George Necula

Digital Library

ACM Distinguished Member

USA - 2016

Press Release

ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award

USA - 2001

citation

For his seminal work on the concept and implementation of Proof Carrying Code, which has had a great impact on the field of programming languages and compilers and has given a new direction to applications of theorem proving to program correctness, such as safety of mobile code and component-based software.

The key idea behind PCC is that an untrusted software program can be quickly verified that it is safe to execute if it comes accompanied by a formal proof of compliance with a predetermined safety policy. This puts the burden of proving safety on the code producer and enables the code receiver to enforce safety with a simple and fast proof- checking infrastructure.

With Proof-Carrying Code, Professor Necula has made a fundamental contribution that spans several areas of Computer Science including operating systems, programming languages, logics, theorem provers and most importantly security. Professor Necula is recognized both for inventing the concept and for addressing the theoretical and technical issues involved in making Proof-Carrying Code practical.

ACM Recognizes Distinguished Members for Computing Innovations that Transform Society

2016 Members Selected for Individual Achievements that Expand Scientific Frontiers and Advance the Digital Age

ACM named 45 Distinguished Members for their individual contributions to the field of computing. Their achievements have advanced the science, engineering and education of computing, and highlight the growing role of computing in the major technological advances shaping society today.

"The contributions of our Distinguished Members lead to breakthroughs that improve our lives, advance the frontiers of scientific discovery, and boost economic development,” explains ACM President Vicki L. Hanson. “Our global roster of 2016 Distinguished Members reminds us that excellence in our field knows no borders. For all our new Distinguished Members, we celebrate their dedication to computing, their creativity, and their exemplary professional accomplishments."

The 2016 ACM Distinguished Members work at leading universities, corporations and research institutions around the world, including Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These trailblazers have made contributions in a wide range of technical areas including computer science education, data privacy, security, computer networking, machine learning, distributed systems, multimedia computing, human-computer interaction, programming languages, mobile and wireless networks, database management, information retrieval, computational biology, molecular computing, and software engineering, among others.