Daphne Koller
Born 1968 · Age 57
Israeli-American computer scientist, Stanford professor, pioneer in probabilistic graphical models, co-founder of Coursera and Engageli, founder & CEO of insitro, MacArthur Fellow and recipient of multiple top computing awards.
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Life & Career Timeline
Completed BSc, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Received a bachelor's degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at age 17.
Completed MSc, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Received a master's degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at age 18.
PhD in Computer Science, Stanford University
Completed PhD at Stanford University under Joseph Halpern (thesis: From Knowledge to Belief).
Postdoctoral research begins, UC Berkeley
Started postdoctoral research at University of California, Berkeley under Stuart J. Russell.
Arthur Samuel Thesis Award
Received the Arthur Samuel Thesis Award (listed among honors).
Started supervising doctoral students
Became doctoral advisor to students who later became prominent (e.g., Lise Getoor, Carlos Guestrin, Mehran Sahami, Suchi Saria, Ben Taskar, Eran Segal).
Joined Stanford CS faculty
Joined the Stanford University Department of Computer Science as a faculty member (first machine learning hire in the department more than 30 years ago per profiles).
Sloan Foundation Faculty Fellowship
Awarded a Sloan Foundation Faculty Fellowship.
Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award
Received the ONR Young Investigator Award.
Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE)
Received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
IJCAI Computers and Thought Award
Received the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award and delivered the award lecture at IJCAI.
Published influential Module Networks paper (Nature Genetics)
Co-authored 'Module networks' paper identifying regulatory modules from gene expression data (Nature Genetics, 2003), a notable computational biology contribution.
Cox Medal at Stanford
Received the Allan V. Cox Medal for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research at Stanford.
MacArthur Fellowship awarded
Named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow (so-called 'genius grant'). MacArthur fellowship historically ~$500,000 paid over several years.
MacArthur Fellowship public recognition (impact on career)
MacArthur Fellowship increased public profile and recognition, cited as a pivotal honor in profiles.
Featured in MIT Technology Review
Featured in MIT Technology Review's '10 Emerging Technologies That Will Change Your World' (Bayesian machine learning).
Oswald G. Villard Fellow for Undergraduate Teaching
Named Oswald G. Villard Fellow for Undergraduate Teaching at Stanford University.
ACM Prize in Computing
Received the ACM Prize in Computing for work on combining relational logic and probability (relational probabilistic models).
ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in Computing Sciences
Awarded the first-ever ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in Computing Sciences ($150,000).
Begin offering PGM course materials and digital education contributions
After publishing the Probabilistic Graphical Models textbook, Koller expanded teaching via online materials and later MOOC content, cementing role in digital education.
Published textbook 'Probabilistic Graphical Models' (with Nir Friedman)
Authored the MIT Press textbook 'Probabilistic Graphical Models: Principles and Techniques' with Nir Friedman.
Named in Newsweek's 10 Most Important People
Recognized by Newsweek as one of the 10 Most Important People (related to online education / MOOCs).
Elected to National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
Elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to probabilistic models with applications across robotics, vision, and biology.
Public recognition: citations & widespread academic impact
By this time Koller had authored numerous influential papers on graphical models and module networks; research widely applied in biology and vision.
Coursera reaches massive user milestones (public statements)
Coursera reached tens of millions of learners (various sources: ACM press referenced ~50M in early years; later company milestones reported 100M+ learners).
Co-founded Coursera
Co-founded Coursera with Andrew Ng to provide massive open online courses (MOOCs).
Offered free online course on Probabilistic Graphical Models
Launched a free online course on probabilistic graphical models (Coursera offering began Feb 2012).
TED talk: 'What we're learning from online education'
Delivered a TED talk in June 2012 on online education and lessons from MOOCs.
Named in Time's 100 Most Influential People
Listed among Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (recognition for impact on education/technology).
Darden School speaking engagement
Spoke at the Darden School of Business on February 20, 2013 as 'Daphne Koller, Co-Founder of Coursera'.
Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business
Named one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business (recognition related to Coursera and innovation).
Stepped down from full-time Stanford professorship
Transitioned from full-time Stanford faculty (Stanford professor 1995–2014 per multiple profiles); remained as adjunct.
Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Left Coursera and joined Calico as Chief Computing Officer
Departed Coursera in 2016 to become Chief Computing Officer at Calico (an Alphabet subsidiary focused on aging/health).
Transitioned from Coursera executive roles
Moved from co-CEO to President and later stepped down from executive leadership at Coursera (timeline: co-CEO with Andrew Ng at founding, then President; left in 2016).
Elected ISCB Fellow
Named a Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) in 2017.
Insitro: strategic positioning and early partnerships (press)
Insitro publicly described partnerships and collaborations combining ML with experimental biology (company strategy disclosed in press interviews and profiles).
Insitro: announced integrated ML + lab automation approach
Public descriptions & interviews (e.g., Forbes, news coverage) highlight insitro's approach: automated labs, in vitro disease models, ML + genomics to predict/test treatments.
Contributed chapter to 'Architects of Intelligence'
Contributed a chapter to Martin Ford's 2018 book 'Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI From the People Building It'.
Media coverage: Insitro and vision for 'digital biology'
Profiles in Forbes, McKinsey, AI/industry magazines described insitro's aim to digitize biology: read, interpret, and write biology using ML, CRISPR, and automation.
Left Calico and founded insitro
Left Calico in 2018 to found insitro, a machine learning-driven drug discovery and development company; became CEO and founder.
Coursera milestone referenced in ACM citation (~50M learners)
ACM press around 2019 noted Coursera had touched over 50 million learners worldwide in its first eight years (ACM citation accompanying awards/profiles).
ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award
Received the ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award for broad contributions bridging CS and other disciplines.
Co-founded Engageli
Co-founded Engageli, an interactive digital learning platform offering an alternative to Zoom for higher education; serves as board member.
Engageli product launch / public coverage
Engageli launched publicly around 2020 offering an alternative to Zoom for higher education with features addressing student engagement and real-time evaluation.
Insitro public/company growth milestones (media coverage)
Press and interviews describe insitro building a 'bio-data factory' combining functional genomics and automation to create large high-quality datasets for ML.
Technical Leadership Abie Award Winner
Received the Technical Leadership Abie Award (AnitaB/Grace Hopper related recognition listed among honors).
Public talks and advocacy on ML in drug discovery (McKinsey, conferences)
Spoke publicly about the potential of ML to transform drug discovery (McKinsey interview Nov 16, 2022; other conference appearances and panels).
IEEE Computer Society Women of ENIAC Computer Pioneer award (listed in profiles)
Recognized with IEEE CS Women of ENIAC Computer Pioneer award (referenced in profiles).
Interviewed on BBC Radio 4 'The Life Scientific'
Interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific (27 September 2022).
Elected to National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in recognition of contributions spanning computer science and computational biology.
Ongoing: insitro leadership and public advocacy on ML in drug discovery
Continues as founder & CEO of insitro; public interviews (McKinsey, Forbes, etc.) articulate vision for ML-driven drug discovery, data generation, and lab automation.
Named in Time's 100 Most Influential People in AI (2024 list)
Included in Time magazine's 'The 100 Most Influential People in AI' (2024).
Continued recognition and leadership in AI & biotech
Profiles and lists (Time AI 2024, AI Magazine 2024) continue to recognize Koller's leadership at the intersection of machine learning, education and drug discovery.
Profiled as lifetime achievement in AI Magazine
AI Magazine published a 'Lifetime of Achievement' profile (May 1, 2024) summarizing Koller's career and accomplishments in digital learning and biomedical ML.
Stanford CURIS program and Stanford teaching honors (historical recognition)
Recognized by the American Academy entry for creating Stanford CURIS program and receiving the Bass University Fellowship and Stanford undergraduate research awards (dates historical).
Key Achievement Ages
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