Professor Michael Ryan, Head of the School of Computing at DCU, has recently been elected Distinguished Fellow of the Irish Computer Society. The prestigious title was awarded in recognition of Professor Ryan's enormous and continuing contribution to the software industry in Ireland, and in honour of his distinguished service with the Society.

Professor Ryan joined the School of Computing at Dublin City University (then the National Institute for Higher Education Dublin) on its foundation in 1980, and was instrumental in establishing the School's B.Sc. in Computer Applications as Ireland's leading undergraduate computing qualification. He has been Head of the School of Computing on two previous occasions: from 1981 to 1983 and from 1986 to 1999, taking up the position again in 2005.

Professor Ryan's main research activities include hardware and software for modular arithmetic, embedded systems, fuzzy logic, and the problems involved in designing and implementing the computing curriculum. His work has often arisen from problems brought to his attention by industry. In 1989 he was closely involved with the establishment of the national Centre for Software Engineering on the DCU campus, and acted as its Director until June 1991.

Over the course of his distinguished career, Professor Ryan has served on a number of Irish Government bodies, including the Consultative Committee on Software and the Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. He has been a vocal advocate of the value of computing education, and is a member of the Irish Computer Society's ChooseIT 3rd Level Working Group, which aims to co-ordinate efforts to highlight the positive career potential for IT graduates and to ensure an adequate supply of highly-skilled graduates to meet the demands of industry. He recently featured in the national media urging the Irish Government to pilot the addition of computing to the Leaving Certificate curriculum as a matter of urgency.

The Distinguished Fellow award was presented to Professor Ryan at the Irish Computer Society's Summer Member's Evening, held at ICS headquarters on June 28th 2005.