Ed Lazowska

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Ed Lazowska, the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering, received his Bachelors degree from Brown University in 1972 and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1977.

Once upon a time, Lazowska's research and teaching concerned the design, implementation, and analysis of high-performance computing and communication systems. For the first ten years of his career, Lazowska's principal focus was computer system performance: the development of effective performance evaluation techniques, and the use of these techniques to gain insight about significant computer systems and computer system design issues. Lazowska then turned his attention to the design and implementation of distributed and parallel computer systems - work that yielded a number of widely-embraced approaches to kernel and system design in areas such as thread management, high-performance local and remote communication, load sharing, cluster computing, and the effective use of the underlying architecture by the operating system. 

Now Lazowska mostly wears ties, pushes paper, and racks up frequent flier miles. He chaired the Computing Research Association Board of Directors from 1997-2001, and currently serves on CRA's Government Affairs Committee. He chaired the DARPA Information Science and Technology Study Group from 2004-2006. He served for six years on the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, and served on the NRC Committee to Review the Multi-Agency HPCC Program, Committee on Research Horizons on Networking, Committee on Improving Learning with Information Technology, Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism - Panel on Information Technology, Committee on Assessing the Impact of Changes in the Information Technology Research and Development Ecosystem, and Committee on Management of University Intellectual Property. From 1995-2001 he served on (and in 1998 and 1999 he chaired) the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. He is a member of the Microsoft Research Technical Advisory Board. In 2003 President Bush named him to co-chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. In 2005 President Bush abolished the committee, presumably for insubordination. He recently became the inaugural chair of the Computing Community Consortium, an NSF-sponsored effort to engage the computing research community in envisioning more audacious research challenges. Regionally, he is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Washington Technology Industry Association and the Technology Alliance, and he is a member of the State of Washington Information Services Board. He serves on advisory boards for a number of startups, venture firms, and major computer science departments. Lazowska's guiding principle in all of these endeavors: "If you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road."

Lazowska is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was selected to deliver the 1996 University of Washington Annual Faculty Lecture, and to receive the 1998 University of Washington Outstanding Public Service Award. In 2005 he received the Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award for outstanding service to the computing research community, and the ACM Presidential Award from the Association for Computing Machinery. In 2009 he received the ACM Distinguished Service Award "for more than two decades of wide-ranging and tireless service to the computing community, especially in advocacy at a national level."

Lazowska chaired UW Computer Science & Engineering from 1993-2001; under his leadership, CSE received the inaugural University of Washington Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence, four CSE faculty members were recognized with the University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award, one with the University of Washington Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, and eight with Sloan Research Fellowships. Twenty two Ph.D. students and twenty three Masters students have completed their degrees working with him.

 

	Computer Science & Engineering University of Washington Box 352350 Seattle, WA  98195-2350 (206) 543-1695 voice, (206) 543-2969 FAX [comments to lazowska]