Chee Yap

Chee Yap is a Professor of Computer Science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, where he has been a faculty member since 1979. He previously held positions at the University of Southern California and has served as a Visiting Professor at several prestigious institutions including Oxford University, Seoul National University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Yap received his BS in Computer Science & Mathematics (Double Major) from MIT in 1975 and his PhD in Computer Science from Yale University in 1980. His academic journey began at the Boys' Wing, Royal Military College in Malaysia.

His research spans several areas in theoretical computer science and computational mathematics, with primary focus on Computer algebra and symbolic-numeric computation, Robotics, Visualization, Theory of algorithms, Exact computation, Complexity theory, and Computational geometry. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical implementations, exemplified by his development of the Core Library for exact computation and the G-Vis System for visualization.

Dr. Yap's publication record shows a consistent focus on robust geometric computation, algorithmic motion planning, and exact numerical methods. His recent work (2021-2026) demonstrates continued innovation in parameter estimation for differential equations, subdivision models, path planning algorithms, and root clustering techniques. His research maintains a strong connection between theoretical computer science and practical applications in robotics and scientific computing.

Among his notable honors are the CAS President's International Visiting Scientist Fellowship (2018), KIAS Scholar award (2006-2009), Lester R. Ford Award (1990), and Fulbright Scholar Award (1988). He has also received multiple ACM Recognition of Service Awards for his conference leadership.

Dr. Yap has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation since 1984, securing approximately 20 grants valued at about $5 million. He has mentored 17 PhD students and 4 postdocs throughout his career. His editorial service includes long tenures on the boards of SIAM Journal of Computing (1985-2002), Journal of Computer and System Sciences (1986-2014), and Journal of Symbolic Computation (1988-2004), among others.

He is the principal architect of the Core Library (http://cs.nyu.edu/exact) and co-architect of the G-Vis System (http://cs.nyu.edu/visual), and holds two visualization patents. His leadership in the academic community is evident through his roles as General Chair of the 42nd ISSAC conference and various program committee positions for major conferences including FOCS, ISSAC, SoCG, and WAFR.