On April 24, 2024, BIDS Faculty Director Fernando Pérez was presented with a 2023 Exceptional Public Service Medal, one of NASA's major recognitions for non-government personnel and granted for exceptional contributions to NASA’s mission. The medal was jointly awarded to Pérez and Brian Granger, Senior Principal Technologist at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and professor of physics and data science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Pérez and Granger’s contribution is ”For the creation and leadership of the open source Project Jupyter, an interactive computational tool that has significantly impacted NASA science, engineering, and missions.”
Photo: Chelle Gentemann, NASA
The prestigious award highlights Pérez's commitment to advancing the frontiers of science and technology, particularly in the realm of open-source software development and data science. Additionally, his vision for the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS) emphasizes an environment of Open Scholarship, Open Source, and interdisciplinary collaboration on AI in science and society, showcasing his commitment to inclusivity of multiple perspectives at the institute. Pérez's work facilitates knowledge transfer and collaboration, bridging the gap between academia and industry. Read more about his vision here.
As the creator of IPython and co-founder of Project Jupyter, Pérez has revolutionized how scientists and engineers explore, analyze, and share their data. The Jupyter ecosystem is an indispensable open-source toolset which supports over 40 programming languages, including Python, R, Julia, and Scala.
