William Coughran is the Director of the Computing Sciences Research Center at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He is responsible for directing a broad research program in computer science, including operating systems, networking, Internet/intranet, formal methods, programming languages and interfaces, algorithms, and scientific computing. It is also his job to interface with Lucent's businesses, which provide switching and transmission systems, communications software, optical components, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, etc.
There are currently about 65 scientists at the Research Center and their backgrounds are primarily in computer science, mathematics and electrical engineering. Most have doctorates, with some holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The scientific computing staff works in different research areas, including modeling and simulation, differential equations, optimization, linear algebra, and computational geometry. In addition there are other groups working on aspects of theoretical computer science, including applications of pattern matching algorithms, approximation algorithms, and so forth. (Other organizations within Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies do research into communication and coding theory as well as other aspects of applied mathematics.)
Bill has a B.S. and M.S. in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He joined AT&T Bell Laboratories as a member of the technical staff in 1980 after receiving his Ph.D. He was head of the Scientific Computing Research Department, Bell Laboratories, when Lucent Technologies was formed in 1996 and he took over as director of the Computing Sciences Research Center.
His main reasons for joining Bell Labs was his desire to do full-time research without the need to write grant proposals, to work in a multidisciplinary environment, and to try living on the East Coast. He found out about the position through an office mate at Stanford who had been a summer intern at Bell Labs and was positive about the experience. He enjoys the interdisciplinary aspects of his job and would like to see more work at the university level being done across departments. He also thinks students can enrich their experiences by looking for cross disciplinary work and finding projects that enhance their ability to communicate with scientists in other areas.
As preparation for a research position in the scientific computing group, Bill suggests a strong grounding in numerical analysis, computer science, and statistics. Also helpful is experience with high-performance computing and a background in engineering or a physical science. The ability to communicate with scientists and engineers with varied backgrounds is highly desirable. As part of their education, candidates should have exposure to and a demonstrated interest in solving real problems via computation. All of this characterizes what is now called computational science and engineering, in his opinion.
"On an interview," he says, "students should show that their thesis work was on a deep problem. However, it can hurt during an interview when interviewees have a very limited view of their work and of their research plans for the next couple of years. It is helpful for candidates to have a relatively broad perspective of the field and where it is going."
Bill also has a homepage at Bell Labs.
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