James W. Moore, an expert software engineer who has developed standards for the field and has been a driving force in unifying international standards for consistent guidelines, is being honored by IEEE with the 2011 IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award. IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional association.
The award, sponsored by the IEEE Standards Association, recognizes Moore for leadership in support of software and systems engineering standards development, international standards harmonization and professional application of standards. The award will be presented on 4 December 2011 at the IEEEStandards Association Awards Ceremony in New Brunswick, NJ.
Considered a true visionary of software engineering standardization, Moore realized in 1999 that universally accepted standards were needed if the growing field of software engineering was to be recognized as a legitimate engineering profession. The two principal organizations responsible for developing software engineering standards are IEEE and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7. With two sources, there was no consistent voice and it was difficult to determine authoritative resolutions to tough issues. Moore worked tirelessly at aligning IEEE and ISO efforts for the benefit of both organizations and the entire software engineering community. He also used his expertise to help codify the bodies of knowledge and practices every software engineer needs to know.
Moore has played an important role in both the IEEE and the ISO. He was the head of the U.S. delegation to ISO/IE C JTC1/SC7 and led the development of U.S. positions on international standards issues. He also provides strategic planning and guidance for the evolution of the IEEE Computer Society’s collection of standards. As the IEEE Computer Society liaison to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7, Moore is responsible for a long-term harmonization program to ensure consistent standards. His efforts have already shown results. Of the many joint projects being conducted, five ISO/IEC standards have been adopted by IEEE, three IEEE standards have been adopted by ISO/IEC and conflicting standards between the two organizations are being merged. The two groups are also jointly revising several existing standards to remove inconsistencies.
Moore has helped develop the first widely agreed statement on the scope and content of software engineering knowledge. Since 1998, he has been one of the executive editors responsible for managing the IEEE Computer Society’s Guide to Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). Incorporating 10,000 comments made by 500 reviewers from 42 countries, the 2004 edition is the basis for developing software engineering curricula, accreditation criteria and certification examinations. SWEBOK is recognized by both IEEE and ISO/IEC as the authoritative reference to codified software engineering knowledge.
Moore has served the IEEE Computer Society as Vice-President and as a member of the Board of Governors. He was recently elected as Division Director-Elect of the IEEE.
An IEEE Fellow, Moore is a member of the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core. His awards include the IEEE Standards Association’s International Award, the IEEE Computer Society’s Hans Karlsson Award, two “best paper” awards from IEEE conferences, the INCITS Award for Exceptional International Leadership, and the Association for Computing Machinery’s Outstanding Ada Community Contribution Award. He has published two books and has been granted two patents. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and his master’s degree in systems and information science from Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y. He joined The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va., in 1994, where he is currently a senior principal information systems engineer.
