Tufts University professor named to National Science Board

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Tufts University Professor of Computer Science Diane L. Souvaine has been appointed to the National Science Board for her work in computational geometry.

Election to the 24-member board is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a scientist. The board operates as an independent advisor to the president and Congress on national policy issues related to science and engineering research and education. It is also the oversight and policy-making agency for the National Science Foundation.

Members are drawn from industry and academia, representing a variety of science and engineering disciplines and geographic areas. They are selected "for their preeminence in research, education or public service."  Souvaine was nominated last month by President George Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 2. One of eight newcomers to the board, she will serve a six-year term.

Souvaine is chair of the Department of Computer Science in Tufts' School of Engineering. Her specialty is computational geometry, a field which focuses on the design and analysis of algorithms for solving geometric problems. Applications can be found in such fields as VLSI design, computer graphics, robotics, computer-aided design, pattern recognition and statistics. She also has an appointment in the Mathematics Department. 

Souvaine received her doctorate from Princeton University and her bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College. Before coming to Tufts in 1998, Souvaine was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at Rutgers University for 12 years where she helped found the National Science Foundation's Science and Technology Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science. She served in its directorate from 1992 to 1994.  

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Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's schools is widely encouraged.