Barbara Simons facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Barbara B. Simons
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| Born | January 26, 1941 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Known for | voting technology election security information security |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
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| Doctoral advisor | Richard M. Karp |
Barbara Bluestein Simons (born January 26, 1941) is an American computer scientist. She studies how computers work and how to make them better. She used to be the president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). This is the world's largest group for people who work with computers.
Barbara Simons is known for her work on making voting safe and fair. She believes that voting machines should be easy to check. She has written books and reports about how to keep elections secure.
Contents
Early life and education
Barbara Simons was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. In high school, she loved math and science classes. She went to Wellesley College for a year. Then, in 1959, she moved to California. She continued her studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Later, she decided to study computer programming. She took computer science classes part-time. She then went to graduate school at Stony Brook University. After a year, she transferred back to Berkeley. There, she earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1981. She also helped start a club for women in computer science and engineering.
Career
Working at IBM
After finishing her studies in 1981, Barbara Simons started working at IBM. IBM is a very big technology company. She worked in their research division in San Jose. At IBM, she studied things like how to make computer programs run faster. She also worked on how computers keep time together.
Over time, her interests changed. She became more interested in how technology should be used safely. She retired from IBM in 1998 after 17 years.
Leading the ACM
After leaving IBM, Barbara Simons became the president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). This is a huge group for computer professionals. She was president from 1998 to 2000. Before that, in 1993, she helped create a special committee. This committee focused on how computer technology affects public policy in the U.S.
As president, she worked on a study about voter databases. These are lists of registered voters. She received an award in 2001 for her great work at ACM.
The Verified Voting Foundation
Since 2008, Barbara Simons has been part of the Verified Voting Foundation. This group works to make sure voting is safe and clear. They want states to use the best ways to vote. Their goal is to make sure every vote can be checked and counted correctly.
Other important work
Barbara Simons has also helped other groups. She helped start a program at U.C. Berkeley. This program helps women and minorities get into computer science. She also works with groups that encourage more minorities to learn about computing.
In 2005, she received a special award from U.C. Berkeley's College of Engineering. She was the first woman ever to get this award.
Voting technology and policy
After her time at IBM and ACM, Barbara Simons focused on voting technology. She wanted to fix problems with voting machines that couldn't be checked. In 2001, she worked on a report about voting online. She also helped stop a U.S. military online voting project. This was because of security worries.
Barbara Simons believes that voting should always involve a paper record. This way, votes can be checked if there are problems. She has worked to remove voting machines that don't print paper records. She helped change the League of Women Voters' view on electronic voting. They now support machines that can be checked.
In 2008, she joined an advisory board for U.S. elections. She helped with the "Help America Vote Act" (HAVA). This law helps states improve their voting systems. In 2012, she wrote a book with Douglas W. Jones. It's called Broken Ballots: Will Your Vote Count?. This book talks about issues with electronic voting machines. She continues to work for safe and secure elections.
Awards and honors
- CPSR Norbert Wiener Award (1992)
- Featured in Science magazine (1992)
- ACM Fellow (1993)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow (1993)
- Named one of the top 100 women in computing by Open Computing
- Selected as an Internet "Visionary" by CNET (1995)
- Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award (1998)
- U.C. Berkeley Computer Science Department Distinguished Alumnus Award (2000)
- ACM Outstanding Contribution Award (2002)
- Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award (2004)
- University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award (2005)
- U.C. Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Award (2005)
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission Board of Advisors (2008)
- WITI@UC Anthea Award (2019)
- ACM Policy Award (2019)
- Award by Verified Voting Foundation for election integrity
See also
In Spanish: Barbara Simons para niños
