Web Search Engines: From the Lab to the Engine Room, and Back

Abstract: Web search engines are examples of scientific research flowing into planet-scale artifacts at unprecedented speed. In this talk, we will review some of these examples and highlight open research areas. We will also spend time on the nuanced policy and societal questions that arise in the operation of a search engine: information quality vs. misinformation, the slowing growth of Web content, notions of bias, and advertising.

Bio: Prabhakar Raghavan is a Senior Vice President at Google, responsible for Google Search, Assistant, Geo/Maps, Advertising, Commerce and Payments. He is the co-author of two texts: Randomized Algorithms and Introduction to Information Retrieval. His research interests span algorithms, web search and databases. Prior to joining Google in 2012, he founded and led Yahoo! Labs, served as CTO at Verity, and held various positions at IBM Research. Raghavan holds a Ph.D. from Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; a Fellow of the ACM and IEEE; former editor in chief of the Journal of the ACM; and was a Consulting Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. In 2009, he was awarded a Laurea honoris causa from the University of Bologna.