Steve Whittaker named fellow of Association of Computing Machinery

Professor Steve Whittaker
Professor Steve Whittaker

Steve Whittaker, UC Santa Cruz professor of psychology, has been named a fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery.

Whittaker was selected for his work in human-computer interaction and joins 46 other ACM members cited in 2014 for their contributions to computing.

The 2014 fellows hail from some of the world's leading universities, corporations, and research labs, and have achieved advances in computing research and development that drive innovation and help sustain economic development around the world, ACM said in announcing the selections.

Whittaker's research is at the intersection of psychology and computation, where insights from cognitive and social science can help design digital tools to support multitasking, memory, collaboration, and socializing.

Recently, his research has focused on life blogging as a way to improve psychological well being, and on the implications from digital breakups, such as how to deal with old Facebook posts and photo archives.

Trained as a cognitive psychologist, Whittaker works with computer scientists and computer engineers as well as other social scientists. He joined UC Santa Cruz in 2011 after two years as a research scientist at IBM's Almaden Research Center and previous positions at the University of Sheffield, AT&T Labs, Lotus Development Corp., and Hewlett-Packard Labs.

The ACM Fellows Program, founded in 1993, celebrates contributions of leading members in the computing field. The 2014 fellows will be formally recognized at the ACM's annual awards banquet June 20 in San Francisco.