Draft:Rance Cleaveland

Walter Rance Cleaveland II (July 18, 1961 – March 27, 2024) was an American computer science professor, specializing in software verification, software systems, and related fields. In 2022, he became an Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for "contributions to verification tools for finite-state and cyber-physical systems".

Career
He started his studies at Duke University's Trinity College in Fall 1978, graduating summa cum laude with a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science in May 1982.

He then "ventured across the frozen Northern tundra" for postgraduate education at Cornell University. He graduated from there with an MS in Computer Science in May or June 1985. He subsequently graduated from there in May 1987 with a PhD based on a thesis titled "Type-Theoretic Models of Concurrency", advised by Robert Constable and mentored by Prakash Panangaden, and funded by the National Science Foundation, IBM, and Cornell.

After leaving Cornell, from July 1987 to June 1989, was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Computer Science at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England.

At North Carolina State University (NCSU), he was Assistant Professor from August or September 1989 to August 15, 1994, and Associate Professor from August 16, 1994 to August 15, 1998. There, he received the Shell Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1991, and the Alcoa Engineering Research prize.

From August or September 1998 to May 2005, he was Professor of Computer Science at Stony Brook University, part of the SUNY system.

Beginning in June 2005, he was a Professor of Computer Science at University of Maryland. He received the Computer Science Excellence in Teaching Award in 2011. From June 2005 to December 2014, he was executive and scientific director of the Fraunhofer (USA) Center for Experimental Software Engineering. Beginning on November 7, 2022, he was the Associate Dean of Research in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS). He held joint appointments in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) beginning in June 2005, and the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) beginning in July 2006.

From July 9, 2018 to July 8, 2022, he was director of the Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) division of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Since 1995, he was a co-founder and a member of the steering committee of the International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems (TACAS). From 1997 to 2001, he was a co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the Springer journal Software Tools for Technology Transfer.

In 1992, he received a grant of $375,000 from the Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Young Investigator award for June 1992 to October 1996 and $212,500 from the National Science Foundation's National Young Investigator award for August 1992 to July 1997. In 1994, he received the Alcoa Foundation Engineering Research Achievement Award. In 1998, he was elected as a member of IFIP Working Group 2.2. In 2008, he received the Excellence in Oral Presentation Award from the Society for Automotive Engineers. In 2022, he became an Fellow of the Northern Virginia section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for "contributions to verification tools for finite-state and cyber-physical systems", after becoming a Senior Member in 2021; and was a member of the IEEE Computer Society.

Beginning in 1999 or 2000, he was Chairman of the Board at Reactive Systems Inc., and until September 2008, he was also their Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Personal life
Walter Rance Cleaveland II was born to Ruzha and Clif Cleaveland on July 18, 1961 in Baltimore, Maryland.

He spent short periods of time at various elementary schools, where he developed "a fear of being whacked on the backside". He then moved to the McCallie School for Boys, a religious prep school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which he graduated from in 1978. In 1993 (15 years later), he received an Alumni Achievement Award from McCallie, being elegible after his 15th reunion. McCallie school established a need-based scholarship in his name.

He spent his teen years on Signal Mountain.

In 1986, he "renewed the acquaintance" of Karen Ann Hardee, and in 1987 she agreed to marry him in 1988. They were married at 4 PM on January 2, 1988 at Duke University Chapel by Rev. Robert N. Watkin Jr. They had children named Matthew Rance, Christian Gilbert, and Rachel Grace.

He died in his home in Arlington, Virginia on March 27, 2024 at age 62.