IMMEDIATE
New York, NY March 26, 1998...The Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award will be presented to two pioneers in data compression, Dr. Abraham Lempel, professor of computer science at the Israel Institute of Technology and director at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Israel; and Dr. Jacob Ziv, professor of electrical engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and president of the Israel National Academy of Science and the Humanities. The Award, which honors specific theoretical accomplishments in computing, will be presented on May 10,1998 during the ACM awards banquet held in conjunction with ACM's Policy '98* Conference in Washington, D.C. Dr. Lempel and Dr. Ziv are recognized "for their pioneering work in data compression."
Dr. Lempel and Dr. Ziv developed a theory based on a source-coding technique known as the LZ algorithm. In a theoretical sense, the LZ algorithm yields the best compression rate achievable by finite-state encoders. The LZ algorithm can be found in virtually every modern computer. Most workstations run with one or more LZ compression algorithms in its software, hardware or both.
We use the LZ algorithm often without being aware of it, archiving files; installing software that is compressed on a disk; backing hard drives to magnetic disks; and going online. These examples are of the practical impact added to the well-recognized theoretical significance of the work of Dr. Lempel and Dr. Ziv.
About The Paris Kanellakis Award
The Award includes a monetary prize of $5000. The Award is endowed by contributions from the Kanellakis family, and financial support has been provided by PWS Publishing Company and International Thomson Computer Press, ACM's Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computational Theory (SIGACT), ACM's Special Interest Group on Management Data (SIGMOD), the ACM Special Interest Group Discretionary Fund, and individual contributions.
About the ACM
ACM is a major force in advancing the skills of information technology professionals and students. ACM serves its global membership by delivering cutting-edge technical information and transferring ideas from theory to practice. ACM, with its world-class journals, magazines and books, dynamic special interest groups, numerous conferences, workshops, and electronic forums, is a primary resource to the IT field. For additional information about ACM visit our web site at http://www.acm.org.
About Policy 98
The ACM Policy '98 Conference will be held in Washington D.C., May 10-12, 1998. Concerned with shaping the future applications of computing, the conference aims to increase the influence of computing professionals in policy decisions -by establishing an intellectual foundation for discussion, and by reaching out to policy makers. The Conference is sponsored by the USACM, The Association for Computing Machinery's Public Policy Committee, and targets audiences from industry, government, academia, and journalism involved specifically with computing technology policy issues. For more information about Policy '98, please visit the web site at http://www.acm.org/policy98.