Ray Greenlaw received a BA in Mathematics from Pomona College in 1983, and an MS and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Washington in 1986 and 1988, respectively. Ray is a professor of Computer Science at Armstrong Atlantic State University; he is the Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. Ray holds a visiting professorship at the University of Management and Science in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Ray has won three Senior Fulbright Fellowships (Spain, Iceland, and Thailand), a Humboldt Fellowship (Germany), a Sasakawa Fellowship, and fellowships from Italy, Japan, and Spain. He has published 15 books in the areas of complexity theory, graph theory, the Internet, parallel computation, networking, operating systems, theoretical Computer Science, the Web, and wireless. He is one of the world's leading experts on P-completeness theory. His books have been used in over 120 Computer Science and Information Technology programs in the US, as well as internationally, and have been translated into several languages. Ray has lectured throughout the world presenting over 195 invited talks. He serves on the Executive Committee for the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET. His research papers have appeared in over 65 journals and conference proceedings. His research has been supported by the governments of Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, and the US.
In 2003 Ray broke the world record for the fastest thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail by completing the 2,659-mile trail in 83 days. His book titled "The Fastest Hike" describes that epic journey. Ray has run over 110 races, including the big four 100-mile runs, and completed many Ironman triathlons. He has climbed 6 of the world's 7 summits. Ray has been to 49 of the United States, 64 of 76 provinces in Thailand, 81 countries, 7 continents, and many islands, including Bali, Boracay, Bermuda, Cooks, Fiji, Galapagos, Half-Moon Bay Cay, Heimaey, Koh Nang Yuan, Magdelena, Reunion, Similian, and Tahiti, among others.