Professor named IEEE fellow
Nisheeth Vishnoi, the A. Bartlett Giamatti Professor of Computer Science, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the 2026 IEEE Fellows Class. IEEE cited Vishnoi “for contributions to algorithms, optimization, and fairness in decision-making.” Vishnoi’s research spans several areas of theoretical computer science, optimization, and machine learning. He is particularly interested in understanding and addressing key questions that arise in nature and society from a computational viewpoint, including the emergence of intelligence and the interface of artificial intelligence, ethics, and society.
Zapping harmful chemicals with plasma
Refrigerants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are among the most common and most harmful greenhouse gases, and getting rid of them is complicated. Currently, HFCs are destroyed at intensive high-temperature facilities. Due to strict permitting and other factors, though, there’s a very limited number of these facilities in the world. A team of researchers led by Professor Lea Winter, though, has found an effective and efficient way to break down these chemicals by zapping them with low-temperature plasma. Winter’s system is portable and accessible and could potentially prevent gigatons of harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere.
A scalable chip that acts as a brain
Neuromorphic chips—custom integrated circuits that mimic how the brain works—have great promise for AI, robotics, and other fields. But making them so that they’re scalable while providing repeatable results has proven tricky. Professor Rajit Manohar and his research team have developed a new neuromorphic chip, NeuroScale, that guarantees both consistency and scalability. The key is that the chips’ artificial neurons aren’t synchronized by a single mechanism, as is standard in other chips. Rather, NeuroScale synchronizes individual clusters of neurons.
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