''For the American author, see Mary Ormsbee Whitton.'' Mary C. Whitton is an American computer scientist specializing in

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...

and

human–computer interaction Human–computer interaction (HCI) is the process through which people operate and engage with computer systems. Research in HCI covers the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and comp ...

, especially concerning

redirected walking Redirected walking is a virtual reality locomotion technique that enables users to explore a virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a Computer simulation, computer-simulated environment which may be populated ...

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a Computer simulation, computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal Avatar (computing), avatar and independently explore th ...

s. She is a research professor of computer science at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, the co-founder of two

graphics hardware Graphics hardware is computer hardware that generates computer graphics and allows them to be shown on a display, usually using a graphics card (video card) in combination with a device driver to create the images on the screen. Types Grap ...

companies, and the former president of

ACM SIGGRAPH ACM SIGGRAPH is the international Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques based in New York. It was founded in 1969 by Andy van Dam (its direct predecessor, ACM SICGRAPH was ...

Education and career

Whitton majored in religion as an undergraduate at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, graduating in 1970. She initially worked as a middle-school mathematics teacher, and earned a teaching-related master's degree from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

in 1974. In the same year, she married computer graphics researcher Nick England, and through him became interested in computer graphics. In 1976, she began studying computer graphics at North Carolina State, eventually earning a second master's degree in 1984. Meanwhile, she and England cofounded Ikonas Graphics Systems in 1978, which made what has been described as the first general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU). Ikonas was purchased by Adage, Inc., in 1982, and in 1986 Whitton and England cofounded another company, Trancept Systems, producing graphics hardware for

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

computers. Trancept was in turn acquired by Sun Microsystems a year later, and Whitton became a director of marketing for Sun. Whitton became president of

for the 1993–1995 term. In 1995, she took her present position as research professor at the

. With

Fred Brooks Frederick Phillips Brooks Jr. (April 19, 1931 – November 17, 2022) was an American computer architect, software engineer, and computer scientist, best known for managing development of IBM's System/360 family of mainframe computers and the ...

, she founded a research center in "effective virtual environments" in approximately 1998.

Recognition

Whitton was a recipient of the 2013 SIGGRAPH Outstanding Service Award. The North Carolina State University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering elected Whitton to their alumni hall of fame in 2016.

References

External links

Home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitton, Mary Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American computer scientists American women computer scientists Computer graphics researchers Duke University alumni North Carolina State University alumni University of North Carolina faculty