Valerie Barr

Researcher in software testing, gender and science issues, and computer science curriculum development, Barr has served as Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Union College, Schenectady, New York, since September 2004. Before going to Union, she had been a tenured Associate Professor at Hofstra University. She received her B.A. in Applied Mathematics in 1977 from Mount Holyoke College, a Masters in Computer Science from New York University in 1979, and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rutgers University in 1996.

Between receiving her Masters and Ph.D. degrees, Barr worked in industry on applications such as automated blood analyzers, automated storage and retrieval machines, and banking back office operations. Her research focused on the area of software testing, with an emphasis on the development of verification and validation methods and tools for natural language processing systems.

She has also been involved in curriculum development, chiefly the creation of interdisciplinary programs between Computer Science and the humanities and social sciences, with a goal of changing the demographics of enrollments in computer science classes. Barr has also directed ACM-W's Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences program.