Jon Kleinberg, Cornell professor of computer science, is one of "America's Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences" featured in the fall 2007 issue of Smithsonian magazine. The magazine profiles 37 people age 35 and under who, the editors say, have already distinguished themselves in some way and will shape our future. The list includes scientists, engineers, singers, dancers, historians and more.

The list also includes three Cornell alumni: New York City "guerilla artist" James De La Vega '94, pioneering South Bronx middle-school principal Ramón Gonzalez '94 and controversial historian Kevin Kruse M.A. '97, Ph.D. '00.

"I'm honored to be part of this list," Kleinberg said, "as I am by the support I get from so many colleagues and collaborators. Ultimately, it's this spirit of collaboration that makes research so rewarding."

Kleinberg studies the way Web sites link to one another and the way people link to one another on the Web, often suggesting ways that these linkages could be made more useful. He is partly responsible for the idea of ranking Web pages by examining the pages that link to them, a cornerstone of the Google search engine's strategy. He also has collaborated with biologists on problems in protein folding and the databasing of biological molecules, and currently he is working with behavioral scientists to study the sociology of the Web and how it has changed over time, using a massive database of current and past Web pages.

Kleinberg received his bachelor's degree from Cornell in 1993, and an S.M. (combination of MBA and M.S.) degree in 1994 and Ph.D. in 1996, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's "genius" award and a recipient of the 2006 Rolf Nevanlinna Prize from the International Mathematics Union, a Sloan Foundation fellowship, a Packard Foundation fellowship and the Initiatives in Research Award of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Earlier this year he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.