Biography
As Stanford University’s 10th president, John L. Hennessy led the university’s extraordinary growth in multidisciplinary research and teaching from 2000 to 2016.
Keeping Stanford accessible and affordable to outstanding students was among his priorities, and during his presidency, Stanford’s financial aid program became one of the strongest in the nation. The Arts at Stanford also experienced a renaissance during his tenure with a new concert hall, a new home for Art and Art History, and the addition of the Anderson Collection.
In early 2016, he announced Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS), the largest fully-endowed, university-wide graduate fellowship in the world. After stepping down as president, Hennessy became the inaugural Shriram Family Director of KHS in September 2016. KHS's goal is to educate and prepare a community of scholars for leadership roles in academia, industry, government, nonprofits, and the community at large. Knight-Hennessy scholars, who come from around the world and from many disciplines, receive funding for up to three years for any eligible graduate degree(s) at Stanford. At KHS, they join a community and a learning environment that prepares them for leadership in a highly diverse and complex world.
Hennessy, a pioneer in computer architecture, joined Stanford’s faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. In 1981, he drew together researchers to focus on a technology known as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), which revolutionized computing by increasing performance while reducing costs. Hennessy helped transfer this technology to industry in 1984 by cofounding MIPS Computer Systems, which had an initial public offering in 1989. In 1998 he cofounded Atheros Communications, a pioneer in Wi-Fi technology, and served as Chair of the Board until 2010. He is also the coauthor (with David Patterson) of two internationally used textbooks on computer architecture.
Hennessy was the inaugural Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and served as chair of Computer Science, dean of the School of Engineering, and university provost, before being inaugurated as Stanford’s 10th president. Currently, he serves on the board of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and is chair of the board of Alphabet (Google’s parent company).
His honors include the 2024 National Science Board Vannevar Bush Award; 2022 Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering (co-winner); 2020 UC Berkeley Clark Kerr Award; 2017 ACM Turing Prize (with David Patterson), its highest award; 2012 Medal of Honor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, its highest award; 2004 NEC C&C Prize for lifetime achievement in computer science and engineering; 2001 Eckert-Mauchly Award of the Association for Computing Machinery; 2001 Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award; and the 2000 John von Neumann Medal. He is an elected member or Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Hennessy earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from Stony Brook University, as well as ten honorary doctorates.
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