founded Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a lab that brings together traditional CS and statistics research with economics as well as qualitative social science research. Borgs was Deputy Managing Director of this lab from 2008 until he left Microsoft for Berkeley in 2020.
Among the honors he has received are the Karl-Scheel Prize of the German Physical Society, and the Heisenberg Fellowship of the German Research Council. Borgs has twice been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is a a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, and the Association of the Advancement of Science. He served or serves on several editorial boards, prize committees, and governing boards, including the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), the Governing Board of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) where he was chair from 2017 until 2019, the Adivosry Board of the Harvard Insitute for Applied Computer Science (IACS) and the External Advisory Board for Computing at NYU.
Christian Borgs has authored almost 150 research papers and is named as coinventor of over 30 patents. His current research focuses on the science of networks, including mathematical foundations, particularly the theory of graph limits (which he co-invented about 15 years ago), graph processes, graph algorithms, and applications of graph theory from economics to systems biology and epidemcs. Borgs is also well known for his earlier work on mathematical statistical physics, including the theory of first-order phase transitions and finite-size effects. He was one of the first to apply methods from mathematical statistical physics to problems in theoretical computer science, including phase transitions in combinatorial optimization, and the study of Markov chains. He has recently begun to work on aspects of responsible AI, from differential privacy to questions of bias in automatic decision making; very recently, he became interested in AI for science, in particular AI for material science with possible applications to mitgate climate change.
Christian Borgs is married to Jennifer Chayes, who also works at Bekeley, and with whom he collaborates on most of his scientific work. In his spare time, he enjoys art, theatre and classical music, as well as skiing and swimming.
Speaking At
