Senior Vice President, Microsoft Research
Currently charged with oversight of Microsoft Research’s worldwide operations, Richard (Rick) F. Rashid previously served as the director of Microsoft Research, focusing on operating systems, networking and multiprocessors. In that role he was responsible for managing work on key technologies leading to the development of Microsoft Corp.’s interactive TV system and authored a number of patents in areas such as data compression, networking and operating systems. In addition to running Microsoft Research, Rashid also was instrumental in creating the team that eventually became Microsoft’s Digital Media Division and directing Microsoft’s first e-commerce group. Rashid was promoted to vice president of Microsoft Research in 1994, and then to senior vice president in 2000.
Before joining Microsoft in September 1991, Rashid was professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). After becoming a CMU faculty member in September 1979, he directed the design and implementation of several influential network operating systems, and published dozens of papers about computer vision, operating systems, programming languages for distributed processing, network protocols and communications security. During his tenure at CMU, Rashid developed the Mach multiprocessor operating system, which has been influential in the design of many modern operating systems and remains at the core of a number of commercial systems.
Rashid was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2003, and presented with the IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award in 2008, for his work in operating systems and for innovation in industrial research.
He also is credited with co-development of one of the earliest networked computer games, "Alto Trek,” during the mid-1970s. An updated version of this game has been developed by Microsoft and has been released under the name "Allegiance.”
Rashid is a member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer Directorate Advisory Committee. He is a past member of the DARPA UNIX Steering Committee and the CSNet Executive Committee and a former chairman of the ACM Software System Awards Committee. Rashid’s research interests have focused on artificial intelligence, operating systems, networking and multiprocessors. He has participated in the design and implementation of the University of Rochester RIG operating system (1975–1979), the Rochester Virtual Terminal Management System (1976–1979), the CMU Distributed Sensor Network Testbed (1980–1983), and CMU’s SPICE distributed personal computing environment, which included the Accent network operating system (1981–1985). He has published papers on computer vision, operating systems, programming languages for distributed processing, network protocols and communication security.
Rashid received master of science (1977) and doctoral (1980) degrees in computer science from the University of Rochester. He graduated with honors in mathematics and comparative literature from Stanford University in 1974.
