Ricardo Baeza-Yates, a Waterloo PhD computer science alumnus, has received the 2025 ACM Luiz André Barroso Award, recognizing his pioneering contributions to algorithms and information retrieval as well as his leadership in fostering a vibrant transnational research community across Latin America.
Professor Baeza-Yates is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost researchers in information retrieval, celebrated especially for pioneering innovative data structures that have shaped the field. His work has produced influential algorithms for string searching and fuzzy matching, including the well-known Shift-Or algorithm.
“Congratulations to Ricardo on this well-deserved award,” said Raouf Boutaba, University Professor and Director of the Cheriton School of Computer Science. “He is among our most distinguished PhD alumni. His doctoral thesis was foundational in advancing algorithmic techniques for text processing. Ricardo’s subsequent contributions have had profound impacts on the fields of information retrieval and data science.”
The ACM Luiz André Barroso Award recognizes researchers from historically underrepresented communities who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. The award is named after Luiz André Barroso, a Brazilian computer engineer who pioneered the design of the modern data centre. Barroso, who grew up in a diverse community, was a strong supporter of equal opportunity for everyone.
“It is fitting that an ACM Award named for Luiz Barroso, who was a leading Brazilian computer scientist, would be earned this year by Ricardo Baeza-Yates, a Chilean technical star,” said ACM President Yannis Ioannidis. “Their careers reflect how institutions of higher education in Latin America have produced some of the field’s most important trailblazers. Building on this foundation, Ricardo Baeza-Yates saw that a transnational approach encouraging cooperation among various Latin American countries was the most effective way to foster digital economies in the region. ACM is excited to be part of this growth. Latin American countries are increasingly hosting ACM conferences, our membership is growing across the region, and increasingly more ACM Fellows and ACM journal editors call Latin America home.”
Read the full ACM media release.