Professor Feigenbaum was Chairman of the Computer Science Department and Director of the Computer Center at Stanford University. Until 1992 Dr. Feigenbaum was Co-Principal Investigator of the national computer facility for applications of Artificial Intelligence to Medicine and Biology known as the SUMEX-AIM facility, established by NIH at Stanford University. He is the Past President of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. He has served on the National Science Foundation Computer Science Advisory Board, an ARPA study committee for Information Science and Technology; and on the National Research Council's Computer Science and Technology Board. He has been a member of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine.
He was the co-editor of the encyclopedia, The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, and of the early book, Computers and Thought, published by McGraw-Hill. He is co-author of the McGraw-Hill book, Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Organic Chemistry: The DENDRAL Program and was the founding editor of the McGraw-Hill Computer Science Series. He is co-author with Pamela McCorduck of the book The Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence and Japan's Computer Challenge to the World, published by Addison-Wesley (1983) and by New American Library (1984). He is also co-author with Penny Nii and Pamela McCorduck of the book, The Rise of the Expert Company, on corporate successes in the use of expert systems, published by Times Books in New York and Macmillan in London (1988).
He is a co-founder of three start-up firms in applied artificial intelligence, IntelliCorp, Teknowledge and Design Power Inc. and served as a member of the Board of Directors of IntelliCorp and Design Power Inc. He also was a member of the Board of Directors of Sperry Corporation prior to its merger with Burroughs. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Kansai Silicon Valley Venture Forum.
He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1986. In the same year, he was elected to the Productivity Hall of Fame of the Republic of Singapore. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the honorary American College of Medical Informatics. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991. He is the first recipient of the Feigenbaum Medal, an award established in his honor by the World Congress of Expert Systems. He was elected Fellow to the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in January 1994. He was a recipient of the 1994 ACM Turing Award. He was named Kumagai Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University in 1995. He received the U.S. Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Award in 1997.