Teaching

Fall term of 2024 I am teaching CS 117 — Internet-scale Distributed Systems.

Contacting me

Fall term of 2024 I teach most Tuesdays and Thursdays, and often I come by my office mid-afternoon on those days if I am on campus. See also formal office hours below.

The best way to reach me is via e-mail to noah@cs.tufts.edu. I read that regularly, including when I am away from home or office.

Tufts office is:

Joyce Cummings Center 440J
177 College Ave
Medford, MA, 02155

I prefer e-mail whenever that's quick enough for you, but for cases where it's urgent that you speak to me, I have established a Google Voice number 617-506-3994 that you can call or text. When you call, it will ask your name, and then it will try ringing my mobile, my home, etc. Be patient, it can take a minute or so while it tries my phones.

Office hours

Information about office hours is available on my office hours page.

You may also email me if you have a need to meet outside of regular office hours or if you are not a member of the Tufts community. When I am on campus we can meet in person, but I am available many more times for meeting from home via zoom. Email me if you need me and we'll set something up.

Recommendations

Normally, I am glad to provide reasonable numbers of letters of recommendation to students who are applying to graduate programs or jobs. My letter will, of course, be based only on what I know about you from my first-hand experience working with you. I will typically give you some sense of what I feel I can say before you commit to using me as a reference. So, if you've taken my course, but we've not spoken together much or interacted directly, then I will only be able to put into my letter what I can tell from the work you submitted. Sometimes (e.g. if you've done a wonderful final paper in CS 117), I will still have interesting things say, but often I can't, for students whom I don't know well, add much to what's already on your transcript. Your best recommendations will come from professors who know you well. I'm also glad to meet with you before I write your recommendation, so I can get to know you a little better.

Note: I normally have to separately write and upload a letter to each school to which you apply. Please be reasonable in the number you request. Similarly, if you want to use me as a reference for a job application check with me first so that I can make sure I have the time, and that you are comfortable with what I expect to be able to say about you. It is never appropriate to list a faculty member as a reference without checking first.

Work outside of Tufts

Until summer of 2013 I was for several years the chair of the World Wide Web Consortium's Technical Architecture Group; the TAG is the senior steering committee responsible for the architectural integrity of the World Wide Web. I retired from IBM in 2010, at which time I was given the the honorary title of IBM Distinguished Engineer Emeritus.

More information

Those of us who worked at W3C tend to find a lot of our specification drafts and e-mails posted publicly on the Web. That greatly increases our search karma so... if you do a Web search for my name, most of what comes back will indeed be about me. Other sources of information about my work, hobbies, etc. outside of Tufts can be found at:

My public home page: http://www.arcanedomain.com/
Blog: http://blog.arcanedomain.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/noahmendelsohn