Spotlight

Richard N. Taylor Graduate Award in Software Engineering Established

In October 2018, the UCI Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) announced the establishment of the Richard N. Taylor Graduate Award in Software Engineering. This is the first award in ICS specifically dedicated to software engineering, and it is altogether fitting to have it dedicated to the most influential software engineering faculty member that ICS has had: Prof. Emeritus Richard N. Taylor.

Prof. Emeritus Richard N. TaylorTaylor was a mentor, teacher, and thought leader—a true inspiration to all. As a mentor, he groomed his graduate students to be independent, think ‘big’, and feel comfortable in their role as researchers. As a teacher, he introduced thousands of students to the virtues and realities of software engineering. As a thought leader, he fostered extensive relations between the Institute for Software Research—which he established and directed for 18 years, industry, and other partners, to the clear benefit of the impact that UC Irvine has had on the real world and its practices today.

Taylor has had a distinguished career few, if any, can parallel. He has garnered every award imaginable in the field, including the ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award, the ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Service Award, the ICSE Most Influential Paper Award, the ACM SIGSOFT Impact Paper Award, and more. He took great satisfaction from advising and working with his graduate students, and pride in seeing them grow into their own and become full-fledged contributors in the community, whether as professors themselves, educators, serial entrepreneurs, or thought leaders in industry.

It is this legacy that is being honored in the establishment of this permanent graduate student award in his name.

To date (Fall 2018), 23 alumni have contributed to the award, with donations and pledges of just over $100,000—making this wonderful tribute a reality. A heartfelt thanks to all for the important role they played in enabling Prof. Taylor’s legacy to be perpetuated with each new student who receives the award.

“I was both surprised and honored to hear of this effort by the University and the many donors,” said Prof. Taylor. “My chief joy in all my years at UCI has been working with brilliant, hard-working graduate students, and this Graduate Award will aid in producing future generations of leaders in software engineering.”

Informatics Department Chair Prof. André van der Hoek remarked, “For Prof. Richard N. Taylor to be honored by his former graduate students and other alums through the formation of the Graduate Award is truly amazing. Any and all expectations I had for the responses were blown out of the water with the generosity of everyone involved. I am beyond thankful and look forward to each year recognizing a Ph.D. student for their outstanding research!”

About the Graduate Award

The Richard N. Taylor Graduate Award in Software Engineering will be bestowed each year to a Software Engineering graduate student who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of software engineering. The award funds will not be restricted, be directed to tuition, or replace any regular funding; the award funds will be in addition to any other funding a student receives. The Graduate Award can thus have an incredibly positive impact on the recipient’s life and education.

How to Contribute

You can give online by going to the online donation page for the award (CLICK HERE).  

If you prefer to send a check, make it out to “UCI Foundation” and mail it to:

UCI Foundation
100 Theory, Suite 250
Irvine, CA 92617

Please indicate in the note area that the check is for the Richard N. Taylor Graduate Award in Software Engineering.

Does your company match donations? If so, please apply for the match to make your donation go farther!

Questions? Contact:

This article appeared in ISR Connector issue: 
Fall/Winter 2018