Turing Award winner, Mathematics & Statistics alumnus to give talk at UNM on Oct. 10
Posted: September 30, 2022
By Kim Delker
The University of New Mexico is planning a celebration on Monday, Oct. 10 in honor of alumnus Jack Dongarra, the recipient of the 2021 The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of computing.”
The celebration will include events for students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Dongarra earned his doctorate in applied mathematics from UNM in 1980. His research was foundational to the field of computer science at UNM and in particular, high-performance computing. His advisor, Cleve Moler (who was the author of the first version of MATLAB), helped create the UNM Department of Computer Science in the late 1970s.
Dongarra is currently an emeritus distinguished professor at the University of Tennessee in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
The ACM credited Dongarra with “pioneering contributions to numerical algorithms and libraries that enabled high-performance computational software to keep pace with exponential hardware improvements for over four decades.”
The following events are planned for the Dongarra celebration:
- Noon - Student Q&A. SUB Ballroom C
- 4 p.m. - Lecture. Larrañaga Engineering Auditorium, Centennial Engineering
Center. - 5:30 p.m. - Reception. Stamm Commons, Centennial Engineering Center
The Student Q&A will include lunch (provided) with Dongarra, as well as an opportunity to ask the A.M. Turing Award winner any questions about the industry of computer science technology, his contributions to the field and more. Reservations are required. RSVP by Oct. 8 at 5 p.m.
Read the full story at UNM Newsroom.
