William H Press

Biography

Professor in Computer Science and in Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. His affiliations at UT include memberships in the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology (ICMB) and in the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES). Press is also a Senior Fellow (emeritus) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the Statistical Sciences group (CCS-6). His research is on computational biology, genomics, and computational statistical methods. Prior to June, 2004, he served for five years as LANL's Deputy Laboratory Director for Science and Technology. Before that, he was for twenty years Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Harvard University, and a member of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. In April, 2009, President Obama named Press as a member of his President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).Dr. Press does research in computational biology, especially whole genome statistical studies. His interests include fast numerical and statistical algorithms, data mining, and pattern recognition. He is also interested in the interdisciplinary application of mathematical and statistical methods across the physical and biological sciences, and to societal issues including international security.

Research Interest

Bioinformatics and Computational Biology