Seattle Business magazine announced that it has named UW CSE professor Ed Lazowska its Tech Impact Champion for 2016. In selecting Lazowska for the award, the magazine’s editors and judges cited his lifetime of work building UW CSE into one of the top 10 programs in the nation, his leadership in establishing the eScience Institute and advancing our region’s position at the forefront of data analytics, and his tireless promotion of the local tech industry.
From the announcement:
“When Lazowska arrived in Seattle 39 years ago as an assistant professor, both the University of Washington and the region were very different places. In computer science, he was the newest of only 13 faculty members. The region’s tech industry largely consisted of Boeing, Fluke and Physio-Control. Microsoft at the time was still a dozen people in Albuquerque.
“Today, the UW’s Computer Science & Engineering Department rivals Stanford’s and Carnegie Mellon’s for attracting tech talent and major research — accomplishments that Lazowska helped bring about….A decade after leading fundraising to build the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering, he is doing so again to build a new CSE facility that will help double the center’s capacity.”
The magazine goes on to note that, in his role as “educator, researcher, adviser and booster,” Lazowska has helped lead the greater Seattle region’s transformation into a global center of innovation. It also celebrates his commitment to promoting gender diversity in computing and for providing greater opportunities to the region’s K-12 students.
Lazowska joins an impressive list of local tech titans previously honored for their lifetime contributions to the industry and region, including serial entrepreneur and UW CSE alum Jeremy Jaech (2013), former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (2014), and Madrona Venture Group co-founder Tom Alberg (2015). He will receive the award at Seattle Business’ annual Tech Impact Awards bash on September 21st.
Read the full announcement here.
Congratulations, Ed!