John R. Kender is Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. His primary research interests are in the use of statistical and semantic methods for navigating through collections of videos, particularly those showing human activities.  He received his Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1980, specializing in computer vision and artificial intelligence, and he was the first professor hired in its Robotics Institute.  Since 1981, he has been one of the founding faculty of the Department of Computer Science of Columbia University.  He was named one of the first National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigators, and he has served the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia both as Acting Dean of Students and as Vice Dean.  

He has been awarded the Great Teacher Award of the Society of Columbia Graduates, and the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award of the Columbia Engineering School Alumni Association.  He has graduated 24 PhD students, has published well over 125 refereed articles, and holds multiple patents and patent applications in computer vision, video analysis, video summarization, and video browsing.