Purdue CS Alumnus Daniel Reed wins 2026 CRA Distinguished Service Award

03-18-2026

Professor Dan Reed wins CRA Distinguished Service Award

Daniel A. Reed, a Purdue University computer science alumnus (Ph.D. 1983), has been named the recipient of the 2026 Distinguished Service Award from the Computing Research Association (CRA). The award honors individuals whose service has had a lasting impact on the computing research community through leadership, policy engagement, and professional contributions.

Reed is an Emeritus Presidential Professor in Computational Science at the University of Utah and has spent more than four decades advancing high-performance computing, cyberinfrastructure, and national science and technology policy. He previously served as director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and as chief architect of the NSF-funded TeraGrid, one of the nation’s first distributed supercomputing infrastructures. In 2008, Reed was also named a Distinguished Alumnus by Purdue’s College of Science.

Several CRA Distinguished Service Award recipients have strong ties to Purdue Computer Science, including Carl Landwehr (2025), a former Purdue assistant professor; Eugene Spafford (2009), longtime Purdue professor and cybersecurity leader; Paul Young (1996), who served on the Purdue faculty from 1966 to 1983; and Peter J. Denning (1989), who led the Purdue computer science department and was a faculty member from 1972 to 1983. Together, these recognitions highlight Purdue’s longstanding role in shaping the computing research community.

Read the announcement from the CRA here.


About the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University

Founded in 1962, the Department of Computer Science was created to be an innovative base of knowledge in the emerging field of computing as the first degree-awarding program in the United States. The department continues to advance the computer science industry through research. U.S. News & World Report ranks the department No. 16 and No. 19 overall in undergraduate and graduate computer science, respectively. Graduates of the program are able to solve complex and challenging problems in many fields. Our consistent success in an ever-changing landscape is reflected in the record undergraduate enrollment, increased faculty hiring, innovative research projects, and the creation of new academic programs. Learn more at cs.purdue.edu.  

Last Updated: Mar 19, 2026 2:05 PM