Bonnie Berger facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bonnie Berger
Born	Bonnie Anne Berger 1964/1965 (age 59–60)
Education	Brandeis University (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
Spouse(s)	F. Thomson Leighton
Awards	SIAM Fellow (2022) National Academy of Sciences, Member (2020) AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture Award (2020) AMS Fellow (2019) ISCB Senior Scientist Award (2019) AIMBE Fellow (2016) American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member (2012) ISCB Fellow (2012) ACM Fellow (2003) Technology Reviews TR100 Award (1999) International Congress of Mathematicians Invited Speaker (1998) Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award (1997) Machtey Award (1989)
Scientific career
Fields	Bioinformatics
Thesis	Using Randomness to Design Efficient Deterministic Algorithms (1990)
Doctoral advisor	Silvio Micali
Doctoral students	Manolis Kellis Serafim Batzoglou Lior Pachter Mona Singh

Bonnie Anne Berger (born 1964/1965) is an American mathematician and computer scientist. She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, she leads the Computation and Biology group. This group is part of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Her work focuses on using computers to understand biology. This field is called bioinformatics.

Education and Early Achievements

Bonnie Berger studied at Brandeis University for her first degree. She then earned her PhD from MIT in 1990. Her main teacher there was Silvio Micali. While she was a student, she won the Machtey Award in 1989. This award was for a paper she wrote about parallel algorithms. These are special computer instructions that can run many tasks at once.

Career and Research in Bioinformatics

After getting her PhD, Bonnie Berger continued her research at MIT. She became a professor there in 1992. Her main area of study is bioinformatics. This means she uses computer science to solve problems in biology. For example, she uses computers to study DNA, proteins, and how living things work.

Her research has been published in important science magazines like Science. Many of her former students have also become successful scientists.

Bonnie Berger has also helped lead important science groups. She was a vice president for the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). This group helps people who work in bioinformatics.

Awards and Recognition

Bonnie Berger has received many important awards for her work.

• In 1997, she won the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award.
• In 1999, she was named one of the "100 top innovators" by Technology Review magazine.
• In 2003, she became a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). This is a big honor in computer science.
• In 2012, she was chosen as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also became a fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB).
• In 2016, she joined the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
• In 2019, she was named a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. This was for her work in computational biology and for helping new scientists. She also received an honorary degree from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
• In 2020, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. This is one of the highest honors for scientists in the United States. She also gave the AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture.
• In 2022, she became a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). This was for her new ideas in using computers to study biology.

Personal Life

Bonnie Berger is married to F. Thomson Leighton. He is also a professor at MIT and leads a technology company called Akamai Technologies.