Ross Overbeek
{{short description|American mathematician}}
{{Infobox scientist
|image =
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|name = Ross A. Overbeek
|birth_date = {{birth date and age |1949|05|16}}
|birth_place = Traverse City, Michigan
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|field = Computer science;
mathematical logic;
|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 (born May 16, 1949) 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=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaziVk05wk0C&q=%22ross+overbeek%22+%22northern+illinois%22&pg=PP25
|title=The Practice of Prolog
|author=Leon Sterling
|year=1990
|publisher=MIT Press
|isbn=0-262-19301-9}}
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
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJFaRikPhB4C&q=ross+overbeek+1972&pg=PA17
|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=0-8218-5027-X
|quote=The advocates of the resolution approach have by no means been quiescent during the 1970s. 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 AUtomated Reasoning Assistant.... 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 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070810203258/http://www.bioinformatics.uga.edu/Symposium%20Page%20Speakers.htm |archivedate = 2007-08-10}}
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
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20081119033456/http://www.integratedgenomics.com/pr_11-20-00.php
|archivedate = November 19, 2008
}}
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
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20050405221007/http://theseed.uchicago.edu/FIG/Html/FIG.html
|archivedate = 2005-04-05
}} 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 | publisher = McGraw-Hill | isbn = 978-0070574694}}
- {{cite book | title = Assembler language with ASSIST | year = 1983 | isbn = 978-0574214355 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/assemblerlanguag00over | last1 = Overbeek | first1 = Ross A. | last2 = Singletary | first2 = Wilson E. | publisher = Science Research Associates }}
- {{cite book | title = Automated Reasoning: Introduction and Applications | others = with Larry Wos, Ewing Lusk, and Jim Boyle | year = 1984 | publisher = Prentice-Hall | isbn = 978-0130544469 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/automatedreasoni0000wosl }}
- {{cite book | title = Portable Programs for Parallel Processors | others = with Ewing Lusk, James Boyle, Ralph Butler, Terrence Disz, Barnett Glickfeld, James Patterson, and Rick Stevens | year = 1988 | publisher = Holt, Rinehart, and Winston | isbn = 978-0030141539 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{DBLP|name=Ross A. Overbeek}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overbeek, Ross}}
Category:American computer scientists
Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:21st-century American mathematicians
Category:Argonne National Laboratory people
Category:Pennsylvania State University alumni