John H. Reif

John H. Reif is a Professor of Computer Science at Duke University, with secondary appointments in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science (since 2024) and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (since 2016). His research spans DNA computing, molecular assembly, robot motion planning, and quantum computation, focusing on programmable biomolecular systems and parallel algorithms.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, Harvard University (1977)
• M.S. in Applied Mathematics, Harvard University (1975)
• B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Tufts University (1973)

His recent publications emphasize DNA strand displacement, molecular-scale learning systems, and 3D DNA nanostructures, with applications in diagnostics, data storage, and nanofabrication. Articles highlight innovations in error-resilient DNA circuits, programmable self-assembly, and algorithmic modeling of molecular processes.

Scientific Awards:

• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

He has supervised numerous Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers, including Rajiv Nagipogu (adaptive molecular systems) and Xin Song (Daniel Fu, DNA computation on cell membranes). His work is funded by grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), with recent focus on molecular-scale AI and DNA polymerase reaction networks.

Reif co-founded Domus Diagnostics, developing affordable infectious disease testing solutions. He served as General CoChairman of FNANO24 and contributes to teaching courses like Computational Complexity and Molecular Assembly and Computation.