Ross Overbeek

Timeline

1. 1971

   Teaching at Northern Illinois

   He earns a Ph.D. in computer science from Penn State in 1971, and then he teaches computer science at Northern Illinois University.

2. 1970s

   The AURA theorem prover

   In the early 1970s he develops AURA, an automated theorem prover that replaces the field's standard system.

3. 1988

   Editing the CADE-9 proceedings

   In 1988 he co-edits the proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Automated Deduction, held at Argonne National Laboratory.

4. 1998

   Co-founding Integrated Genomics

   In 1998 he co-founds Integrated Genomics, Inc. with CEO Michael Fonstein. The company makes the ERGO database and analytics system.

5. 2003

   Co-founding the FIG

   In 2003 he co-founds the Fellowship for Interpretation of Genomes (FIG), a non-profit that coordinates bioinformatics tools and comparative genomics research.

6. 2004

   A microbial pathogen data center

   In 2004 the FIG and the Computation Institute establish the National Microbial Pathogen Data Resource Center with an $18 million federal grant. He shares the five-year grant with Rick Stevens.

7. 2014

   The SEED and RAST paper

   In 2014 he co-authors a paper on The SEED and the Rapid Annotation of microbial genomes using Subsystems Technology (RAST).

8. As of October 2026

   A long tenure at Argonne

   He is a computer scientist with a long tenure at Argonne National Laboratory.