Peter Chen

Dr. Peter Pin-Shan Chen (Chinese: 陳品山) is an American computer scientist and Professor of Computer Science at Louisiana State University, who is known for the development of Entity-Relationship Modeling in 1976.

Biography

Born in Taichung, Taiwan Peter Chen received a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1968 at the National Taiwan University, and a Ph.D. in computer science/applied mathematics at the Harvard University in 1973. From 1974 to 1978 Chen as Assistent Professor at MIT Sloan School of Management. From 1978 to 1984 he was Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA Management School). Since 1983 Chen has held the position of M. J. Foster Distinguished Chair Professor of Computer Science at Louisiana State University. [ [http://bit.csc.lsu.edu/~chen/chen.html Dr. Peter Chen home page] Section Education & Experience. Retrieved 1 October 2008]

Dr. Chen is the recipient of many prestigious awards in several fields of Information Technology. [ [http://bit.csc.lsu.edu/~chen/chen.html Dr. Peter Chen home page] Section Honors & Professional Activities. Retrieved 1 October 2008] He received the Data Resource Management Technology Award from the Data Administration Management Association in New York City in 1990. In 1998, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. He won the Achievement Award in Information Management in 2000 from DAMA International. He was an inductee into the Data Management Hall of Fame in 2000. He received the Stevens Award in Software Method Innovation in 2001. In 2003, Dr. Chen received the IEEE Harry Goode Award at the IEEE-CS Board of Governors meeting in San Diego. Dr. Chen was presented with the ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award at the ACM Banquet in San Diego in June 2003. Dr. Chen is also the recipient of the Pan Wen-Yuan Outstanding Research Award in 2004. [ [http://stn.nsc.gov.tw/en/view_detail.asp?doc_uid=0930812007 Dr. Peter Pin-Shan Chen at Louisiana State University Received Outstanding Research Award from Pan Wen-Yuan Foundation] . 2004.08.18.]

Work

Entity-Relationship Modeling

The Entity-Relationship Model model serves as the foundation of many systems analysis and design methodologies, computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools, and repository systems. The ER Model is the basis for IBM's Repository Manager/MVS and DEC's CDD/Plus.

Dr. Peter Chen's original paper [ [http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/519283.html The Entity Relationship Model - Toward A Unified View of Data] ] is commonly cited as the definitive reference for Entity Relationship Modelling. Chen did not in fact invent the concept; the basic ideas appear in earlier papers especially by practitioners, such as that by A. P. G. Brown [A. P. G. Brown, Modelling a Real-World System and Designing a Schema to Represent It, in Data Base Description, ed Douque and Nijssen, North-Holland, 1975, ISBN 0-7204-2833-5] . However, Chen did more than anyone to formalize and popularize the model, and to introduce it to the academic literature.

The ER Model was adopted as the meta model ANSI Standard in Information Resource Directory System (IRDS), and the ER approach has been ranked at the top methodology for database design and one of the top methodologies in systems development by several surveys of Fortune 500 companies.

Computer-Aided Software Engineering

Chen’s work is a cornerstone of software engineering, [http://bit.csc.lsu.edu/~chen/chen.html Home page of Dr. Peter Chen] at Louisiana State University. Retrieved 1 October 2008.] in particular Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE). In the late 80’s and early 90’s, IBM’s Application Development Cycle (AD/Cycle) framework and DB2 repository (RM/MVS) were based on the ER model. Other vendors’ repository systems such as Digital’s CDD+ were also based on the ER model. Chen has had a significant impact on the CASE industry through his research and his lecturing around the world on structured system development methodologies. The ER model has influenced most of the major CASE tools, including Computer Associates’ ERWIN, Oracle Corporation’s Designer/2000, and Sybase’s PowerDesigner (and even a general drawing tool like Microsoft Visio), as well as the IDEF1X standard.

The hypertext concept, which makes the World Wide Web extremely popular, is very similar to the main concept in the ER model. Dr. Chen is currently investigating this linkage as an invited expert of several XML working groups of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The ER model also serves as the foundation of some of the recent work on Object-oriented analysis and design methodologies and Semantic Web. The UML modeling language has its roots in the ER model.

Publications

Peter P. Chen published several books, papers and articles. Books, a selection:
* 2007. "Active Conceptual Modeling of Learning: Next Generation Learning-Base System Development". With Leah Y. Wong (Eds.). Springer.
* 1999. "Advances in Conceptual Modeling: ER'99 Workshops on Evolution and Change in Data Management, Reverse Engineering in Information Systems, and the World ... (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)". With David W. Embley, Jacques Kouloumdjian, Stephen W. Liddle and John F. Roddick (Eds.) Springer Verlag.
* 1999. "Conceptual Modeling: Current Issues and Future Directions (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)" With Jacky Akoka, Hannu Kangassalu, and Bernhard Thalheim.
* 1985. "Data & Knowledge Engineering", Volume 1, Number 1, 1985.
* 1981. "Entity Relationship Approach to Information Modeling and Analysis".
* 1980. "Entity relationship approach to systems analysis and design". North-Holland.

Articles, a selection:
* 1976. [http://csc.lsu.edu/news/erd.pdf "The Entity-Relationship Model--Toward a Unified View of Data"] . In: "ACM Transactions on Database Systems" 1/1/1976 ACM-Press ISSN 0362-5915, S. 9–36
* 2002. [http://bit.csc.lsu.edu/~chen/pdf/Chen_Pioneers.pdf "Entity-Relationship Modeling--Historical Events, Future Trends, and Lessons Learned"] . In: "Software Pioneers: Contributions to Software Engineering". Broy M. and Denert, E. (eds.), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Lecturing Notes in Computer Sciences, June 2002, pp. 100-114.

References

External links

* [http://bit.csc.lsu.edu/~chen/chen.html Home page of Dr. Peter Chen at Louisiana State University]