Ronald Baecker (born October 7, 1942) is an Emeritus Professor of Computer Science and Bell Chair in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Toronto (UofT),[1] and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University.[2] He was the co-founder of the Dynamic Graphics Project (DGP),[3] and the founder of the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI)[4] and the Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab (TAGlab) at UofT.[5][6] He was the founder of Canada's research network on collaboration technologies (NECTAR),[7] a founding researcher of AGE-WELL,[8] Canada's Technology and Agine research network, the founder of Springer Nature's Synthesis Lectures on Technology and Health,[9] and the founder of computers-society.org.[10] He also started five software companies between 1976 and 2015.[11] He is currently an ACM Distinguished Speaker.[11]
He is the author of Digital Dreams Have Become Nightmares: What We Must Do (ACM, 2024),[12] author of Ethical Tech Startup Guide (Springer Nature, 2023),[13] co-author of The COVID-19 Solutions Guide (2020),[14] and author of Computers and Society: Modern Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 2019).[15] His other books are Readings in Human Computer Interaction: Toward the Year 2000 (Morgan Kaufmann, 1995),[16]Readings in Groupware and Computer Supported Cooperative Work: Software to Facilitate Human-Human Collaboration (Elsevier, 1993),[17]Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs (Addison-Wesley, 1990)[18] and Readings in Human Computer Interaction: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Elsevier, 1987).[19]
Education
Baecker received a B.Sc. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1963, an M.Sc. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1964, and a Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 1969.
Summary of research interests
Baecker is an expert in human-computer interaction (HCI), user interface (UI) design, software visualization, multimedia, computer-supported cooperative work and learning, entrepreneurship in the software industry, and the design of technologies for aging gracefully.[20][failed verification]
Honors and awards
ACM Distinguished Speaker, 1 March 2022 - 28 February 2025.[21]
Social Impact Award from the ACM Special Interest Group on Computers and Human Interaction (SIGCHI), 2020.[22]
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Association of Computer Science/Association d’informatique Canadienne, the national organization of Canadian Computer Science Departments/Schools/Faculties, May 2015.[23]
Given the 3rd Canadian Digital Media Pioneer Award, GRAND Network of Centres of Excellence, May 2013.[24]
