Terry Benton Bollinger (born February 6, 1955,
Fredericktown, Missouri) is an American
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
who works at the
MITRE Corporation. In 2003 he wrote an influential
report for the U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) in which he showed that
free and open source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
(FOSS) had already become a vital part of the
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
software infrastructure, and that banning or restricting its use would have had serious detrimental impacts on DoD security, research capabilities, operational capabilities, and long-term cost efficiency. His report ended a debate about whether FOSS should be banned from U.S. DoD systems, and in time helped lead to the current official U.S. DoD policy of treating FOSS and
proprietary software
Proprietary software is software that is deemed within the free and open-source software to be non-free because its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner exercises a legal monopoly afforded by modern copyright and int ...
as equals. The report is referenced on the DoD CIO web site and has been influential in promoting broader recognition of the importance of free and open source software in government circles. Bollinger is also known for his activity in the
IEEE Computer Society, where he was an editor for
IEEE Software
''IEEE Software'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed magazine and scientific journal published by the IEEE Computer Society covering all aspects of software engineering, processes, and practices. Its mission is to be the best source of reliable, useful ...
for six years, wrote the founding charter for ''IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine'', and received an ''IEEE Third Millennium Medal'' for lifetime contributions to ''
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 ...
''. He has written about a wide range of software issues including effective development processes, cyber security, and distributed intelligence.
Life and work
Bollinger received Bachelor's and master's degrees in Computer Science at the
Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T), from which he also received a Professional Degree in December 2009 for lifetime accomplishments. He has had a lifelong interest in multi-component (crowd) intelligence as an aspect of artificial intelligence, as well as a strong interest in the hard sciences, including the possible relevance of quantum theory to faster but fully classical, energy-efficient information processing in biological systems. His metaphors for understanding quantum entanglement and encryption have been quoted in the Russian technical press.
From 2004 to 2010, Bollinger was the chief technology analyst for the U.S. DoD Defense Venture Catalyst Initiative (DeVenCI), an effort created by the Secretary of Defense after the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
. DeVenCI selects qualified applicants from leading
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
firms to contribute voluntary time and expertise to finding emerging commercial companies and technologies that could be relevant to DoD technology needs.
Bollinger currently works full-time for the
Office of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
(ONR) research arm of the
Marine Corps, where he helps assess and support research into the science of autonomy,
robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
, and
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
.
See also
*
Publications
* See DBLP Bibliography for Terry Bollinger
Articles by Terry Bollinger, in DBLP Bibliography Server
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bollinger, Terry
1955 births
Living people
Missouri University of Science and Technology alumni
Senior Members of the IEEE
American computer scientists
Artificial intelligence researchers
American cognitive scientists
Scientists from Missouri