PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

David Bindel

David Bindel is a computer scientist whose research spans machine learning and scientific computing, including kernel methods and surrogate optimization. He earned bachelor's degrees in math and computer science at the University of Maryland in 1999 and a computer science PhD at UC Berkeley in 2006, then taught mathematics at NYU. At Cornell, he became an assistant professor in 2009 and an associate professor in 2017. His work includes pySOT and POAP for asynchronous surrogate optimization in 2019 and geometric Gaussian process research at ICML in 2025. He received a Sloan Research Fellowship in 2010 and became a SIAM Fellow in 2024; as of October 2026, he is a Cornell professor of computer science and director of its Center for Applied Math.

Timeline

  1. 1999–2006

    Degrees at Maryland and Berkeley

    He earns B.S. degrees in mathematics and computer science at the University of Maryland in 1999, then completes a Ph.D. in computer science at UC Berkeley in 2006.

  2. 2006–2009

    Courant instructor at NYU

    At New York University, he serves as a Courant Instructor of Mathematics from 2006 to 2009.

  3. 2009–2023

    Assistant and associate professor

    At Cornell, he serves as an assistant professor of computer science from 2009 to 2017, then an associate professor from 2017 to 2023.

  4. 2010

    A Sloan Research Fellowship

    He receives a Sloan Research Fellowship in 2010.

  5. 2019

    pySOT and POAP

    He coauthors a 2019 paper that describes POAP as an event-driven framework for asynchronous optimization and pySOT as a collection of synchronous and asynchronous surrogate optimization strategies.

  6. 2024

    A SIAM Fellowship

    In 2024, he becomes a SIAM Fellow for contributions in numerical linear algebra and its use across computational science and engineering.

  7. 2025

    Geometric Gaussian processes

    At ICML 2025, he coauthors a paper that applies geometric Gaussian processes to combine interpolation and surface reconstruction in one stage, with one linear solve per sample.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and center director

    He is a professor of computer science at Cornell and director of the Center for Applied Math. His research spans machine learning and scientific computing, including kernel methods and parallel surrogate optimization.

Career

  1. Since 2009Cornell UniversityAssistant Professor of Computer Science, Associate Professor of Computer Science
  2. 2006–2009New York UniversityCourant Instructor of Mathematics

Education

  1. 2006University of California, BerkeleyPh.D. in computer science
  2. 1999University of MarylandB.S. in mathematics

From the biography.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Cornell University. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Cornell University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes Cornell University. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Cornell University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Short bio cs.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. CV cs.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. David Bindel | Cornell Bowers bowers.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Publications cs.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. SIAM names David Bindel among its 2024 Fellows bowers.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Silvia Sellán | Publications silviasellan.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Stochastic Poisson Surface Reconstruction with One Solve using Geometric Gaussian Processes proceedings.mlr.press. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Home cs.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.