Mateo Valero, professor in the Computer Architecture Department at Polytechnic University of Catalonia and director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, has been selected to receive the 2017 IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) Charles Babbage Award.
The award, consisting of a certificate and a $1,000 honorarium, will be presented on 31 May 2017 at the annual IEEE-CS International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2017). Valero will deliver a keynote speech on Runtime-Aware Architectures at the conference on 1 June 2017.
The award was established in memory of Charles Babbage in recognition of significant contributions in the field of parallel computation. Charles Babbage was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer best known for his work, along with Ada Lovelace, in helping to create the programmable computer.
The award is given to individuals that demonstrate an outstanding or innovative contribution to parallel computation. The award covers all aspects of parallel computing including computational aspects, novel applications, parallel algorithms, theory of parallel computation and parallel computing technologies.
Valero’s research focuses on high-performance architectures. An IEEE and ACM Fellow and an Intel Distinguished Research Fellow, he has published approximately 700 papers, served in the organization of more than 300 international conferences, and given more than 500 invited talks. Valero is also the director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center—the National Center of Supercomputing in Spain.
Valero has been honoured with several awards, including the 2007 IEEE/ACM Eckert-Mauchly Award, the 2015 IEEE-CS Seymour Cray Award, the 2009 IEEE Harry Goode Award, the 2012 ACM Distinguished Service Award, the 2015 Euro-Par Achievement Award, the Spanish National Award Julio Rey Pastor, the Spanish National Award Leonardo Torres Quevedo, the King Jaime I Award given by the Valencian government, and the Research Award given by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation. He has been named Honorary Doctor by several universities and is a Hall of Fame member of the ICT European Program (selected in 2008 as one of the 25 most influential European researchers in IT from 1983–2008).
Valero became a founding member of the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain in 1994. He was also elected a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona (2006) and the Academy of Europe (2009), as well as Correspondent Academic of the Spanish Royal Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences (2005) and the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2012).
Valero obtained his telecommunications engineering degree from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) in 1974 and his PhD in telecommunications from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in 1980. He has been teaching at UPC since 1974, and has been a full professor in the Computer Architecture Department since 1983. He has also been a visiting professor at ENSIMAG in France and at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been chair of the Computer Architecture Department at UPC (1983-1984, 1986-1987, 1989-1990, and 2001-2005) and the Dean of the Computer Engineering School (1984-1985), the highest recognition granted by the Catalan government of Supercomputing in Spain.
In 1998, Valero won a “Favourite Son” Award from his hometown, Alfamén (Zaragoza), and in 2006, Alfamén named their public college after him.
