The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), the world’s largest educational and scientific society, has named Mohammed Zaki, a professor of computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, to the newest class of ACM Fellows. Dr. Zaki, one of the foremost researchers in the area of pattern mining, was cited “for contributions to data mining algorithms and foundations.”

“Professor Zaki’s work advances our ability to discover informative and useful patterns in massive and complex datasets. His skill with algorithmic techniques and his innovations in scalable and parallel methods for data mining improve outcomes from medical diagnoses to national security,” said Chuck Stewart, head of the Department of Computer Science at Rensselaer. “We congratulate him on this recognition of his contributions.”

Dr. Zaki’s pioneering work in data mining has been supported by federal agencies and industry. His most recent work is in concert with the Rensselaer-IBM Artificial Intelligence Research Collaboration, and the Health Empowerment by Analytics, Learning, and Semantics project, two collaborations between Rensselaer and IBM Research under the IBM AI Horizons program.

The ACM recognition is based on his extensive contributions to data mining research, service, and dissemination. An example of the latter is his recent book Data Mining and Machine Learning: Fundamental Concepts and Algorithms, which is being used as text at universities around the world.

The ACM Fellows list, announced January 19, recognizes the top 1% of ACM Members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community. The 2021 Fellows class honors innovators in areas including algorithms, education, cryptography, security and privacy, medical informatics, and networks. Fellows are nominated by their peers, with nominations reviewed by a distinguished selection committee.

“Computing professionals have brought about leapfrog advances in how we live, work, and play,” said ACM President Gabriele Kotsis. “New technologies are the result of skillfully combining the individual contributions of numerous men and women, often building upon diverse contributions that have emerged over decades. But technological progress would not be possible without the essential building blocks of individual contributors. The ACM Fellows program honors the creativity and hard work of ACM members whose specific accomplishments make broader advances possible.”