Cal Newport


Calvin C. Newport is Provost's Distinguished Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Georgetown University and the author of six self-improvement books. He writes the Study Hacks blog, which is focused on academic and career success.

Academic career

Newport completed his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College in 2004 and received a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 in computer science under Nancy Lynch. He was a post-doctoral associate in the MIT computer science department from 2009-2011. In 2011, he joined Georgetown University as an assistant professor of computer science, and was granted tenure in 2017. His work focuses on distributed algorithms in challenging networking scenarios, and incorporates the study of communications systems in nature.

Blog

Newport started the Study Hacks blog in 2007 where he writes about "how to perform productive, valuable and meaningful work in an increasingly distracted digital age". Newport coined the term "deep work," which refers to studying for focused chunks of time without distractions such as email and social media. In 2017, he began advocating for "digital minimalism." He runs the podcast Deep Questions.

Books