Perdita Emma Stevens (born 1966) is a British mathematician,

theoretical computer scientist Theoretical computer science is a subfield of computer science and mathematics that focuses on the abstract and mathematical foundations of computation. It is difficult to circumscribe the theoretical areas precisely. The ACM's Special Inter ...

, and

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

who holds a personal chair in the mathematics of software engineering as part of the School of Informatics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. Her research includes work on

model-driven engineering Model-driven engineering (MDE) is a software development methodology that focuses on creating and exploiting domain models, which are conceptual model (computer science), conceptual models of all the topics related to a specific problem. Hence, i ...

, including

model transformation A model transformation, in model-driven engineering, is an automated way of modifying and creating platform-specific model from platform-independent ones. An example use of model transformation is ensuring that a family of models is consistent, in ...

model checking In computer science, model checking or property checking is a method for checking whether a finite-state model of a system meets a given specification (also known as correctness). This is typically associated with hardware or software syst ...

, and the

Unified Modeling Language The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose visual modeling language that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. UML provides a standard notation for many types of diagrams which can be roughly ...

Education and career

Stevens read mathematics at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in 1987. She went to the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

for graduate study in

abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures, which are set (mathematics), sets with specific operation (mathematics), operations acting on their elements. Algebraic structur ...

, earning a master's degree in 1988 and completing a PhD in 1992. Her doctoral dissertation, ''Integral Forms for Weyl Modules of

\mathrm(2,\mathrm)

'', was supervised by Sandy Green. After working in industry as a software engineer, Stevens joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh in 1984. She became a reader there in 2003 and in 2014 was given a personal chair as Professor of Mathematics of Software Engineering.

Books

Stevens is the author of books including: *''Using UML: Software Engineering with Objects and Components'' (with Rob Pooley, Addison-Wesley, 1999; 2nd ed., 2006) *''How to Write Good Programs: A Guide for Students'' (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Perdita 1966 births Living people British mathematicians 21st-century British women mathematicians British computer scientists British women computer scientists British software engineers Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Warwick Academics of the University of Edinburgh