Andrew S. Tanenbaum to Receive IEEE Medal

ANDREW S. TANENBAUM, RENOWNED COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATOR AND PROGRAMMER, TO
RECEIVE IEEE MEDAL

Known by Some as the "Grandfather of Linux," over a Million Students
Worldwide Have Studied Tanenbaum's Textbooks  

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (4 June 2007) - The IEEE has named Dr. Andrew S. Tanenbaum
as the recipient of its 2007 IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal, in
recognition of over three decades worth of his contributions to the field of
computer science. The IEEE is the world's leading professional association
for the advancement of technology.
Tanenbaum is best known as the creator of the open source Unix-like
operating system called MINIX, which he created for use alongside his
textbooks, and which was eventually used by Finnish university student Linus
Torvalds to create the kernel, or central component, for the Linux operating
system.  He also has penned five textbooks, which have collectively been
revised through 17 editions, and have been translated into over 20
languages. These texts are known as the standard texts in the field of
computer science. 
Sponsored by The Mathworks, Inc., National Instruments Foundation, Pearson
Prentice Hall and IEEE Life Members Committee, Tanenbaum is being recognized
for his contributions to education in computing, especially computer
organization, networking and operating systems.  The medal will be presented
on 16 June 2007 at the 2007 IEEE Honors Ceremony at in Philadelphia, Pa.
Although Tanenbaum moved to the Netherlands early in his career, he retained
his American citizenship, and has maintained a key interest in American
political affairs.  He is well known for his endeavors on the World Wide
Web, where under the pseudonym, "The Votemaster," Tanenbaum created the
popular Web site electoral-vote.com in 2004. Electoral-vote.com used various
algorithms to track the opinion polls in the different states, and attempted
to eventually predict the Electoral College outcome in the 2004 Presidential
election. Electoral-vote.com was one of the most widely used and cited Web
site during the 2004 presidential election, drawing 700,000 visitors a day;
it remains popular today.       
Tanenbaum received his bachelor's degree in physics from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA and received his doctorate at the
University of California, Berkeley. He currently serves as a professor of
computer science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, and formerly was
the scientific director of the Advanced School for Computing and Imaging
(ASCI), The Netherlands, for 12 years. 
An IEEE Fellow and the recipient of numerous awards, Tanenbaum is also a
Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, and a member of the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.  
About the IEEE
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) is the
world's largest technical professional society. Through its more than
370,000 members in 160 countries, the organization is a leading authority on
a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and
telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer
electronics. Dedicated to the advancement of technology, the IEEE publishes
30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics
engineering and computer science fields, and has developed nearly 900 active
industry standards. The organization also sponsors or co-sponsors over 450
international technical conferences each year.  Additional information about
the IEEE can be found at <http://www.ieee.org/>.

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CONTACT:      	Christa Conte		
					KCSA Worldwide
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					Francine Tardo
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					f.tardo@ieee.org
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