|
|
Software System Award
CONTACT: Anne P. Wilson
http://www.acm.org
Christopher Morgan
IMMEDIATE
1998 ACM SOFTWARE SYSTEM AWARD FOR CREATING "S SYSTEM" SOFTWARE New York, March 23, 1999...The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) today named Dr. John M. Chambers of Bell Labs as the recipient of the 1998 Software System Award for developing the S System, an innovative software program that helps users to manage and extract useful information from data. The ACM's citation notes that Dr. Chambers' work "will forever alter the way people analyze, visualize, and manipulate data . . . S is an elegant, widely accepted, and enduring software system, with conceptual integrity, thanks to the insight, taste, and effort of John Chambers." The System Software Award recognizes those who develop software systems having a lasting influence. It will be presented on May 15, 1999 during a special ACM awards banquet in New York City, and will be accompanied by a $10,000 prize. Financial support is provided by IBM. About The "S System" The first versions of S in the 1970s pioneered the use of data visualization and interactive statistical computing. Subsequent versions provided richly enhanced modeling capability, and user extensibility, based on its functional object-based approach. Still more recent versions provide a powerful class/method structure, new techniques to deal with large objects, extended interfaces to other languages and files, object-based documentation compatible with HTML, and powerful interactive programming techniques. The commercial version, S-Plus, is used across many disciplines where analysts must struggle with creative ways to manage and extract useful information from data. More information about S is available at http://cm.bell-labs.com/stat/S. John Chambers has been a member of technical staff in research at Bell Laboratories since 1966. In 1997, he became the first statistician to be named a Bell Labs Fellow, cited for "pioneering contributions to the field of statistical computing." His research has touched on nearly all aspects of computing with data but he is best known for the design (and continuing re-design) of the S language. From 1981-83 he was head of the Advanced Software Department, and from 1983-88, head of the Data Analysis and Statistics Research Department. He is the author or co-author of seven books on S, on computational methods, and on graphical methods, most recently Programming with Data: A Guide to the S Language, published in 1998. His professional activities have included being president of the International Association for Statistical Computing and various offices in the ISI, ASA and AAAS. He is a fellow of ASA and AAAS, and a member of ISI. At Bell Labs, he served as head of the advanced software department and the statistics and data analysis research department, before returning to full-time research in 1989. He continues active research on computing with data, with many plans for the future of S and related projects. Dr. Chambers obtained his Ph. D. in statistics in 1966 from Harvard University, after receiving a B. Sc. degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1963 and an M.A. in statistics from Harvard in 1965.
About the ACM
|
