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For fundamental contributions to engineering education, advances in computer architecture, and the integration of leading-edge research
with education. "In 2007, some thirty years after I began my career, a single microprocessor can provide as much computing power as was available to the entire university in the 1970s. I could never have predicted this incredible achievement, but I have been extremely lucky to have been able to contribute to it."
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John Hennessy
John L. Hennessy joined Stanford's faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. He became a full professor in 1986, and was the inaugural Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1987 to 2004.
From 1983 to 1993 Hennessy was director of the Computer Systems Laboratory, which is jointly administered by the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He served as chair of Computer Science Department from 1994 to 1996, and in 1996 was named dean of the School of Engineering. As dean, he launched a five-year plan that laid the groundwork for new activities in bioengineering and biomedical engineering.
In 1999 he was named provost, the university's chief academic and financial officer. As provost he continued his efforts to foster interdisciplinary activities in the biosciences and bioengineering. In October 2000 he was inaugurated as Stanford University's 10th president. In 2005 he became the inaugural holder of the Bing Presidential Professorship.
In 1981 Hennessy drew together researchers to focus on a computer architecture known as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), a technology that revolutionized the computer industry by increasing performance while reducing cost. During his sabbatical year in 1984 he co-founded MIPS Computer Systems (now MIPS Technologies) to produce commercial RISC microprocessors.
Hennessy is a recipient of the IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2000), the ACM Eckert-Mauchly Award (2001), the IEEE Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award (2001), the NEC Computers and Communications Prize for lifetime achievement in computer science and engineering (2004), and a Founders Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the ACM and the IEEE.
He has lectured and published widely and is the co-author with David Patterson of two widely-used textbooks on computer architecture and design. He is also a board member of some of silicon valley's most innovative companies including Google, Cisco and Atheros. Hennessy earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University (1973) and his master's and doctoral degrees in computer science from the SUNY Stony Brook (1975, 1977).