Daniel Reed Receives 2026 Ken Kennedy Computing Award
The award recognizes Reed for a 40-year career spanning high-performance systems architecture and technology policy.
Updated on Oct. 15, 2026 in Data Centers
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The IEEE Computer Society and Association for Computing Machinery have named Daniel Reed as the recipient of the 2026 Ken Kennedy Award. This honor recognizes Reed for his contributions to high-performance computing, scalable systems, and community leadership.
Why it matters
The Ken Kennedy Award highlights the trajectory of high-performance computing by honoring individuals who shape its programmability and productivity. Reed’s selection underscores the importance of bridging academic research and large-scale infrastructure design in the evolving data center landscape.
The award recognizes a 40-year career that includes architectural leadership for the National Science Foundation's TeraGrid and a portfolio of 28 MS theses and 19 PhD dissertations supervised.
The players
Daniel Reed
Presidential Professor (emeritus) at the University of Utah and former Corporate Vice President of Technology Policy at Microsoft.
IEEE Computer Society
A professional association serving over 375,000 members focused on advancing computer science and engineering.
Association for Computing Machinery
An international professional organization for computing and information technology research and practice.
The details
The Ken Kennedy Award, established in 2009, rewards advancements in high-performance computing and systems scalability. Reed served as the chief architect for the TeraGrid, a multi-year project designed to provide researchers with coordinated access to distributed high-performance computing resources. His career also spans significant roles in technology policy, including time as Corporate Vice President of Technology Policy at Microsoft.
Timeline
2009: The Ken Kennedy Award was established.
15 October 2026: Daniel Reed was named the 2026 award recipient.
30 June 2027: Nominations for the 2027 award cycle close.
The Tech Race
This award aligns with the mission of recognizing leaders who have fundamentally shaped the architecture of distributed high-performance computing. It situates Reed within a long-term lineage of innovators who established the foundations for modern, large-scale systems.
Professional researchers and academics interested in computing leadership can participate in the next award cycle by submitting nominations before the June 2027 deadline. The selection process requires a series of questions and two independent endorsers for each candidate.
The takeaway
The award underscores the ongoing necessity of integrating policy and architectural vision within high-performance computing communities. Interested parties should track the 30 June 2027 deadline for the next annual nomination cycle.
Further reading
For broader trends in computing infrastructure, visit the Data Centers section.
More information
Review the nomination criteria at the Ken Kennedy Award submission portal.
Source note: This article includes information reported by IEEE Computer Society.
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