Valerdi Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Alma Mater
SIE Professor Ricardo Valerdi recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Systems and Software Engineering at the University of Southern California. The award recognizes individuals or teams who have made unique and lasting contributions to the field of cost estimation during their career. Valerdi, the 15th recipient of the award, was honored for creating he Constructive Systems Engineering Cost Model (COSYSMO) while he was a graduate student at USC, and which he has continued to refine ever since. He received the award at the center’s 35th annual forum in October 2020.
“Research is a team sport, and this award underscores that,” said Valerdi, who earned his PhD at USC in 2005. “The tremendous mentorship and support I received from the Corporate Affiliates of the Center for Systems & Software Engineering as a graduate student at USC enabled me to generate results that would not have been possible otherwise.”
Barry Boehm, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and TRW Professor of Software Engineering is the founding director of the center and the creator of the award. He is famous for creating the Spiral Model for software development and the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO), the most widely used software cost model in the world.
“This year, the award was presented to Dr. Ricardo Valerdi,” Boehm said. “Most impressively, he is the only awardee whose significant lifetime achievement came while he was still a USC graduate student, leading the development of COSYSMO.”
The award caps off a successful year for Valerdi, who also received the Distinguished Outreach Faculty Award from the UA Office of the Provost and completed a one-year term as chair of the Pac-12 Council. He also received a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to expand his Science of Sport program, and adapted the same program’s summer camp to a virtual format amid the COVID-19 pandemic.