National honor for Lazowska

By Rob Harrill
News & Information

Ed Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science and chairman of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the UW, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Lazowska was among 74 engineers nationwide elected to membership in the academy’s “Class of 2001,” announced Feb. 16. Election to the academy is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. In choosing Lazowska, the academy cited his “leadership and contributions to computer performance evaluation and distributed systems.”

Denice Denton, dean of the College of Engineering, said that Lazowska’s election to the academy recognizes him as more than an outstanding researcher. It also underlines his effectiveness as a policy leader and educational innovator.

“This is a great honor,” Denton said. “Having someone of Ed’s caliber here benefits the college, the University, and the region.”

Lazowska came to the UW in 1977. His research and teaching concern the design, implementation and analysis of computer systems. He has also been active in national and regional policy and advisory roles, including chairing the Computing Research Association and the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, serving on the Board of Directors of the Washington Software Alliance, and serving on the Technical Advisory Board for Microsoft Research and for a number of high-tech startups and venture firms.

He was selected to deliver the 1996 UW Annual Faculty Lecture, and he received the 1998 UW Outstanding Public Service Award. He led his department to the 1999 University of Washington Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence.

According to the academy, membership honors those who have made “important contributions to engineering theory and practice” and those who have demonstrated “unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology.”