Dr. Ricardo Baeza-Yates is the winner of the National Award
He has been a professor at the Department of Computer Science of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (FCFM) of the University of Chile for 35 years and is a world-renowned figure in technological research on the Web and Data Science. This recognition highlights his extensive academic career and his global impact in the field of computing.
Doctor in Computer Science, Professor of the Department of Computer Science (DCC) of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (FCFM) of the University of Chile and Research Director of the Northeastern University Institute for Experiential Artificial Intelligence on its Silicon Valley campus. It’s part of the company’s extensive curriculum Ricardo Baeza-Yateswho received this Thursday the National Prize for Applied and Technological Sciences 2024awarded biannually by the Ministry of Education.
“I am very pleased to receive this National Award as a recognition of all the research in computing that I did for fifteen years in Chile, and then ten years in Catalonia and another ten in California, without losing touch with my roots,” said the Professor Baeza-Yates after receiving the news. He also highlighted the role of the Casa de Bello in his training: “They supported me to study my PhD in Canada after finishing my Master’s in Computing, and given my productivity they promoted me to Associate Professor when I returned. Then it was where I did my first 15 years of career, becoming the youngest Full Professor in 1993,” he recalled.
The jury was composed of the Minister of Education, Nicholas Cataldo; the Rector of the University of Chile, Professor Rosa Devés; the rector of the Federico Santa María Technical University, Juan Yuz; the representative of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Virginia Garreton; and the National Prize for Applied and Technological Sciences 2022, Ricardo Araya.
“He is an academic and researcher with an outstanding career. We have deeply valued the contribution he has made precisely to the area of computing, to data mining, and in particular, the work he has done on ethics in the use of data and artificial intelligence, which is very pertinent to the times we live in today,” said the Minister of Education, Nicholas Cataldo. “It is extremely important to highlight Ricardo Baeza-Yates’ global career. His quality as a researcher, which makes him a reference not only nationally, but also internationally,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Rector Rosa Devés He stressed that “from a very early age he was someone extraordinarily brilliant in his studies at the University of Chile, where he is now a Full Professor at the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.”He has trained many generations of professionals and academics, has written texts that are used worldwide on information and data retrieval, and has contributed significantly to the different areas of computer engineering.”, commented the Rector.
Likewise, the dean of the FCFM, Francisco Martineznoted that “we have received the news of the National Prize for Applied and Technological Sciences with great joy, awarded to Professor and colleague Ricardo Baeza-Yates. For his scientific contribution, Ricardo is a world figure who has received several awards in the construction of Computer Science. The Faculty is proud that one of our own, who despite the distance has maintained a formal and academic link with our community, receives the highest national recognition.”
Prolific career
Professor Baeza-Yates began his career conducting simultaneous studies of Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the FCFM from the University of Chile, graduating in 1983 and 1985 respectively, and obtaining a Master’s degree in Computer Science in January 1985 and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in April 1986.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) in May 1989 and returned to Chile as Associate Professor, continuing his professional activity at Casa de Bello, where he still works as an academic at the DCC of the FCFM. During 1990 and 1991 he was the coordinator of the Master’s in Computer Science and served as director of said department on two occasions: June 1993 to September 1995, and November 2002 to November 2004. He became a Full Professor at the University at the age of 34.
Among his recognitions, the title of “first distinguished member” of the Chilean Society of Computer Sciencethe JW Graham Medal for Innovation in Computing from Waterloo, the CLEI Distinction for Computing Lifetime Achievement from the University ofLatin American Association of Computer Science and Information Technology Departments and the rank of Fellow in both the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) as in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersIn 2010 he was incorporated as a founding member of the Chilean Academy of EngineeringIn 2019, he was appointed corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
In recognition of his work, he has been invited to form part of prestigious institutions, committees and projects both in Chile and internationally. Among them, his participation in the commissions to define the Digital Agenda during the governments of Eduardo Frei y Ricardo Lagosand the presidency on two occasions of the Chilean Society of Computer Science (1992 to 1995 and 1997 to 1998). He also played a key role in the public sphere during the COVID-19 pandemic, with his data-driven analyses of the behavior of the virus in the population.
He is currently Research Director of the Northeastern University’s Institute for Experiential Artificial Intelligence on its Silicon Valley campus and an associate member of the Network Science Institute at the same university. He also has part-time affiliations with the Millennium Institute for Data Foundations and the Department of Engineering at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Catalonia.
Professor Baeza-Yates is one of the most recognized authors in publications and journals in his scientific field in terms of the quality and quantity of his work. His scientific work consists of more than 600 publications.among which there are eight books in top-level publishers such as Addison-Wesley o Prentice-Hall and 120 articles in international journals published by the world’s leading professional organizations, such as the ACM, IEEE CS y SIAM. To this must be added more than 170 articles in international conferences, more than 30 book chapters and almost 50 conference proceedings or special issues of published journals, particularly in the field of the Web.
Professor Ricardo Baeza-Yates’ most important scientific contributions can be divided into four main areas: information retrieval, which is the technology behind Web search engines; Web data analysis (Web data mining); andThe use of machine learning for human well-being, including the impact of biases in artificial intelligence, and algorithms in generalwhich are the basis for solving any problem using a computer. He has also been one of the pioneers of bioinformatics in Chile..
Press Office of the Rector of the University of Chile and FCFM
Photo: Nadja Meister (TU Wien Informatics)
Posted on Thursday, August 29, 2024
