Laurie Hendren (December 13, 1958 – May 27, 2019) was a Canadian

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

noted for her research in

programming languages A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their syntax (form) and semantics (meaning), usually defined by a formal language. Languages usually provide features ...

and

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

s, and for her advocacy for patients to have access to their health data in Quebec.

Biography

Hendren received a

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

and

M.Sc. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

from

Queen's University, Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

in 1982 and 1984 respectively. She received a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in computer science from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1990. She then joined the School of Computer Science at the

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

as an assistant professor in 1990. While there she was promoted to associate professor in 1995 and full professor in 2001. She also served as Associate Dean (Academic) for the Faculty of Science at

from 2005 to 2014. In 2014, she became the 5 of diamonds in the Notable Women of Computing card deck.

Awards and notable achievements

Hendren was awarded the Leo Yaffe Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Faculty of Science at

for the academic year 2006–2007. She was made an

ACM Fellow ACM Fellowship is an award and fellowship that recognises outstanding members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The title of ACM Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals ...

in 2009, awarded a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in 2011, and elected as a fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

in 2012. Hendren was the programming languages area editor of the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

books series and has been the program chair of the Association for Computing Machinery

SIGPLAN SIGPLAN is the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group (SIG) on programming languages. This SIG explores programming language concepts and tools, focusing on design, implementation, practice, and theory. Its members are progra ...

Programming Language Design and Implementation Programming languages are typically created by designing a form of representation of a computer program, and writing an implementation for the developed concept, usually an interpreter or compiler. Interpreters are designed to read programs, usua ...

Conference. In 2019, Hendren was awarded the senior AITO Dahl-Nygaard Prize, but died before the ECOOP conference at which the prize is usually awarded. It was thus awarded posthumously.

Research projects

Hendren has led or co-led several big

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

research projects at McGill University. These are: *

Soot Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. Soot is considered a hazardous substance with carcinogenic properties. Most broadly, the term includes all the particulate matter produced b ...

: a framework for analyzing and transforming Java and Android Applications *

SableVM SableVM was a clean room implementation of Java bytecode interpreter implementing the Java virtual machine ( VM) specification, second edition. SableVM was designed to be a robust, extremely portable, efficient, and fully specifications-compliant ...

: an open implementation of a

Java virtual machine A Java virtual machine (JVM) is a virtual machine that enables a computer to run Java programs as well as programs written in other languages that are also compiled to Java bytecode. The JVM is detailed by a specification that formally descr ...

* abc: the AspectBench Compiler for

AspectJ AspectJ is an aspect-oriented programming (AOP) extension for the Java programming language, created at PARC. It is available in Eclipse Foundation open-source projects, both stand-alone and integrated into Eclipse. AspectJ has become a widely ...

* McLab: compiler tools for array-based languages * OHIG: The Opal Health Informatics Group that built and operated the Opal patient portal, the first patient portal in a hospital in Quebec

References

External links

* McGill University
Laurie Hendren, School of Computer Science
* Blog
Flat-chested warriors blog about breast cancer and the Goldilocks Mastectomy
* Newspaper article
La douleur de l’attente - Article in Quebec's LaPresse newspaper about Laurie Hendren's work with the Opal Health Informatics Group
* Papers and citations
Google Scholar Profile for Laurie J. Hendren
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendren, Laurie 1958 births 2019 deaths Canadian women computer scientists Canadian computer scientists 2009 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Cornell University alumni Academic staff of McGill University People from Peterborough, Ontario