Grace Murray Hopper Award
– Awarded to the outstanding young computer professional of the year, selected on the basis of a single recent major technical or service contribution. This award is accompanied by a prize of $35,000. The candidate must have been 35 years of age or less at the time the qualifying contribution was made. Financial support of the Grace Murray Hopper Award is provided by Google.

Luis von Ahn, 2011
– For his research in harnessing the human side of human-computer interaction for computational goals.
Full Citation, SCS Release

Alumni Recipients

George Necula, 2001
– 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.
Full Citation

Feng-hsiung Hsu, 1991
– For contributions in architecture and algorithms for chess machines. His work led to the creation of the Deep Thought Chess Machine, which led to the first chess playing computer to defeat Grandmasters in tournament play and the first to achieve a certified Grandmaster level rating.

John K. Ousterhout, 1987
– For his contribution to very large scale integrated circuit computer aided design. His systems, Caesar and Magic, have demonstrated that effective CAD systems need not be expensive, hard to learn, or slow.

Brian K. Reid, 1982
– For his contributions in the area of computerized text-production and typesetting systems, specifically Scribe which represents a major advance in this area. It embodies several innovations based on computer science research in programming language design, knowledge-based systems, computer document processing, and typography. The impact of Scribe has been substantial due to the excellent documentation and Reid's efforts to spread the system.