Jeannette Wing
Executive Vice President for Research; Professor of Computer Science
Jeannette M. Wing is a leader in computer science, known for her research contributions in trustworthy AI, cybersecurity and privacy, formal methods, distributed and concurrent systems, and programming languages.
Wing’s seminal essay, titled “Computational Thinking,” published in 2006, is credited with helping establish the centrality of computer science to problem-solving in all disciplines, which has influenced college and K-12 curricula worldwide. She is currently the Executive Vice President for Research, overseeing the research enterprise across the entire university. She came to Columbia in 2017 as the inaugural Avanessians Director of the Data Science Institute, and advocated “Data for Good."
Prior to joining Columbia, she was corporate vice president of Microsoft Research, where she oversaw research labs around the world, and was formerly the President’s Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, where she twice headed the Computer Science Department. At the National Science Foundation, she served as Assistant Director of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate to promote research and education in academia. For her distinguished service, she has received awards from the Computing Research Association and Association for Computing Machinery.
Wing received her SB, SM, and PhD degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She holds an honorary doctorate of technology from Linkoping University, Sweden. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of Computing Machinery, and IEEE. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Research Areas
- Security and Privacy
- Software Systems
- Artificial Intelligence
- Data Privacy
- Programming Languages
- Trustworthy Computing
- Cybersecurity
- Trustworthy AI
Additional information
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Professional Experience
- Microsoft Research, Corporate Vice President
- Carnegie Mellon University, President’s Professor of Computer Science
- Carnegie Mellon University, Head of Computer Science Department
- National Science Foundation, Assistant Director of Computer and Information Science and Engineering
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Professional Affiliations
- Board Member, Council Member, and Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Fellow, Association of Computing Machinery
- Fellow, IEEE
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Honors & Awards
- Formal Methods Europe Fellowship Award, 2024
- Honorary Doctor of Technology, Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden, 2020
- Hero of Computer Science, Computer Science Department, University of York, 2020
- Columbia College of Dental Medicine Birnberg Research Award, 2018.
- Microsoft Executive Briefing Center Hero Award, 2017.
- Association for Computing Machinery Distinguished Service Award, 2014.
- SIGSOFT Retrospective Paper Award, 2012.
- Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award, 2011.
- Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi.
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Education
- PhD, Computer Science, MIT
- SM, Computer Science, MIT
- SB, Computer Science, MIT