Distinguished Service Award

Awarded on the basis of value and degree of services to the Programming Languages Community. The award recognizes contributions to ACM SIGPLAN, its conferences, publications, or its local activities. The award includes a prize of $2,500.

Recipients

2010: Jack W. Davidson

Citation

"Jack Davidson has contributed to the SIGPLAN community for many years, including as SIGPLAN chair (2005-2007), the SIGPLAN Communication Director (1999-present), a member of the SIGPLAN CACM Research Highlights Nominating Committee, a member of the ACM Publications Board, a member of the ACM SIG Governing Board and as its representative to the ACM Council, Associate Editor of ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, Associate Editor of ACM Transactions on Computer Architecture and Optimization, General Chair of PLDI (1998), chair of the PLDI steering committee (2009-2012), co-chair of LCTES (2000), chair of the LCTES steering committee (2001-2003), and a member of many conference program committees. Jack was instrumental in the development of LCTES as a SIGPLAN conference. As the Chair of SIGPLAN, Jack orchestrated the establishment of several SIGPLAN awards, including the Most Influential Paper Awards for OOPSLA and ICFP and the John Vlissides Award. In sum, Jack has made substantial and sustained contributions to the programming languages research community and to SIGPLAN in particular."

2009: Mamdouh Ibrahim

Citation

"For the past 15 years, Mamdouh Ibrahim has served the SIGPLAN community by helping to organize, to run, and to envision the future of OOPSLA, SIGPLAN's largest conference. Dr. Ibrahim served as Workshop Chair in 1993, Demonstration Chair in 1994, Poster Chair in 1995, Experience Report Chair in 1996, Tutorial Chair in 1997, Publicity Chair in 1999, Treasurer in 2000 and 2001, and Conference Chair in 2002. He served on the program committee in 1996 and 1997. He served on the Steering Committee from 2003 to 2008, chairing the committee from 2005 to 2008. During this period, OOPSLA faced significant challenges because of drops in attendance caused by terrorist attacks, economic downturns, and shifting technological trends. Throughout his tenure, Dr. Ibrahim has served with good humor, skillful organization, and dedication, finding creative solutions to a variety of challenges and recruiting other dedicated people to join the organization."

2008: Michael G. Burke

Citation

"For many years, Michael Burke has served the SIGPLAN community with distinction through his professional activities as well as through his widely known and respected research. His SIGPLAN service has spanned a number of roles, including SIGPLAN Member-at-Large from 1997 to 2001, Vice Chair from 2001 to 2003, SIGPLAN Chair from 2003 to 2005, and Past Chair from 2005 to 2007. During his time on the SIGPLAN Executive Committee, Mike spearheaded the effort to introduce Most Influential Paper Awards for POPL and PLDI, awards that were eventually also adopted by OOPSLA and ICFP. Mike has also given his valuable time in a number of capacities to the PLDI community: as a program committee member in 1990 and 1995, Program Chair in 1996, General Chair in 2001, and Chair of the Steering Committee from 2007 to 2009. He is currently serving as an Associate Editor of ACM's Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS), which is widely viewed by SIGPLAN members as the premier forum for publishing their research."

2007: Linda Northrop

2006: Hans Boehm

2005: No award given

2004: Ron Cytron

2003: Mary Lou Soffa

2002: Andrew Appel

2001: Barbara Ryder

2000: David Wise

1999: Loren Meissner

1998: Brent Hailpern

1997: Jan Lee and Jean Sammet

1996: Dick Wexelblat and John Richards

Selection Committee
The chair of the selection committee is a member of the EC appointed by the SIGPLAN chair. Other committee members are selected by the chair of the selection committee with approval of the SIGPLAN chair. The SIGPLAN Chair is an ex officio member of the committee and shall adjudicate conflicts of interest, appointing substitutes to the committee as necessary.

Each nomination should consist of the following items:

• Name, address, phone number, and email address of the person making the nomination (the nominator).
• Name, address, phone number, and email address of the candidate for whom an award is recommended (the nominee).
• A short statement (200-500 words) explaining why the nominee deserves the award in question.
• Names and email addresses of 5-10 people who the nominator believes will support the nomination. The awards committee will ask some of these people for their opinions.