John Paparrizos has received the 2025 ACM SIGMOD Test-of-Time Award for his influential paper on k-Shape, a shape-based clustering algorithm that has made a significant and sustained impact on time-series analysis. This prestigious award honors research that has demonstrated outstanding influence over the past decade—advancing research, products, and methodology in the field of data management.

The award citation recognizes Paparrizos for “advancing time-series clustering through a shape-based approach, achieving a distinctive synthesis of high accuracy, computational efficiency, and broad-domain applicability.” His work addressed a core challenge in data science: how to cluster time-series data in a way that preserves the essential shape and structure of temporal patterns.

Since its introduction, k-Shape has been widely adopted in both academic and industrial settings, powering applications in domains such as healthcare, finance, and IoT. Its enduring influence reflects its effectiveness in solving real-world problems involving large-scale, complex temporal data.