ESP Biography



LIAM O'CARROLL, Stanford computer science PhD student



Major: computer science

College/Employer: Stanford

Year of Graduation: G

Picture of Liam O'Carroll

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Hi! I'm a PhD student in computer science, originally from the Chicago suburbs. My research is in theoretical computer science, which is the intersection of computer science and mathematics. Theoretical computer scientists seek to rigorously (through theorems and proofs) analyze algorithms as well as computation in general.

I also really enjoy running and playing chess!



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

M7887: The Mathematics of Information in Splash Fall 2023 (Dec. 02 - 03, 2023)
We live in the information age in which it is often said that information is power. But what is information? Information theory, pioneered by Claude Shannon nearly 80 years ago, answers this question and much more - it is the mathematical foundation underlying how computers store and communicate information. It has only become more relevant over time, finding applications in areas including artificial intelligence, physics, and biology. We will provide a very brief introduction to information theory, focusing on its applications in digital communication, and build up to at least stating one of the most remarkable theorems of the past century: Shannon's noisy-channel coding theorem.