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Steven Skiena

Steven Skiena is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Steven Skiena rather than just read about it. In short: Steven Sol Skiena (born January 30, 1961) is a computer scientist and distinguished teaching professor of computer science at Stony Brook University. He is also director of AI Institute at Stony Brook.

Steven Skiena — main illustration
Steven Skiena — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Steven Skiena belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Steven Skiena to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Steven Skiena from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Steven Sol Skiena (born January 30, 1961) is a computer scientist and distinguished teaching professor of computer science at Stony Brook University. He is also director of AI Institute at Stony Brook. He was co-founder of General Sentiment, a social media and news analytics company, and served as chief science officer from 2009 until it shut down in 2015. His research interests include algorithm design and its applications to biology. Skiena is the author of several popular books in the fields of algorithms, programming, and mathematics. The Algorithm Design Manual is widely used as an undergraduate text in algorithms and within the tech industry for job interview preparation. In 2001, Skiena was awarded the IEEE Computer Science and Engineering Undergraduate Teaching Award "for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education in the areas of algorithms and discrete mathematics and for influential textbook and software." Skiena has worked on algorithmic problems in synthetic biology, and, in particular, issues of optimal gene design for a given protein under various constraints. In collaboration with virologist Eckard Wimmer, he has worked to computationally design synthetic viruses for use as attenuated vaccines. Their Synthetic Attenuated Virus Engineering (SAVE) approach has been validated in flu and experiments with other viruses are ongoing. A popular account of this work appears in Dennis Shasha and Cathy Lazare's Natural Computing. Skiena played a role in the conception of the Apple iPad. In 1988, Skiena and his team won a competition run by Apple to design the Computer of the Year 2000. Their design, a tablet featuring a touch screen, GPS, and wireless communications was similar in many regards to the iPad as released by Apple in 2010.

Bibliography Skiena, Steven (2017). The Data Science Design Manual. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3319554433. Skiena, Steven; Ward, Charles (2013). Who's Bigger: Where Historical Figures Really Rank. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107041370. Skiena, Steven (2010). The Algorithm Design Manual (2nd ed.). Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 978-1-849-96720-4. Skiena, Steven; Revilla, Miguel (2003). Programming Challenges: The Programming Contest Training Manual (1st ed.). Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 0-387-00163-8. Skiena, Steven (2001). Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win (Outlooks) (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00962-6. Pemmaraju, Sriram; Skiena, Steven (15 October 2009). Computational Discrete Mathematics: Combinatorics and Graph Theory with Mathematics (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-12146-0.

References

External links Home page Steven Skiena publications indexed by Google Scholar

Illustrations

Steven Skiena illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Steven Skiena

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Steven Skiena claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Steven Skiena before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Steven Skiena ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Steven Skiena

In research
Steven Skiena appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Steven Skiena in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Steven Skiena is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1961 births, American computer science educators, American computer scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Steven Skiena outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Steven Skiena in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Steven Skiena means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Steven Skiena out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Steven Skiena in simple terms?

Steven Sol Skiena (born January 30, 1961) is a computer scientist and distinguished teaching professor of computer science at Stony Brook University. He is also director of AI Institute at Stony Brook.

Why does Steven Skiena matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Steven Skiena?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Steven Skiena.

Tags

  • 1961 births
  • American computer science educators
  • American computer scientists
  • Living people
  • Stony Brook University faculty
  • Synthetic biologists
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni

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