David P. Anderson

David Pope Anderson (born 1955) is an American research scientist at the Space Sciences Laboratory, at the University of California, Berkeley, and an adjunct professor of computer science at the University of Houston. Anderson leads the SETI@home, BOINC, Bossa, and Bolt software projects.

Education Anderson received a BA in mathematics from Wesleyan University, and MS and PhD degrees in mathematics and computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While in graduate school he published four research papers in computer graphics. His PhD research involved using enhanced attribute grammars to specify and implement communication protocols.

Career From 1985 to 1992 he was an assistant professor in the UC Berkeley Computer Science Department, where he received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator and IBM Faculty Development awards. During this period he conducted several research projects: FORMULA (Forth Music Language), a parallel programming language and runtime system for computer music based on Forth. MOOD (Musical Object-Oriented Dialect), a parallel programming language and runtime system for computer music based on C++.

Anderson was involved in Stardust@home, which used 23,000 volunteers to identify interstellar dust particles via the Web – an approach called distributed thinking. In 2007 Anderson developed BOSSA a software framework for distributed thinking, using volunteers on the Internet to perform tasks that require human intelligence, knowledge, or cognitive skills. He also developed BOLT, a framework for web-based training and education in the context of volunteer computing and distributed thinking.

Music Since 2020 Anderson has been involved in software projects related to classical music: Music Match is a social site where performers and composers can meet and communicate with each other.