Greg Morrisett elected 2013 fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery

J. Gregory Morrisett, Allen B. Cutting Professor of Computer Science at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been elected a 2013 fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

He was recognized “for contributions to mathematically-based methods for ensuring the efficient implementation and verification of practical programming languages.” The 50 ACM Fellows selected this year from the world’s leading universities, corporations, and research labs have achieved advances in computing research and development that are accelerating the digital revolution and impacting every dimension of how we live, work, and play worldwide, the ACM said.

“We recognize these scientists and engineers, creators and builders, theorists and practitioners who are making a difference in our lives,” said ACM President Vinton G. Cerf. “They’re enabling us to listen, learn, calculate, and communicate in ways that underscore the benefits of the digital age. Their advances have led to opportunities for improved healthcare, enhanced security, expanded interactions, and enriched lifestyles.”

Morrisett’s research has focused on programming language design and implementation as well as software security. He is best known for his work on developing type systems that guarantee strong safety and security properties for low-level languages, including typed intermediate compiler languages, typed assembly language, and Cyclone, a type-safe dialect of C. Many of Morrisett’s graduate students who worked on these projects have gone on to academic careers at top computer science departments.

Morrisett is also faculty director of the Center for Research on Computation and Society (CRCS) at SEAS.