Micha Hofri

Biography

Education: BS Physics IIT MS Physics IIT PhD Industrial Engineering IIT Although my title is professor of computer science, and I have been doing this for a long time now, my education started with physics, and for the doctorate was in industrial engineering. To this day I view computer science as a wonderful blend of math and engineering; mathematical engineering should be my job description. I came to WPI more than 10 years ago and have found a home here. I have been teaching a variety of courses that mix software and mathematics, from discrete math to several flavors of courses on algorithms and their analysis. My preferred research area is the in depth analysis of algorithms, using a large arsenal of mathematical tools, as well as simulation. Occasionally, students show interest in doing a project on such a topic, and while it is a challenge to perform it with undergraduate mathematics, remarkably enough, it can be done. A few years ago, I was asked to take on some of the offerings we provide on the "social implications of computing," which in truth, is a humanities course. Most students find it interesting, and I find it fascinating to see how they take to the “strange” notions that we come to discuss during the course.

Research Interest

Analysis of algorithms