At Stony Brook University, Steven Skiena is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Computer Science. His research focuses on the development of graph, string, and geometric algorithms, as well as their applications (especially in biology). His writings include The Algorithm Design Manual and Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Models to Win. General Sentiment (www.generalsentiment.com), a media measurement company based on his Lydia text/sentiment analysis technology, is co-founded and led by him as Chief Scientist. Skiena earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in 1988 and has authored more than 130 technical articles. He has received the ONR Young Investigator Award and the IEEE Computer Science and Engineer Teaching Award, and he is a former Fulbright scholar.