Pravesh Kothari wins Presburger Award for contributions to theoretical computer science

Pravesh Kothari, an expert in theoretical computer science, has received the Presburger Award from the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science.

Pravesh Kothari. Photo by David Kelly Crow

The award is given yearly to one or two early-career researchers for outstanding contributions in theoretical computer science. The award is named after Mojzesz Presburger, a mathematician who accomplished path-breaking work on decidability of the theory of addition, now called Presburger arithmetic, as a student in 1929.

Kothari, an assistant professor of computer science, designs efficient algorithms for average-case computational problems arising in theoretical computer science and related fields, like statistics. The award citation describes his work as exemplifying “how the best kind of research is done in theoretical computer science, developing new and powerful techniques that lead to breakthroughs in his main research area, and successfully applying these techniques to achieve breakthroughs in additional areas.”

Prior to joining the Princeton faculty in January 2024, Kothari was an assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. He completed his doctoral work in computer science at the University of Texas-Austin and was a postdoctoral research instructor at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. His work has been recognized by an NSF Career Award (2021), an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2022), and a Google Research Scholar Award (2021).