Professor Mary Lou Soffa

An American Computer Scientist noted for her research on compilers, program optimization, system software and system engineering, she is also noted for her leadership in broadening participation in computing. She is on the CRA-W Board and was co-Chair from 2000 to 2003. With Jan Cuny, she founded the CRA-W Graduate Cohort Program and the CRA-W Associate Professor Program. She received a B.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh with honors magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She received an M.S. degree in Mathematics from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She then joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh as an Assistant Professor in 1977. In 1983 she was promoted to Associate Professor and in 1990 to Professor. She also served as the Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences from 1991 to 1996. From 2004 to 2012, she served as the Chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia and the Owen R. Cheatham Professor of Sciences. She has directed 32 graduate students to completion, half of whom are women and two are minorities. She serves on the ACM Council as Member-at-Large and on the ACM Publications Board. She developed software tools for debugging and testing programs to eliminate or reduce false alarms and improve operating efficiency. Her research produced automatic, practical solutions in software engineering, and systems and programming languages for improving software reliability, security and productivity. For this, in 2012, at, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC12), she received the ACM-IEEE-CS Ken Kennedy Award, "For contributions to compiler technology and software engineering, exemplary service to the profession, and lifelong dedication to mentoring and improving diversity in computing". She currently serves on the ACM Publication Board and was reelected in 2012 to serve on the ACM Council. Her other notable awards include: the ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award in 2003; she was named an ACM Fellow in 1999; and an IEEE Fellow in 2013. She also received the Anita Borg Technical Leadership Award in 2011; the ACM SIGSOFT 2010 Distinguished Service Award; the Nico Habermann Award, presented by Computing Research Association in June 2006; and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 1999. In 2014, she was recognized by the Association for Computing Machinery?s (ACM) Special Interest Group on Software Engineering Influential Educator Award for ?a sustained record of mentoring of women at all ranks in the field of computing, especially software engineering?. In recent years, the percentage of women earning computer science degrees has increased slightly, but the current percentage is still much lower than ones seen in the 80s and 90s. Only 14 percent of computer science graduate students at research universities are women. She has been a highly notable speaker and keynote speaker at a number of conferences, research labs and universities. In addition, she has published more than 150 papers in computing journals and conferences.