Satya and 4 students reviewing research

Core CSD Advisors

The list provided here includes the core Computer Science Department faculty who can advise CSD doctoral students.

Doctoral Advising

In addition to being advised by core CSD research or tenure track faculty, doctoral students in the Computer Science Department may also be advised or co-advised by faculty within the School of Computer Science or other Carnegie Mellon University colleges when appropriate. 

Program details are available in the doctoral program handbook and in the doctoral student resources online information. 

Please Note: 

  • Faculty advisors may not be recruiting in any given year due to their current advising load. 
  • By default faculty on this list can serve on thesis committees in addition to acting as advisors. However, this is not the full list of faculty who may be approved to serve on a thesis committee. Please refer to the CSD Thesis Proposal Process for information about forming your thesis committee.
Name Research Area(s)
Umut Acar
  • Programming Languages
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
David Andersen
  • Systems
  • Databases
  • Distributed Systems
  • Networking
  • Security
  • Security and Privacy
Maria Balcan
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
Stephanie Balzer
  • Programming Languages
  • Pure and Applied Logic
  • Software Verification
  • Type Theory
  • Security
  • Security and Privacy
Nathan Beckmann
  • Systems
  • Computer Architecture
  • Data-Intensive and Cloud Computing
  • Mobile and Pervasive Computing
  • Operating Systems
  • Performance Modeling & Analysis
Guy Blelloch
  • Programming Languages
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
Tianqi Chen
  • Machine Learning
  • Artificial Intelligence
Vincent Conitzer
  • Artificial Intelligence
Keenan Crane
  • Graphics
Karl Crary
  • Programming Languages
  • Security and Privacy
Tim Dettmers
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
Chris Donahue
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
Christos Faloutsos
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
  • Systems
  • Databases
  • Distributed Systems
Matt Fredrikson
  • Programming Languages
  • Formal Methods
  • Security and Privacy
David Garlan
  • Programming Languages
  • Security
  • Formal Methods
  • Mobile and Pervasive Computing
  • Security and Privacy
  • Software Engineering
Phillip Gibbons
  • Systems
Seth Goldstein
  • Programming Languages
  • Systems
  • Computer Architecture
  • Distributed Systems
Mor Harchol-Balter
  • Systems
  • Distributed Systems
  • Networking
  • Performance Modeling & Analysis
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
  • Applied Theory
Robert Harper
  • Programming Languages
  • Formal Methods
  • Pure and Applied Logic
  • Software Engineering
  • Type Theory
  • Networking
  • Security and Privacy
Marijn Heule
  • Programming Languages
  • Formal Methods
  • Pure and Applied Logic
Jessica Hodgins
  • Computational Neuroscience
  • Graphics
  • Robotics
Jan Hoffmann
  • Programming Languages
  • Formal Methods
  • Security and Privacy
Aayush Jain
  • Theory
  • Cryptography
Zhihao Jia
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Systems
Aviral Kumar
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
  • Robotics
William Kuszmaul
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
Tai-Sing Lee
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computational Neuroscience
Jason Li
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
Minchen Li
  • Graphics
  • Machine Learning
  • Robotics
Yang Liu
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
Ruben Martins
  • Systems
Tom Mitchell
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computational Neuroscience
  • Machine Learning
Todd Mowry
  • Systems
  • Computer Architecture
  • Databases
Ryan O'Donnell
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
  • Security and Privacy
Matthew O'Toole
  • Graphics
  • Robotics
Bryan Parno
  • Cryptography
  • Distributed Systems
  • Formal Methods
  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages
  • Security
  • Security and Privacy
  • Software Verification
  • Systems
Jignesh Patel
  • Systems
  • Data-Intensive and Cloud Computing
  • Databases
Andrew Pavlo
  • Systems
  • Data-Intensive and Cloud Computing
  • Databases
  • Distributed Systems
Richard Peng
  • Algorithms and Complexity
  • Theory
Frank Pfenning
  • Formal Methods
  • Programming Languages
  • Pure and Applied Logic
  • Security and Privacy
Nancy Pollard
  • Computational Neuroscience
  • Graphics
  • Robotics
Aditi Raghunathan
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
Feras Saad
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Programming Languages
  • Theory
Tuomas Sandholm
  • Algorithms and Complexity
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Game Theory
  • Machine Learning
  • Theory
Mahadev Satyanarayanan
  • Systems
  • Mobile and Pervasive Computing
  • Distributed Systems
  • Security and Privacy
Srinivasan Seshan
  • Distributed Systems
  • Mobile and Pervasive Computing
  • Networking
  • Systems
Nihar Shah
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine Learning
  • Theory
Justine Sherry
  • Security
  • Systems
  • Data-Intensive and Cloud Computing
  • Networking
  • Security and Privacy
Reid Simmons
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Robotics
Dimitrios Skarlatos
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Systems
  • Computer Architecture
  • Operating Systems
  • Security and Privacy
Danny Sleator
  • Algorithms and Complexity
  • Theory
  • Artificial Intelligence
Peter Steenkiste
  • Distributed Systems
  • Mobile and Pervasive Computing
  • Networking
  • Security and Privacy
  • Systems
David Touretzky
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Robotics
Rashmi Korlakai Vinayak
  • Systems
  • Data-Intensive and Cloud Computing
  • Distributed Systems
  • Networking
  • Theory
Weina Wang
  • Theory
  • Algorithms and Complexity
  • Machine Learning
  • Performance Modeling & Analysis
David Woodruff
  • Algorithms and Complexity
  • Machine Learning
  • Theory
Wenting Zheng
  • Security
  • Systems
  • Cryptography