UCSB professors Divyakant Agrawal and Linda Petzold were named fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery, the world’s largest educating and computing society, for their research in pioneering technological advances in healthcare, education, entertainment and industry.

The ACM recognized 46 computer science scholars last month, including computer science professor Agrawal for his research in data management systems and Petzold, a professor of mechanical engineering and computer science, for her extensive work in analyzing multiscale systems in biology and engineering. UCSB is now home to six ACM fellows, who receive resources from the association for future research.

ACM President Alain Chesnais said the international society aims to highlight impactful achievements in information technology and computer science as the fields progress.

“These women and men, who are some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in computer science and engineering, are changing how the world lives and works,” Chesnais said in a press release.

Petzold — a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science — said her work focuses on advancing software for solutions of different algebraic equation systems and multiscale discrete system simulations of biochemical systems.

The ACM Fellows Program, established in 1993, includes an extensive selection process that involves various members of the larger scientific community, according to Petzold.

“To be named a fellow by the Association, there is a nomination process,” Petzold said. “You receive letters from endorsers; then there is a committee that reviews to approve the nomination.”

Agrawal, who has penned over 300 articles discussing databases and distributed systems, specializes in various areas of computer science including digital libraries, scalable architectures and large-scale data management.

According to Agrawal, UCSB has gained prestige in recent years as an increasing number of scholars acquire international acclaim for cutting-edge research.

“The number of the growing awards and recognition indicate the rising stature at Santa Barbara,” Agrawal said.