Nate Foster

Nate Foster is a professor of computer science at Cornell University and a visiting researcher at Jane Street. He currently serves as vice chair of DARPA's Information Science and Technology (ISAT) study group, and as chair of the P4 Language Governing Board.  

The goal of Foster’s research is to develop languages and tools that make it easy for programmers to build secure and reliable systems. His current work focuses on the design and implementation of languages and tools for programmable networks. In the past he has also worked on bidirectional languages (also known as “lenses”), database query languages, data provenance, type systems, mechanized proof, and formal semantics.

Foster received a Ph.D. in computer and information science from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Philosophy in history and philosophy of science from Cambridge University, and a B.A. in computer science from Williams College. He is an ACM Fellow, and his awards include a Sloan Research Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, the SIGPLAN Robin Milner Award, and the SIGCOMM Rising Star Award, as well as several paper and teaching awards.

Nate lives in Fall Creek with his wife and two children. Outside of work, he volunteers with Ithaca Welcomes Refugees, and rides his bike as much as he can, usually with friends from Team 545.