Bell is the Senior Researcher in Microsoft's Telepresence Research Group-a part of the Bay Area Research Center (BARC). He was Vice President of Research and Development at Digital Equipment Corporation and for those 23 years he was responsible for Digital's products. In 1986-87, he was the first Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation's Computing Directorate. Bell's honors and awards include: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship; elected membership in the National Academy of Engineering; and recipient of the 1991 National Medal of Technology "for his continuing intellectual and industrial achievements in the field of computer design; and for his leading role in establishing . . . computers that serve as a significant tool for engineering, science, and industry". He also received the 1995 MCI Communications Information Technology Leadership Award for Innovation.