Department of Computer Science Professor Steven Skiena, along with his former students Rami al-Rfou and Bryan Perozzi, received the 2024 KDD Test of Time Award for their work on graph representation learning. 

The KDD Test of Time Award highlights the long-term value of pioneering research, acknowledging that some papers gain prominence and influence over time. Presented by the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (ACM SIGKDD), it recognizes a paper that has made a lasting and influential impact on data mining and knowledge discovery. 

Skiena and his team were recognized for their 2014 paper, “Deepwalk: online learning of social representations.” Deepwalk is a way to turn large graphs, like social networks or product-consumer purchase data, into a representation that machine learning models can easily understand. The team’s paper was the first in a long line of research developments leading to graph neural networks, now used widely in applications like YouTube video recommendations or friend suggestions on Facebook and Instagram. 

“Data mining and knowledge discovery are essential for turning vast amounts of data into meaningful insights that can drive real-world progress,” said Samir Das, Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science. “This award is a testament to Skiena, al-Rfou, and Perozzi’s groundbreaking work and its lasting impact on the field. It’s exciting to see their contributions recognized in such a significant way.”

Data mining and knowledge discovery provide tools to handle and interpret significant amounts of data, crucial for understanding complex datasets and making informed decisions. The insights gained through these processes can lead to new discoveries, improved strategies, and enhanced efficiency across different sectors.

Receiving the KDD Test of Time Award is a mark of significant achievement and recognition within the data mining and knowledge discovery communities. It highlights Skiena’s contributions to the field’s progress and underscores the enduring value of the work he and his team achieved.

“It was very gratifying to have the importance of our work be recognized by the community,” said Skiena, who is also the director of the Institute for AI-driven Discovery and Innovation. “It was great to get together again with my two PhD students, Rami and Bryan, as we all received the award. Rami and Bryan have gone on to become very prominent industrial researchers in their own rights - at OpenAI and Google respectively - and I am very proud of all they have done.”