|
Ryan Williams
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science I've been at MIT since 2017. I got a PhD from Carnegie Mellon, advised by the marvelous Manuel Blum, and I was an undergrad at Cornell. For more, see my CV below. |
|
Fall 2025: Visiting the Institute for Advanced Study
(I will be back at MIT in the Spring, to teach 18.405 (Advanced Complexity Theory)!) |
Academic:
Past Teaching:
|
Research InterestsIn general, I try to understand what is easy and what is hard to compute, independently of any particular computer. I work in algorithm design and complexity theory, and I especially like connections between the two subjects. I think about many questions, but a few of them haunt me more than others. Some examples: Can the existence of an algorithm for a problem be used to prove that other algorithms cannot exist for other problems? Can the nonexistence of algorithms be used to prove that another algorithm correctly solves a problem? (In fact, there are "yes" answers to both questions!) Does every function implementable with a low memory footprint also have a fast implementation? (Is $P = PSPACE$?) Could computers themselves help us make progress on answering these questions?Current PhD StudentsJiatu LiNathan Sheffield Zoe Xi Graduated PhD StudentsHuacheng YuCody Murray Josh Alman Dylan McKay Brynmor Chapman Lijie Chen Nikhil Vyas Shyan Akmal Ce Jin Rahul Ilango Former PostdocsMichael ForbesRoei Tell About MeI grew up near the big city of Somerville, Alabama, where there is good fishing in the water and good football on the radio. Further south in Alabama there is a good school for math and science. |