Peter K. Allen is Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. He received the A.B. degree from Brown University in Mathematics-Economics, the M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Oregon and the Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the recipient of the CBS Foundation Fellowship, Army Research Office fellowship and the Rubinoff Award for innovative uses of computers. His current research interests include robotic grasping, 3-D vision and modeling, and medical robotics. In recognition of his work, Professor Allen has been named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation.