He served as chairman of computer science at Vanderbilt until 1995 and retired in 1998.
"It's a national call, a Sputnik moment," said Mehran Sahami, associate chairman for computer science education at Stanford, referring to the Soviet satellite launching in 1957 that pushed the United States into the space race.
Her son, Peter J. Denning, chairman of computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., said, "If somebody would like to offer it to the family, we'd love to have it".
Ed Lazowska, professor and former chairman of computer science at the University of Washington, says Google's policy of reserving one day a week to do your own thing is "hugely attractive to potential employees".
"Dan McCracken was most interested in helping ordinary practitioners improve their computing skills," said Peter J. Denning, chairman of the computer science department at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
To help ensure that Tian's CNC stays on the good side of the government, the board of directors includes Yan Yixun, the chairman of Legend Computers, China's largest computer company, and Jiang Mianheng, the oldest son of Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president.
Shree K. Nayar, chairman of the computer science department at Columbia University, does research that includes computational photography.
"He was always current, always keeping up," said Douglas R. Troeger, chairman of the computer science department.
Mr. Shih, chairman of the computer maker Acer, is a longtime supporter of Mr. Chen.
