Ross Overbeek

Infobox Scientist


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name = Ross A. Overbeek
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birth_place = Traverse City, Michigan
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field = Computer science; mathematical logic;
bioinformatics
work_institutions = Argonne National Laboratory
alma_mater = Pennsylvania State University
doctoral_advisor = Wilson E. Singletary
doctoral_students =
known_for = automated theorem proving
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Ross A. Overbeek is an American computer scientist with a long tenure at the Argonne National Laboratory. He has made important contributions to mathematical logic and genomics, as well as programming, particularly in database theory and the programming language Prolog.

Early life

He grew up in Traverse City, Michigan where he struck up a lifelong friendship with R. W. Bradford, publisher of the libertarian periodical "Liberty". He received a B.Ph. from Grand Valley State College, an M.S. from Pennsylvania State University in 1970, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Penn State in 1971. For the next 11 years he was a computer science professor at Northern Illinois University.cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DaziVk05wk0C&pg=PP25&lpg=PP25&dq=%22ross+overbeek%22+%22northern+illinois%22&source=web&ots=aF1EDnTxip&sig=gNXVws9rLcI6ZrCdrquSnePhP7Q
title=The Practice of Prolog
author=Leon Sterling
year=1990
publisher=MIT Press
isbn=0262193019]

Career

In the early 1970s a theorem prover named AURA, for "AUtomated Reasoning Assistant", developed by Overbeek replaced one that had been the standard in the field. [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zJFaRikPhB4C&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=ross+overbeek+1972&source=web&ots=bWLbAEgSa5&sig=IRy6ehudWX4SxBYsEtFDG9AxinI
title=Contemporary Mathematics: Proceedings of the Special Session on Automatic Theorem Proving, 89th Annual Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, held in Denver, Colorado, January 5-9, 1983
chapter=Automated Theorem Proving: A Quarter-Century Review
author=D. W. Loveland
year=1984
volume=29
publisher=American Mathematical Society
isbn=082185027X
quote=The advocates of the resolution approach have by no means been quiescent during the 1970's. About 1972, the theorem prover of Wos, Robinson and Carson was replaced by one developed by Ross Overbeek. The system has continued to develop with contributions from S. Winker, E. Lusk, B. Smith and L. Wos. The system has been named AURA, for "AU"tomated "R"easoning "A"ssistant.... AURA is now viewed by its originators as a useful research tool for solving open problems subject to precise axiomatic formulations.]

In 1983 he joined the Mathematics and Computer Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory, working on automated theorem proving, logic programming, and parallel computation. In the 1980s he became interested in applying logic programming to molecular biology, and he was appointed to the Joint Information Task Force, a working group established to advise the National Institutes of Health and United States Department of Energy on the computational requirements of the Human Genome Initiative. He has helped develop multiple genomic databases including PUMA, WIT, ERGO, and SEED. [cite web
url=http://www.bioinformatics.uga.edu/Symposium%20Page%20Speakers.htm
title=Speaker Information
publisher=The Institute of Bioinformatics
year=2005
accessdate=2007-11-25]

In 1998, Overbeek was one of several scientists who co-founded the company Integrated Genomics, Inc. with CEO Michael Fonstein. The company makes the ERGO database and analytics system. [cite news
url=http://www.integratedgenomics.com/pr_11-20-00.php
title=Michael Fonstein, CEO of Integrated Genomics Inc., Wins KPMG Award
date=November 20 2000
publisher=Integrated Genomics, Inc.
accessdate=2007-11-25]

In 2003, he co-founded the Fellowship for Interpretation of Genomes (FIG), a non-profit organization that coordinates the development of bioinformatics tools and comparative genomics research. [cite web
url=http://theseed.uchicago.edu/FIG/Html/FIG.html
title=Fellowship for Interpretation of Genomes
accessdate=2007-11-24] In 2004, the FIG partnered with the Computation Institute, a joint Argonne Lab and University of Chicago institution, to establish the National Microbial Pathogen Data Resource Center with an $18 million federal grant. [cite news
url=http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/2004/news040903.html
title=$18 million bioinformatics center to become weapon against deadly diseases
date=September 3 2004
publisher=Argonne National Laboratory
accessdate=2007-11-25]

Published works

*cite book | title = American National Standard COBOL | others = with Wilson E. Singletary | year = 1975
*cite book | title = Assembler language with ASSIST | year = 1983
*cite book | title = Automated Reasoning: Introduction and Applications | others = with Larry Wos, Ewing Lusk, and Jim Boyle | year = 1984

References

External links

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