Co-author of the AWK programming language and numerous landmark computer science textbooks, Aho is widely recognized as a foundational figure in programming languages and compiler design. He conducted research at Bell Labs from 1967 to 1991, and again from 1997 to 2002 as Vice President of the Computing Sciences Research Center. He received a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from Princeton University.
Aho has held the position of Lawrence Gussman Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University. He served as chair of the department from 1995 to 1997, and again in the spring of 2003. His research interests include quantum computing, programming languages, compilers, and algorithms. Aho has also been part of the Language and Compilers research group at Columbia University.
