Hal Berghel

Was presented the 1996 ACM Distingished Service Award at the annual ACM Awards Banquet held in conjunction with ACM97 on Sunday, March 2, 1997, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. The certificate inscription read: "For wide-ranging contributions to experimental computing and service to the computing community."



From the ACM Awards Program brochure:

"Professor Berghel has made a wide range of contributions to experimental computing. These contributions include research in approximate string matching algorithms, information customization and non-prescriptive document traversal systems, meta-level architecture expert systems, program similarity determination metrics, and exploiting emerging web software technology. In addition, he has provided significant service to different computer organizations and to his state of residency.

The ACM has been served by Professor Berghel in numerous capacities. He is Chair of the Electronic Communities Committee, Director of hte Technology Outreach Program and Lectureship Series, Chair of the Webbie Prize Committee, Vice-chair of the Local Activities Board, and member of the Publications Board.

In addition, he is past Chair of the Special Interest Group for Applied Computing and the Distinguished Service Award Committee.l He has been recognized for his services to the ACM by receiving the Lecturer of the Year Award in 1996, the SIGAPP Distingished Service Award in 1994, National Service Awards in 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995 and the South Central Regional Service Award in 1989. Through his dedication and efforts he has rejuvenated and pioneered ACM activities at both the national and international level.

Professor Berghel is an IEEE Distinguished Visitor since 1994 and has served on a variety of IEEE conference committees since 1982. In addition, in 1985, 1986 and 1987 he was a member of the AFIPS National Computer Conference program committee.

Finally, Professor Berghel has contributed extensively to the technical enrichment of Arkansas. He is the co-founder of the Arkansas Society for Computer and Information Technology and the Arkansas Educational Achievement Scholarship Program, and he has been the Conference Chair of the Arkansas Computer Conferences from 1988."



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