Leilani Battle | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Washington (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS, PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Institutions | University of Washington Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering University of Maryland, College Park |
| Thesis | Behavior-Driven Optimization Techniques for Scalable Data Exploration (2017) |
| Doctoral advisor | Michael Stonebraker |
Leilani Marie Battle is an African American computer scientist. She is an assistant professor at University of Washington's Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Leilani Battle is also a co-director in UW's interactive Data Lab program. She is known for her research into the visualization and analysis of complex database systems. [1]
Battle grew up with a love for video games. Because of this she originally chose computer science to become a game designer or a developer. [2] Battle then went to University of Washington and earned her B.S. in computer engineering in 2011. [1] However, when she started doing research internships, instead of pursuing a career in video games, the experience changed her interest in doing research as she enjoyed it. [2]
She then went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she earned her M.S. in 2013 and Ph.D. in 2017, both in computer science. She also finished a postdoc at the University of Washington's Interactive Data lab in 2017. [1] [3] During her time with MIT and her Ph.D. work, she also helped create ForeCache, a general-purpose program to create time-efficient tools for visualizing large data-sets that interact with Database Management Systems. [4] In 2020, MIT Technology Review lists ForeCache as one of her major contributions when awarding her Innovators Under 35. [4]
Battle was an assistant professor at University of Maryland, College Park, where she led the Battle Data Lab. [2] She is now an assistant professor in University of Washington's Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering where she teaches and mentors students, and conducts research into databases, where she focuses with Human–computer interaction to integrate databases and HCI interfaces to create visualizations for larger databases. [1] [2] [5]
In 2020, the MIT Technology Review named Battle one of Innovators Under 35. [6] She won an Adobe Data Science Research Award in 2019 and a VMware Early Career Faculty Grant in 2021. [7] [8]
She also received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award [7] and a Sloan Research Fellowship. [9]
In 2022, Battle received the TCDE Rising Star Award. [10]