Honorary promoter is prof. dr. Kees Overbeeke of the Department of Industrial Design. The award will be presented within the context of the celebration of the 54th anniversary of TU/e on Thursday April 22 next.

Prof. Bill Buxton (60) will be given this distinction for his outstanding research in the field of human-computer interaction. Within this broad field he has manifested himself in a large number of subjects, both in the academic world and in the business community. He has written dozens of scientific articles and is holder of some twenty patents. Buxton’s work deals mainly with the human aspects of technology. This nicely links up his research with research in the area of human-system interaction within the Departments of Industrial Design and Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences of TU/e. Since 2007 Buxton has been a member of the Advisory Council of the TU/e Department of Industrial Design.

Honorary promoter Overbeeke calls Buxton a visionary. “He has started major developments in human-computer interaction, such as transparent, graspable and ‘multi-touch interfaces’.” Buxton is not unfamiliar with the Netherlands: he began his career as a musician and spent two years at the Institute for Sonology in Utrecht. In 2007 he published a highly successful book about design, entitled ‘Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design’. (TJ)/.