Rate My Professor David Bindel

David Bindel is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University and Director of the Center for Applied Mathematics since July 2020. He also directs the Simons Collaboration on Hidden Symmetries and Fusion Energy from September 2022 to September 2025. From January 2021 to December 2023, he served as Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. Bindel received BS degrees in mathematics and computer science from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1999, and a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006. His doctoral dissertation, advised by James Demmel and Sanjay Govindjee, was titled "Structured and Parameter-Dependent Eigensolvers for Simulation-Based Design of Resonant MEMS." Before joining Cornell as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science in summer 2009, he was a Courant Instructor of Mathematics at New York University from fall 2006 to summer 2009.

Bindel's research lies at the interface of computational science and engineering, focusing on applied numerical linear algebra and scientific computing. His interests include stellarator optimization, verified numerics, kernel methods, parallel surrogate optimization, spectral network analysis, eigenvalue problems, and applications to fusion energy, networks, and MEMS. He is a 2024 SIAM Fellow for contributions in numerical linear algebra and its innovative use in broad areas of computational science. Notable awards also include the James and Mary Tien Excellence in Teaching Award (2020), KDD Best Research Paper Award (2019), ASPLOS Most Influential Paper Award (2018), SIAG/LA Prize (2015), Sloan Research Fellowship (2010), and Alston S. Householder Award (2008). Key publications feature "Understanding trade-offs in stellarator design with multi-objective optimization" (Journal of Plasma Physics, 2023, with Matt Landreman and Misha Padidar), "Direct optimization of fast-ion confinement in stellarators" (Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 2023), "Global stochastic optimization of stellarator coil configurations" (Journal of Plasma Physics, 2022, with Silke Glas et al.), and "Bayesian transformed gaussian processes" (Transactions on Machine Learning Research, 2023). Bindel has held editorial positions such as Editor of NA Digest (2024-present), Associate Editor for SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications (2025-2028), and SIAM Journal of Scientific Computing (2021-2023). He has contributed to numerous committees, including chairing the Scientific Committee for the Householder XXIII Meeting (2028) and serving on program committees for ICML, NeurIPS, and SIAM conferences. His publications have garnered over 9,600 citations on Google Scholar.