Mehran Sahami
Tencent Chair of the of the Computer Science Department, James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor and Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Bio
Mehran Sahami is Tencent Chair of the Computer Science Department and the James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor in the School of Engineering. As a Professor (Teaching) in the Computer Science department, he is also a Bass Fellow in Undergraduate Education and previously served as the Associate Chair for Education in Computer Science. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Google. His research interests include computer science education, artificial intelligence, and ethics. He served as co-chair of the ACM/IEEE-CS joint task force on Computer Science Curricula 2013, which created curricular guidelines for college programs in Computer Science at an international level. He has also served as chair of the ACM Education Board, an elected member of the ACM Council, and was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the state's Computer Science Strategic Implementation Plan Advisory Panel.
Academic Appointments
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Professor (Teaching), Computer Science
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Senior Fellow (By courtesy), Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
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Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
Administrative Appointments
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Chair, Computer Science Department (2023 - Present)
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Associate Chair for Education, Computer Science Department (2007 - 2022)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Co-Chair, ACM Education Board (2014 - 2018)
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Advisory Board, Code.org (2013 - Present)
Program Affiliations
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Symbolic Systems Program
Professional Education
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PhD, Stanford University, Computer Science (1999)
2024-25 Courses
- Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change
CS 182 (Win) - Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change (WIM)
CS 182W (Win) - Programming Methodology
CS 106A (Spr) -
Independent Studies (16)
- Advanced Reading and Research
CS 499 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Advanced Reading and Research
CS 499P (Aut, Win, Spr) - Curricular Practical Training
CS 390A (Aut, Win, Spr) - Curricular Practical Training
CS 390B (Aut, Win, Spr) - Curricular Practical Training
CS 390C (Aut, Win, Spr) - Independent Project
CS 399 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Independent Project
CS 399P (Aut, Win, Spr) - Independent Study
SYMSYS 196 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Independent Study
SYMSYS 296 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Independent Work
CS 199 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Independent Work
CS 199P (Aut, Win, Spr) - Master's Degree Project
SYMSYS 290 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Part-time Curricular Practical Training
CS 390D (Aut, Win, Spr) - Programming Service Project
CS 192 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Senior Project
CS 191 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Writing Intensive Senior Research Project
CS 191W (Aut, Win, Spr)
- Advanced Reading and Research
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Computational Decision Making
CS 29N (Win) - Programming Methodology
CS 106A (Spr)
2022-23 Courses
- Additional Topics in Teaching Computer Science
CS 198B (Win, Spr) - Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change
COMM 180, CS 182, ETHICSOC 182, PHIL 82, POLISCI 182, PUBLPOL 182 (Win) - Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change (WIM)
CS 182W (Win) - Programming Methodology
CS 106A (Spr) - Teaching Computer Science
CS 198 (Aut, Win, Spr)
2021-22 Courses
- Additional Topics in Teaching Computer Science
CS 198B (Win, Spr) - Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change
COMM 180, CS 182, ETHICSOC 182, PHIL 82, POLISCI 182, PUBLPOL 182 (Win) - Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change (WIM)
CS 182W (Win) - Problem-solving Lab for CS106A
CS 100A (Spr) - Programming Methodology
CS 106A (Spr) - Teaching Computer Science
CS 198 (Aut, Win, Spr)
- Computational Decision Making
Stanford Advisees
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Master's Program Advisor
Star Doby, Kyla Guru, Kris Jeong, Janelle Rudolph, Saron Samuel, Brian Wu, Belinda Yeung
All Publications
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Should the AP Computer Science A Exam Switch to Using Python
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2022: 1015-1016
View details for DOI 10.1145/3478432.3499230
View details for Web of Science ID 000947124200002
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Wrestling with Retention in the CS Major: Report from the ACM Retention Committee
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2019: 807–8
View details for DOI 10.1145/3287324.3287326
View details for Web of Science ID 000575321600137
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Challenges and Approaches for Data Collection to Understand Student Retention
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2018: 1062
View details for DOI 10.1145/3159450.3162169
View details for Web of Science ID 000481890100237
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Five Slides About: Abstraction, Arrays, Uncomputability, Networks, Digital Portfolios, and the CS Principles Explore Performance Task
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2018: 269–70
View details for DOI 10.1145/3159450.3159645
View details for Web of Science ID 000481890100052
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TMOSS: Using Intermediate Assignment Work to Understand Excessive Collaboration in Large Classes
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2018: 110–15
View details for DOI 10.1145/3159450.3159490
View details for Web of Science ID 000481890100020
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Programming Pluralism: Using Learning Analytics to Detect Patterns in the Learning of Computer Programming
JOURNAL OF THE LEARNING SCIENCES
2014; 23 (4): 561-599
View details for DOI 10.1080/10508406.2014.954750
View details for Web of Science ID 000344060800004
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Reflections on Stanford's MOOCs
COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM
2013; 56 (2): 28-30
View details for DOI 10.1145/2408776.2408787
View details for Web of Science ID 000314178900011
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Special Session: The CS2013 Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines Project
43rd Annual Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
IEEE. 2013
View details for Web of Science ID 000330839100276
- The 'Big Tent' of Computer Science: Curricula for the Coming Decade. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges 2012; 27 (4)
- Computer Science: Update on the Strawman Report from the ACM/IEEE-CS Task Force. 2012
- Special Session -- The CS2013 Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines Project. 2012
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EAAI-10: The First Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence
AI MAGAZINE
2011; 32 (1): 91-92
View details for Web of Science ID 000288973900009
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Computer Science Curriculum 2013: Reviewing the Strawman Report from the ACM/IEEE-CS Task Force
43rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2012)
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 3–4
View details for Web of Science ID 000304130200002
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Setting the Stage for Computing Curricula 2013: Computer Science - Report from the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force
42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 161–162
View details for Web of Science ID 000289490900033
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Modeling How Students Learn to Program
43rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2012)
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 153–158
View details for Web of Science ID 000304130200031
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Special Session - The CS2013 Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines Project
41st Annual Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
IEEE. 2011
View details for Web of Science ID 000300879800408
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A Course on Probability Theory for Computer Scientists
42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 263–268
View details for Web of Science ID 000289490900054
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Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence
42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 81–82
View details for Web of Science ID 000289490900017
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Expanding the Frontiers of Computer Science: Designing a Curriculum to Reflect a Diverse Field
41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2010: 47–51
View details for Web of Science ID 000281141300010
- Nifty assignments. 2009
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Reports of the AAAI 2008 Spring Symposia
AI MAGAZINE
2008; 29 (3): 107-115
View details for Web of Science ID 000260368400009
- Google TV search: dual-wielding search and discovery in a large-scale product. 2008
- A Web-based Kernel Function for Measuring the Similarity of Short Text Snippets. 2006
- Combinatorial Markov Random Fields. 2006
- Semi-supervised Clustering using Combinatorial MRFs. 2006
- Mining the Web to Determine Similarity Between Words, Objects, and Communities. 2006
- Scaling Computer Science Education to Education on Scaling in Computer Science. White Paper presented at Workshop on Integrative Computing Education & Research (ICER): Preparing IT Graduates for 2010 and Beyond 2006
- Evaluating Similarity Measures: A Large-Scale Study in the Orkut Social Network. 2005
- Adaptive Product Normalization: Using Online Learning for Record Linkage in Comparison Shopping. 2005
- Efficient Face Orientation Discrimination. 2004
- The Happy Searcher: Challenges in Web Information Retrieval. 2004
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QProber: A system for automatic classification of hidden-Web databases
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS
2003; 21 (1): 1-41
View details for Web of Science ID 000181146300001
- Query- vs. Crawling-based Classification of Searchable Web Databases. In IEEE Data Engineering Bulletin 2002; 1 (25)
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Probe, count, and classify: Categorizing hidden-web databases
ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data
ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2001: 67–78
View details for Web of Science ID 000168887300008
- PERSIVAL: Categorizing Hidden-Web Resources. 2001
- Automatic Classification of Text Databases Through Query Probing. 2000
- Integrating Data Mining into Vertical Solutions. In SIGKDD Explorations 2000; 2 (1): 55-58
- A Bayesian Approach to Filtering Junk E-Mail. In Learning for Text Categorization: Papers from the 1998 Workshop. AAAI Technical Report WS-98-05 1998
- SONIA: A Service for Organizing Networked Information Autonomously. 1998
- Inductive learning algorithms and representations for text categorization. 1998
- A Probabilistic Approach to Full-Text Document Clustering. Technical Report ITAD-433-MS-98-044, SRI International. 1998
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Lazy acquisition of place knowledge
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
1997; 11 (1-5): 315-342
View details for Web of Science ID A1997XE77700012
- Hierarchically Classifying Documents Using Very Few Words. 1997
- Real-time Full-text Clustering of Networked Documents (Abstract). 1997
- Applications of Machine Learning to Information Access. 1997
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Generating neural networks through the induction of threshold logic unit trees
ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
1996; 9 (2): 129-136
View details for Web of Science ID A1996UM10200004
- Applying the Multiple Cause Mixture Model to Text Categorization. 1996
- Toward Optimal Feature Selection. 1996
- Learning Limited Dependence Bayesian Classifiers. 1996
- Error-Based and Entropy-Based Discretization of Continuous Features. 1996
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Generating neural networks through the induction of threshold logic unit trees
8th European Conference on Machine Learning
SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN. 1995: 339–342
View details for Web of Science ID A1995BE66J00038
- Generating Neural Networks Through the Induction of Threshold Logic Unit Trees (Extended Abstract). 1995
- Supervised and Unsupervised Discretization of Continuous Features. 1995
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Learning classification rules using lattices
8th European Conference on Machine Learning
SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN. 1995: 343–346
View details for Web of Science ID A1995BE66J00039
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LEARNING NONLINEARLY SEPARABLE BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS WITH LINEAR THRESHOLD UNIT TREES AND MADALINE-STYLE NETWORKS
11th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-93)
M I T PRESS. 1993: 335–341
View details for Web of Science ID A1993BA08N00051