Reading time: about 2 minutesProf. Joseph “Joe” Halpern, computer science, died on Friday at age 72 in Ithaca following a battle with cancer. Halpern had served as a professor in computer science at Cornell since 1996. He was the chair of the Department of Computer Science from 2010 to 2014 and was named the Joseph C. Ford Professor of Engineering in 2017. While he was a member of the computer science department, Halpern’s work intersected a wide range of fields. “[Halpern] was a towering figure in theoretical computer science and a beloved faculty member,” said Prof. Lorenzo Alvisi, chair of the Department of Computer Science, in an interview with the Cornell Chronicle.