Jack Dongarra, emeritus professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been named a recipient of the prestigious NEC Computer and Communications (C&C) Prize.
Dongarra and a group responsible for the invention of the QR code were selected by the NEC C&C Foundation as this year’s awardees. The C&C Prize, which was established in 1985, is awarded to distinguished persons in recognition of outstanding contributions to research and development activities and pioneering work related to the integration of computers and communications technologies and the social impact of developments in these fields.
Dongarra was cited for his contributions to high-performing scientific computing and its applications.
“This honor celebrates the community’s long, collaborative journey—building algorithms, software, and benchmarks that let science and engineering trust the numbers,” Dongarra said.
Over the last 40 years, Dongarra has contributed to the growth of the high-performance computing (HPC) community and the advancement of the HPC field through his important research and development of efficient linear algebra libraries, parallel programming mechanisms, and computer performance evaluation tools. His leadership built an open, international ecosystem while training generations of scientists and shaping policy for responsible, transparent performance metrics in the AI era.
Dongarra is well known for creating the LINPACK benchmark to evaluate computer performance and for co-founding the TOP500 project, which ranks the world’s fastest computers. TOP500 and its benchmarks have become key to tracking and analyzing trends in HPC performance.
Dongarra assumed a joint position at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1989. He has served as a distinguished professor and emeritus professor at UT, and a distinguished research staff member in the computer science and mathematics division at ORNL.
Dongarra will be honored during a ceremony for the C&C Prize on November 26 at the ANA InterContinental Tokyo. The ceremony will be streamed live to those who apply on the foundation’s website.
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (rpotkey@utk.edu)