Anna Karlin

Anna R. Karlin
Born	1960
Alma mater	Stanford University
Occupation(s)	Computer scientist, professor
Known for	Research on online algorithms, randomized algorithms, algorithmic game theory, system software, distributed computing, data mining; founding member of Severe Tire Damage band
Awards	ACM Fellow (2012), American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow (2016), ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award (2020), National Academy of Sciences (2021), National Academy of Engineering (2022)

Anna R. Karlin is a distinguished American computer scientist currently holding the position of Microsoft Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.

Biography

Karlin hails from a family deeply rooted in academia; her father, Samuel Karlin, was a renowned mathematician affiliated with Stanford University, while her brother, Kenneth Karlin, serves as a chemistry professor at Johns Hopkins University.

She completed both her undergraduate studies in 1981 and her doctoral degree in 1987 at Stanford University, where she was mentored by Jeffrey Ullman. Following a five-year tenure at the DEC Systems Research Center, she became a faculty member at the University of Washington in 1994. In 1997, Karlin took on the role of program chair for the IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science.

Beyond her scholarly pursuits, Karlin was instrumental in founding the band Severe Tire Damage, notable for performing during the inaugural live music broadcast over the Internet in 1993.

Research

Karlin’s scholarly work centers on the creation and theoretical examination of online algorithms and randomized algorithms, with applications spanning algorithmic game theory, system software, distributed computing, and data mining. Her influential contributions include pioneering studies on randomized packet marking techniques for IP traceback, competitive evaluation of multiprocessor cache coherence protocols, development of unified algorithms for handling all tiers within the memory hierarchy, innovations in web proxy server technology, and designing hash tables that guarantee constant worst-case lookup times.

Awards and honors

Karlin’s achievements have been recognized through multiple honors: she was inducted as a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery in 2012 and later elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellowship in 2016. In 2020, she received the ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for her seminal work on balanced allocations, commonly referred to as the power of two choices, which has significant practical implications. Further recognition came with her election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021 and subsequently to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022.

Selected publications

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