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

Administrative Appointments

  • Chair, Computer Science Department (2023 - Present)
  • Associate Chair for Education, Computer Science Department (2007 - 2022)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • Co-Chair, ACM Education Board (2014 - 2018)
  • Advisory Board, Code.org (2013 - Present)

Program Affiliations

  • Symbolic Systems Program

Professional Education

  • PhD, Stanford University, Computer Science (1999)

Contact

  • Academic
    sahami@cs.stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: Computer Science Position: Professor-Teaching
    • Gates Building, Room 274
    • Computer Science Department
    • Stanford University
    • Stanford,  California  94305 

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 9015

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Should the AP Computer Science A Exam Switch to Using Python Sahami (Moderator), M., Astrachan, O., Czajka, S., Decker, A., Rosato, J., ACM ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2022: 1015-1016

    View details for DOI 10.1145/3478432.3499230

    View details for Web of Science ID 000947124200002

  • Wrestling with Retention in the CS Major: Report from the ACM Retention Committee Miller, A., Alvarado, C., Sahami, M., Villa, E., Zweben, S., Assoc Comp Machinery ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2019: 807–8

    View details for DOI 10.1145/3287324.3287326

    View details for Web of Science ID 000575321600137

  • Challenges and Approaches for Data Collection to Understand Student Retention Walker, H. M., Sahami, M., Alvarado, C., Assoc Comp Machinery ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2018: 1062

    View details for DOI 10.1145/3159450.3162169

    View details for Web of Science ID 000481890100237

  • Five Slides About: Abstraction, Arrays, Uncomputability, Networks, Digital Portfolios, and the CS Principles Explore Performance Task Lewis, C. M., Aaronson, L., Allatta, E., Dodds, Z., Forbes, J., McMullen, K., Sahami, M., Assoc Comp Machinery ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2018: 269–70

    View details for DOI 10.1145/3159450.3159645

    View details for Web of Science ID 000481890100052

  • TMOSS: Using Intermediate Assignment Work to Understand Excessive Collaboration in Large Classes Yan, L., McKeown, N., Sahami, M., Piech, C., Assoc Comp Machinery ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2018: 110–15

    View details for DOI 10.1145/3159450.3159490

    View details for Web of Science ID 000481890100020

  • Programming Pluralism: Using Learning Analytics to Detect Patterns in the Learning of Computer Programming JOURNAL OF THE LEARNING SCIENCES Blikstein, P., Worsley, M., Piech, C., Sahami, M., Cooper, S., Koller, D. 2014; 23 (4): 561-599

    View details for DOI 10.1080/10508406.2014.954750

    View details for Web of Science ID 000344060800004

  • Reflections on Stanford's MOOCs COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Cooper, S., Sahami, M. 2013; 56 (2): 28-30

    View details for DOI 10.1145/2408776.2408787

    View details for Web of Science ID 000314178900011

  • Special Session: The CS2013 Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines Project 43rd Annual Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Roach, S., Sahami, M., LeBlanc, R., Seker, R. 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 Sahami, M. 2012; 27 (4)
  • Computer Science: Update on the Strawman Report from the ACM/IEEE-CS Task Force. Sahami, M., Roach, S., Cuadros-Vargas, E., Reed, D. 2012
  • Special Session -- The CS2013 Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines Project. Roach, S., Sahami, M., LeBlanc, R. 2012
  • EAAI-10: The First Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence AI MAGAZINE desJardins, M., Sahami, M., Wagstaff, K. 2011; 32 (1): 91-92

    View details for Web of Science ID 000288973900009

  • 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) Sahami, M., Roach, S., Cuadros-Vargas, E., Reed, D. ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 3–4

    View details for Web of Science ID 000304130200002

  • 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 Sahami, M., Guzdial, M., McGettrick, A., Roach, S. ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 161–162

    View details for Web of Science ID 000289490900033

  • Modeling How Students Learn to Program 43rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2012) Piech, C., Sahami, M., Koller, D., Cooper, S., Blikstein, P. ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 153–158

    View details for Web of Science ID 000304130200031

  • Special Session - The CS2013 Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines Project 41st Annual Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Sahami, M., Roach, S., LeBlanc, R. IEEE. 2011

    View details for Web of Science ID 000300879800408

  • A Course on Probability Theory for Computer Scientists 42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education Sahami, M. ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 263–268

    View details for Web of Science ID 000289490900054

  • Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence 42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education Sahami, M., desJardins, M., Dodds, Z., Neller, T. ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2011: 81–82

    View details for Web of Science ID 000289490900017

  • Expanding the Frontiers of Computer Science: Designing a Curriculum to Reflect a Diverse Field 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education Sahami, M., Aiken, A., Zelenski, J. ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2010: 47–51

    View details for Web of Science ID 000281141300010

  • Nifty assignments. Parlante, N., Murtagh, T., P., Sahami, M., Astrachan, O., L., Reed, D., Stone, C., A. 2009
  • Reports of the AAAI 2008 Spring Symposia AI MAGAZINE Balduccini, M., Baral, C., Brodaric, B., Colton, S., Fox, P., Gutelius, D., Hinkelmann, K., Horswill, I., Huberman, B., Hudlicka, E., Lerman, K., Lisetti, C., McGuinness, D., Maher, M. L., Musen, M. A., Sahami, M., Sleeman, D., Thoenssen, B., Velasquez, J., Ventura, D. 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. Patel, M., Gossweiler, R., Sahami, M., Blackburn, J., Brown, D., Knight, A. 2008
  • Semi-supervised Clustering using Combinatorial MRFs. Bekkerman, R., Sahami, M. 2006
  • Combinatorial Markov Random Fields. Bekkerman, R., Sahami, M., Learned-Miller, E. 2006
  • Mining the Web to Determine Similarity Between Words, Objects, and Communities. Sahami, M. 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 Sahami, M. 2006
  • A Web-based Kernel Function for Measuring the Similarity of Short Text Snippets. Sahami, M., Heilman, T., D. 2006
  • Evaluating Similarity Measures: A Large-Scale Study in the Orkut Social Network. Spertus, E., Sahami, M., Buyukkokten, O. 2005
  • Adaptive Product Normalization: Using Online Learning for Record Linkage in Comparison Shopping. Bilenko, M., Basu, S., Sahami, M. 2005
  • Efficient Face Orientation Discrimination. Baluja, S., Sahami, M., Rowley, H. 2004
  • The Happy Searcher: Challenges in Web Information Retrieval. Sahami, M., Mittal, V., Baluja, S., Rowley, H. 2004
  • QProber: A system for automatic classification of hidden-Web databases ACM TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS Gravano, L., Ipeirotis, P. G., Sahami, M. 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 Gravano, L., Ipeirotis, P., Sahami, M. 2002; 1 (25)
  • Probe, count, and classify: Categorizing hidden-web databases ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data Ipeirotis, P. G., Gravano, L., Sahami, M. ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2001: 67–78

    View details for Web of Science ID 000168887300008

  • PERSIVAL: Categorizing Hidden-Web Resources. Ipeirotis, P., Gravano, L., Sahami, M. 2001
  • Automatic Classification of Text Databases Through Query Probing. Ipeirotis, P., Gravano, L., Sahami, M. 2000
  • Integrating Data Mining into Vertical Solutions. In SIGKDD Explorations Kohavi, R., Sahami, M. 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 Sahami, M., Dumais, S., Heckerman, D., Horvitz, E. 1998
  • SONIA: A Service for Organizing Networked Information Autonomously. Sahami, M., Yusufali, S., Baldonado, M., W.Q. 1998
  • Inductive learning algorithms and representations for text categorization. Dumais, S., T., Platt, J., Heckerman, D., Sahami, M. 1998
  • A Probabilistic Approach to Full-Text Document Clustering. Technical Report ITAD-433-MS-98-044, SRI International. Goldszmidt, M., Sahami, M. 1998
  • Lazy acquisition of place knowledge ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REVIEW Langley, P., Pfleger, K., Sahami, M. 1997; 11 (1-5): 315-342

    View details for Web of Science ID A1997XE77700012

  • Hierarchically Classifying Documents Using Very Few Words. Koller, D., Sahami, M. 1997
  • Real-time Full-text Clustering of Networked Documents (Abstract). Sahami, M., Yusufali, S., Baldonado, M., W.Q. 1997
  • Applications of Machine Learning to Information Access. Sahami, M. 1997
  • Generating neural networks through the induction of threshold logic unit trees ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Sahami, M. 1996; 9 (2): 129-136

    View details for Web of Science ID A1996UM10200004

  • Applying the Multiple Cause Mixture Model to Text Categorization. Sahami, M., Hearst, M., Saund, E. 1996
  • Toward Optimal Feature Selection. Koller, D., Sahami, M. 1996
  • Learning Limited Dependence Bayesian Classifiers. Sahami, M. 1996
  • Error-Based and Entropy-Based Discretization of Continuous Features. Kohavi, R., Sahami, M. 1996
  • Generating Neural Networks Through the Induction of Threshold Logic Unit Trees (Extended Abstract). Sahami, M. 1995
  • Supervised and Unsupervised Discretization of Continuous Features. Dougherty, J., Kohavi, R., Sahami, M. 1995
  • Learning classification rules using lattices 8th European Conference on Machine Learning Sahami, M. SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN. 1995: 343–346

    View details for Web of Science ID A1995BE66J00039

  • Generating neural networks through the induction of threshold logic unit trees 8th European Conference on Machine Learning Sahami, M. SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN. 1995: 339–342

    View details for Web of Science ID A1995BE66J00038

  • LEARNING NONLINEARLY SEPARABLE BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS WITH LINEAR THRESHOLD UNIT TREES AND MADALINE-STYLE NETWORKS 11th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-93) Sahami, M. M I T PRESS. 1993: 335–341

    View details for Web of Science ID A1993BA08N00051