Timothy Moon-Yew Chan

Timothy Moon-Yew Chan is a Founder Professor in Computer Science at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Previously, he taught at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo from 1999 to 2016. His distinguished career in theoretical computer science has earned him the prestigious Founder Professorship at UIUC.

Chan's research focuses on algorithms and computational geometry, with particular expertise in geometric data structures, fine-grained complexity, and geometric optimization problems. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications, exploring the limits of efficient computation for geometric problems. He has made significant contributions to problems involving convex polygons, geometric set cover, shortest paths in geometric graphs, and computational geometry in moderate dimensions.

His extensive publication record demonstrates a consistent research trajectory in computational geometry, with recent work advancing techniques like the shrink-and-bifurcate method, improving algorithms for geometric problems, and exploring connections between fine-grained complexity and geometric computation. His publications appear regularly in top venues including SoCG, SODA, STOC, and FOCS, as well as leading journals like Discrete and Computational Geometry and SIAM Journal on Computing.

Chan serves on editorial boards for Algorithmica, Discrete and Computational Geometry, and Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications. He has been active in program committees for major conferences including STOC'25 (as chair for ESA'24), SODA'24, STOC'23, SoCG'22, and many others across the theoretical computer science landscape.

He teaches advanced courses in algorithms, computational geometry, and data structures at UIUC, including CS 374 (Algorithms and Models of Computation), CS 473 (Algorithms), and specialized 498/598 courses on computational geometry, advanced data structures, and fine-grained algorithms. His teaching has been recognized with multiple honors, including being named on the CITL List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent By Their Students.