Dr. Mary Shaw

Alan J. Perlis University Professor of Computer Science, Software and Societal Systems

Bio

Mary Shaw is the A.J. Perlis Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computer Science (SCS) at Carnegie Mellon University. She was one of the founders of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and its chief scientist from 1984 to 1987; she now holds a joint appointment at the SEI and SCS. She previously worked in systems programming and research at the Research Analysis Corporation and Rice University.

Her research interests in computer science lie primarily in the areas of programming systems and software engineering, particularly software architecture, programming languages, specifications, and abstraction techniques. Particular areas of interest and projects have included software architectures (Vitruvius), technology transition (SEI), program organization for quality human interfaces (Descartes), programming language design (Alphard, Tartan), abstraction techniques for advanced programming methodologies (abstract data types, generic definitions), reliable software development (strong typing and modularity), evaluation techniques for software (performance specification, compiler contraction, software metrics), and analysis of algorithms (polynomial derivative evaluation).

Dr. Shaw is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for achievement and leadership in advancing the fields of science and technology, as well as the Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award. She is a Fellow of the IEEE Computer Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received the Warnier Prize for contributions to software engineering in 1993. She is a member of the Association of Computing Machinery, the New York Academy of Sciences, Sigma Xl, She serves on Working Group 2.4 (System Implementation Languages) of the International Federation of Information Processing Societies and the IEEE Technical Committee on Software Engineering.