Jill Zimmerman facts for kids

Jill Loraine Zimmerman is an American computer scientist. She is a special professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Goucher College. Since 2006, she has led the Goucher Robotics Lab.

Early Life and Education

Jill Zimmerman grew up in Naperville, Illinois. When she was in high school in 1975, she and her dad built a computer. They were inspired by a story in Popular Mechanics magazine. This story was about building your own computer. Jill later said that the same article inspired Bill Gates.

In 1981, Jill earned her first degree from Purdue University. She studied Computer and Informational Sciences. She also had a minor in Mathematics. She was one of the top students in her class.

She then went to the University of Minnesota for her advanced studies. In 1990, she earned her doctorate degree. This is the highest degree you can get. She focused on how computers calculate and solve problems. Her professor, Marian Pour-El, guided her research.

Career in Computer Science

Jill Zimmerman started teaching at Goucher College in 1990. She was a visiting professor there. She also led a special program. This program helped students get scholarships for computer science, math, and engineering. She received $220,000 from the National Science Foundation for this work.

Jill Zimmerman's research covers many areas in computer science. These include programming languages, compiler design, and robotics. She often works with James Gil de Lamadrid.

Robotics and Pathfinding

In the early 1990s, Jill and James focused on how robots find their way. This is called pathfinding. They wrote papers about how robots can avoid things that move unpredictably. Their work helped early research on how robots plan their paths. It also looked at how complex these paths can be.

Programming Languages

Later, Jill became very interested in programming languages. She especially liked systems that mix different ways of programming. In 2000, she and James created something called the IncH Hope compiler. A compiler turns human-written code into something a computer understands. Their compiler worked for a language called Hope. It was designed for the Java Virtual Machine. This lets Java code run on many different computers. They shared their work at conferences in places like Aachen and Bilbao.

Goucher Robotics Lab

Since 2006, Jill Zimmerman has been in charge of the Goucher Robotics Lab. Here, students learn about and build robots. She is also a special professor at Goucher College. In 2011, Jill and James introduced a new language called FOBS. This language combines two different programming styles. They shared their findings at a conference. Later, they published a detailed study about FOBS in a computer science journal.

Personal Life

In 1985, Jill Zimmerman married James Gil de Lamadrid. He is also a computer science professor.

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