John E. Kelly III is an American executive at IBM. He has been described as the "father" of Watson, a computer system most known for competing against humans on ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

'' He joined IBM in 1980 and has served as the director of

IBM Research IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 170 countries. IBM Research is the largest industrial research org ...

. Kelly has received the Frederik Philips Award and the Robert N. Noyce Medal, both of which are presented by the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE). He has served as a board member for his alma maters,

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

and

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

, as well as the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

and the

Semiconductor Industry Association The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is a trade association and lobbying group founded in 1977 that represents the United States semiconductor industry. It is located in Washington, D.C. One of the main achievements of the SIA was the cr ...

. Kelly was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

in 2013 for contributions to the U.S. semiconductor industry through technology innovations and strategic leadership.

Early life and education

Kelly was raised in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, and attended

Bishop Maginn High School Bishop Maginn High School was a Catholic high school in Albany, New York. It was a coeducational institution. The school belonged to the school system of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. It was accredited by the New York State Board of Rege ...

. He earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in physics from

in 1976. Kelly received his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in physics and doctorate in materials engineering from the

in 1978 and 1980, respectively.

Career

Kelly has held various roles at IBM since 1980. He was named director of the company's Semiconductor Research and Development Center in 1990, then became

's vice president of systems, technology and science in 1995. Kelly served as general manager of

IBM Microelectronics IBM had a microelectronics division from the 1960s until 2015. History In 2002, IBM has cut 1500 jobs in their microelectronics division. Sale In February 2014, a source familiar with the matter has said to The Wall Street Journal that IBM wa ...

from 1999 to August 2000. In 2007, he succeeded Paul Horn as the head of IBM Research. He has also served as a senior vice president of cognitive solutions and director of IBM Research, and an executive vice president. He serves as chairman of the IBM Academy of Technology's board of governors. In 2020, Kelly represented IBM at a conference on the

ethics of artificial intelligence The ethics of artificial intelligence is the branch of the ethics of technology specific to artificially intelligent systems. It is sometimes divided into a concern with the moral behavior of ''humans'' as they design, make, use and treat artific ...

(AI) organized by the

Pontifical Academy for Life The Pontifical Academy for Life or Pontificia Accademia per la Vita is a Pontifical Academy of the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to promoting the Church's consistent life ethic. It also does related research on bioethics and Catholic moral the ...

, where he signed the "Rome Call for AI Ethics", which advocated for the responsible use of AI technologies. He also announced IBM's partnership with the

Bambino Gesù Hospital Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù (''Baby Jesus Paediatric Hospital'') is a tertiary care academic children's hospital located in Rome that is under extraterritorial jurisdiction of the Holy See. As a tertiary children referral centre, the hosp ...

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

to use Watson to gather data about brain cancer and other diseases. In late February, Kelly was tasked with building and directing IBM's COVID-19 Task Force. On the 18th of December, 2020, IBM announced that Kelly will retire from the company at the end of the year.

Semiconductors

In 1997, during Kelly's tenure as vice president of IBM's chip division, the company developed a method of manufacturing computer chips with copper instead of aluminum. Kelly is a board member and former chairman of the

. He received the

IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal The IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal is a science award presented by the IEEE for outstanding contributions to the microelectronics industry. It is given to individuals who have demonstrated contributions in multiple areas including technology developm ...

for outstanding contributions to the microelectronics industry, as well as the IEEE Frederik Philips Award for accomplishments in the management of

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

. In 2013, he received the

's Arthur M. Bueche Award for his work on semiconductor technology.

Intellectual property

In his role as senior vice president of technology and

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

(IP), Kelly led IBM's technical and innovation strategies, as well as the company's IP initiatives. He continued focusing on IP during his tenure at IBM Research.

Supercomputing and Watson

Kelly has worked on IBM's Summit and Sierra

supercomputer A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...

s, and has overseen the company's artificial intelligence and research projects. He has been credited for leading a team to advance the Watson computer system. ''

InformationWeek ''InformationWeek'' is a digital magazine which conducts corresponding face-to-face events, virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1985 by CMP Media, later called Informa. The ...

'' described Kelly as the "father of Watson" and credited him for encouraging the system to compete against humans on ''

'' He co-wrote ''Smart Machines: IBM's Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing''.

Personal life and philanthropy

Kelly is married and a Catholic. He and his wife provided funding for Union College's digital arts lab, which is part of the institution's computer science and visual arts departments. The John E. Kelly III '76 Digital Arts Lab was dedicated in 2006. Kelly also helped fund the Peter Irving Wold Center, which opened in 2011 with the Kelly Advanced Computing Laboratory named in his honor. He also helped Union College acquire an

IBM Intelligent Cluster The IBM Intelligent Cluster was a cluster solution for x86-based high-performance computing composed primarily of IBM ( System x, BladeCenter and System Storage) components, integrated with network switches from various vendors and optional high- ...

, giving the school "one of the most advanced computing capabilities of any undergraduate liberal arts college in the nation". Kelly has served on the boards of trustees for each of his alma maters, Union College and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has served on Union College's board since 2003, and was elected chairman in 2015. Kelly received an honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree from

Union Graduate College Union Graduate College (UGC) merged into Clarkson University on February 1, 2016, becoming the "Clarkson University Capital Region Campus," which serves as a recruiting hub for graduate and professional degree program admissions at all of the i ...

in 2004, and an honorary degree from

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its f ...

in 2012. He has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Kelly is a fellow of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

, serves on the

' board of governors, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Publications

* *

References

External links

Dr. John E. Kelly, III
at the

IT History Society The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

Dr. John E. Kelly III
at the

Artificial intelligence positioned to be a game-changer
(2017),

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, John E. Living people American Catholics IBM people Artificial intelligence ethicists Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Union College (New York) alumni 1964 births