Nate Foster

Nate Foster is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University and Associate Dean for Research since 2024. He works in the intersection of programming languages and network science, focusing on formal methods for network verification, language design, and type systems.

Research Focus:

• Ethics, Law, and Policy in Information Science
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Network Science and Software-Defined Networking
• Formal Verification and Type Systems
• Provenance and Security

Scientific Awards:

• ACM Fellow (2025)
• ACM SIGPLAN Robin Milner Award (2023)
• ACM SIGCOMM Rising Star Award (2018)
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2013)

Current Projects include Reinforcement Learning for Network Security, Formal Foundations for Programmable Data Planes, and (Co)-Algebraic Foundations for Programmable Networks. His recent publications focus on network verification (NetKAT, StacKAT), data plane programming (Petr4, SafeP4), and security (Ancile, Proof-Carrying Code).