James Herbsleb

Professor, Software and Societal Systems

Bio

James Herbsleb is a Professor in the Software and Societal Systems Department in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University where he served as the Department Head from 2019-2024. His research interests lie primarily in the intersection of software engineering, computer-supported cooperative work, and socio-technical systems, focusing on such areas as geographically distributed development teams and large-scale open source development. He holds a PhD in psychology, and an MS in computer science.  

His research has won several awards, including the ACM Outstanding Research Award (2016), Alan Newell Award for Research Excellence (2014), Most Influential Paper award (ICSE 2010), Honorable Mention for Most Influential Paper award (ICSE 2011),  ACM Distinguished Paper Award (ICSE 2011), Best Paper Award (Academy of Management, 2010), ACM Distinguished Paper Award (ESEM 2008), and Best Paper Award (CSCW 2006).  

For about two decades, he has worked with many extraordinary colleagues to try to understand the complex and dynamic relationship between human collaboration and the software that the humans are designing and using. On his optimistic days, he feels he has made a bit of progress.