Boyer, Kaufmann and Moore awarded the 2005 ACM Software System Award for the Boyer-Moore Theorem Prover

AUSTIN, Texas—University of Texas at Austin professors Robert Boyer and J Stother Moore and Senior Research Scientist Matt Kaufmann were awarded the 2005 Software System Award by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for their work on the Boyer-Moore Theorem Prover.

Used by computer scientists to verify that computer systems are functioning correctly, the Boyer-Moore Theorem Prover has been under constant development and improvement since the 1970s. The latest version, known as ACL2, ensures safer and more secure software programs and hardware designs.

ACM will present the Software System Award to the honorees at the annual ACM Awards Banquet on May 20 in San Francisco.

"J, Bob and Matt bring great honor to The University of Texas at Austin and the Department of Computer Sciences," said Mary Ann Rankin, dean of the College of Natural Sciences. "We are fortunate to have such influential people in the field of computer sciences on our faculty.”

Given to an institution or individuals for developing software systems that have had a lasting influence, the Software Systems Award carries a $10,000 prize. This is the second consecutive year a member of the Department of Computer Sciences has won the award. Dr. Simon Lam, a former chairman of Computer Sciences, received the 2004 award for his work on Secure Socket Layers.

Boyer is a professor of computer science, mathematics and philosophy, and Kaufmann is a senior research scientist at the university. Moore holds the Admiral B.R. Inman Centennial Chair in Computing Theory and is chair of Computer Sciences. The Boyer-Moore Theorem Prover also received the 1991 Current Prize in Automatic Theorem Proving by the American Mathematical Society and the Herbrand Award in 1999.

ACM is an educational and scientific society uniting the world’s computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. Past winners of the Software System Award include such distinguished projects as Unix, the Xerox Alto Systems, the World Wide Web and Java.