Peter Denning

Peter Denning is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, CA, serving as Department Chair. He has held prominent roles including Professor and Department Chair at George Mason University, Director of NASA's Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS), and faculty positions at Purdue University, Princeton University, and MIT. His research focuses on computational thinking, great principles of computing, operating systems, security, performance modeling, and innovation adoption. Denning has contributed to foundational work in virtual memory, working set theory, and queueing networks. He has authored influential books such as The Innovator's Way and Computational Thinking.

His honors include IEEE Fellow (1982), ACM Distinguished Service Award (1989), ACM Karlstrom Educator Award (1996), and the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award (2021). He has received eight best paper awards across his career. Denning has led NSF-funded initiatives like the 'Resparking Innovation' project and pioneered interdisciplinary education in computing principles. His work bridges theoretical computing foundations with real-world applications in education and innovation leadership.