Jeannette Marie Wing is the Executive Vice President for Research at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where she is also a professor of

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, ...

. Prior to her appointment on September 1, 2021, she served as the Avanessians Director of the Data Science Institute at

. Until June 30, 2017, she was Corporate Vice President of

Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...

with oversight of its core research laboratories around the world and Microsoft Research Connections. Prior to 2013, she was the President's Professor of Computer Science at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She also served as assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the NSF from 2007 to 2010. She was appointed the Columbia University executive vice president for research in 2021.

Background

Wing earned her S.B. and S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in June 1979. Her advisers were Ronald Rivest and John Reiser. In 1983, she earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science at MIT under John Guttag. She is a fourth-degree black belt in

Tang Soo Do Tang Soo Do (; ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean martial art based on karate which can include fighting principles from taekkyeon, subak, as well as northern Chinese martial arts. From its beginnings in 1944 to today, Tang Soo Do is used by ...

Career and research

Wing was on the faculty of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

from 1982 to 1985 and then the faculty of Carnegie Mellon from 1985 to 2012. She served as the head of the Computer Science Department from 2004 to 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. In January 2013, she took a leave from Carnegie Mellon to work at Microsoft Research. Wing has been a leading member of the

formal methods In computer science, formal methods are mathematics, mathematically rigorous techniques for the formal specification, specification, development, Program analysis, analysis, and formal verification, verification of software and computer hardware, ...

community, especially in the area of

Larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

. She has led many research projects and has published widely. With

Barbara Liskov Barbara Liskov (born November 7, 1939, as Barbara Jane Huberman) is an American computer scientist who has made pioneering contributions to programming languages and distributed computing. Her notable work includes the introduction of abstract da ...

, she developed the Liskov substitution principle, published in 1993. She has also been a strong promoter of

computational thinking Computational thinking (CT) refers to the thought processes involved in formulating problems so their solutions can be represented as computational steps and algorithms. In education, CT is a set of problem-solving methods that involve expressin ...

, expressing the algorithmic problem-solving and abstraction techniques used by computer scientists and how they might be applied in other disciplines. She is a member of the editorial board of the following journals: *'' Foundations and Trends in Privacy and Security'' *''

Journal of the ACM The ''Journal of the ACM'' (''JACM'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering computer science in general, especially theoretical aspects. It is an official journal of the Association for Computing Machinery. Its current editor-in-chief is ...

'' *'' Formal Aspects of Computing'' *''Formal Methods in System Design'' *'' International Journal of Software and Informatics'' *''Journal of Information Science and Engineering'' *''Software Tools for Technology Transfer''

Recognition

Wing was named a Fellow of the ACM in 1998, "For fundamental contributions to formal methods, programming languages, and programming methodology, and for promoting the use of formal methods in software development". Wing was named a Fellow of the IEEE in 2003, "for contributions to methods for software systems". Wing was elected as a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2024, for "For formulation and advocacy of computational thinking, and for contributions to formal methods and trustworthy computing".

References

External links

* Aaronson, Lauren
Q&A With: Jeannette Wing

American computer scientists Formal methods people Living people American women computer scientists American academic journal editors Carnegie Mellon University faculty Columbia University faculty Microsoft employees MIT School of Engineering alumni 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American engineers 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists Fellows of the IEEE American academics of Chinese descent 1956 births {{US-academic-scientist-stub