Stony Brook's Michael Bender Honored with John L. Hennessy Endowed Professorship

Michael Bender, wearing the medal he received at the Investiture ceremony.
Michael Bender, PhD, poses wearing the medal received at the investiture ceremony on October 25. 

Professor Michael Bender was invested as the John L. Hennessy Endowed Professor in Computer Science in a ceremony on October 25, 2024. The investiture ceremony, held at the Charles B. Wang Center, celebrated Bender's achievements alongside ten other endowed faculty members. This distinguished honor, named after Stony Brook alumnus and tech industry luminary John L. Hennessy, recognizes Bender's outstanding contributions to computer science research and education.

Bender is an expert in data structures and algorithms, I/O-efficient computing, scheduling, and parallel computing. He has won several awards, including an R&D 100 Award and multiple Test-of-Time, Best Paper, and Distinguished Paper awards. Bender is a European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) Fellow and ACM Distinguished Member. He also holds several awards for graduate and undergraduate teaching.

"This endowed professorship is not just a personal honor, but a testament to the collaborative spirit at Stony Brook," said Bender. "It will enable us to further advance our work in areas critical to the future of computing, from more efficient data structures to algorithms that can tackle the challenges of big data problems."

The John L. Hennessy Endowed Professorship was established through Hennessy's generous contribution of his Turing Award funds. Hennessy, whose work on Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) revolutionized processor design and earned him the Turing Award, exemplifies the potential of Stony Brook alumni to shape the tech industry. After graduating from Stony Brook, Hennessy joined the faculty at Stanford University and went on to become the university’s president. While at Stanford, he started the MIPS project that led to the development of RISC processors. Hennessy now serves as the chairman of the board of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. 

Samir Das, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science, commented on the significance of the appointment. "John Hennessy left a legacy of excellence everywhere he went. Michael Bender's work and its impact underscore that legacy and our commitment to grow it."

This endowment honors Bender's achievements and provides crucial resources to support his ongoing research and mentorship of the next generation of computer science students. 

 

-By Yuganshu Jain & Veronica Mathur