²⁰⁰⁵Edward Lazowska

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Information Science and Technology (ISAT), President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, CRA's Government Affairs Committee

Ed Lazowska is widely recognized for his incredible effectiveness, unbridled enthusiasm, and overwhelming energy. He has furthered the computing research agenda in so many ways that are simply transparent to the entire community. Only a few of his many contributions are mentioned here.

Lazowska is a Member of the NAE; and a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, AAAS, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Currently he co-chairs the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee. From 1992-2004, he was a member of the CRA Board of Directors, serving as chair from 1997-2001; Ed is currently a co-chair of CRA’s Government Affairs Committee. He has long been involved with ACM activities, where he served as a member (and 1999-2000 chair) of ACM’s A.M. Turing Award selection committee and as a member of the ACM Council. From 1995-2000, Ed served on (and in 1998 and 1999 he chaired) the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. He has testified before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee concerning NSF and the U.S. House Science Committee concerning HPCC.

Lazowska chairs the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Information Science and Technology (ISAT) study group and served as a member from 1998-2001; he also chairs the Peer Committee for Section 5 (Computer Science & Engineering) of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a member of the Executive Advisory Council of the National Center for Women and Information Technology, and also has served on a number of industry advisory boards.

Recently Ed completed six years of service on the National Research Council’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB), and served on the NRC Committee on Improving Learning with Information Technology. In addition, Ed served on the NRC Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism—Panel on Information Technology, as well as contributing extensively to the creation of the CSTB summary report “Innovation in Information Technology.”
In the words of one supporter of his nomination: “Ed Lazowska is a most worthy recipient of the CRA Distinguished Service Award given his prodigious service to our community over multiple decades. He has served on more committees with national impact than almost any other computer professional I know, and continued to do so even while he was the highly proactive chairman of the University of Washington’s distinguished computer science department.”