Michael Vanier

Michael Vanier is a Teaching Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He holds a B.S. from McGill University (1986), M.S. (1993) and Ph.D. (2001) from Caltech. His academic roles include teaching advanced programming courses such as CS 1x, CS 4, CS 11, and compiler design courses (CS 164). He focuses on functional programming languages (OCaml, Haskell), interactive theorem proving (Coq), and programming language implementation theory.

Education:

• B.S., McGill University, 1986
• M.S., California Institute of Technology, 1993
• Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 2001

Research Interests:

• Functional programming languages and their theoretical underpinnings
• Type theory and operational semantics
• Interactive theorem proving systems
• Compiler design and implementation
• Systems programming with Rust and Go

Awards:

• Recipient of October Professor of the Month award at Caltech

Teaching:

• Oversees courses including CS 128 (Interactive Theorem Proving) and CS 131 (Interpreters)
• Develops curricula emphasizing functional programming paradigms

Personal: Passionate about animal conservation, Japanese language, and recreational mathematics.