Andy van Dam helped pioneer the field of computer graphics and coauthored three editions of the fundamental textbook used by most university computer science (CS) students who study computer graphics. He cocreated a pioneering hypertext system and word processor in 1967; this and its successors helped provide inspiration for today’s world wide web. He also cofounded the precursor to SIGGRAPH, the professional society for computer graphics. In the 1970s and 1980s, he played key roles in pioneering the use of computers in education, including what is now called digital humanities. Over his five-decade career teaching at Brown University, van Dam has taught over 10,000 students, many of whom went on to make major contributions to computer graphics and its uses in areas as diverse as scientific visualization and entertainment, hyper/multimedia, and the online world. Van Dam counts more than 70 former students who became CS faculty, including eight chairs of top-ranked departments.
Van Dam will be honored in September 2021 for a lifetime of contributions to computer graphics, hypertext, and education see his Fellows bio here.
