Mary Jane Irwin facts for kids

Mary Jane Irwin is a very important professor who used to teach at Pennsylvania State University. She is an expert in computer architecture, which is about how computers are built and how they work. She studied how to make computers for things like phones and other small devices. She also looked at how to make computers use less power and be more reliable.

She was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2003. This was because of her great work in designing computer chips and automated design tools.

About Mary Jane Irwin

Her Education

Mary Jane Irwin first studied Mathematics at Memphis State University. She earned her bachelor's degree there in 1971. Later, she went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her master's degree in Computer Science in 1975. Then, she earned her Ph.D. (doctorate degree) in Computer Science in 1977. Her special research was about how computers do math, and her advisor was Dr. James Robertson.

Her Career

Mary Jane Irwin started teaching at Pennsylvania State University in 1977. She became a full professor in 1989. She retired from teaching in 2017.

She worked on designing special computer systems for specific tasks. She helped create and test three different computer boards: the Arithmetic Cube, the MGAP, and SPARTA. With one of her students, Robert M. Owens, she also developed many tools for designing computer parts. These tools included ARTIST, PERFLEX, LOGICIAN, and DECOMPOSER.

In the 1990s, Mary Jane Irwin focused on designing systems with limited resources. This included embedded systems like those in phones, which have limited battery life and memory. She also worked on sensor networks, which have very few resources. With her team, she created a tool called SimplePower. This tool helped predict how much power a computer design would use.

Her more recent work involved combining different types of technologies in computer circuits.

In 2019, Mary Jane Irwin received the Phil Kaufman Award. This is a very high honor in the electronic design industry. She was the first woman to ever receive this award.

Helping the Computer Community

Mary Jane Irwin has done a lot to help the computer science world. She was part of many important groups. These included the Board on Army Science and Technology and the ACM's Fellows Selection Committee. She also helped Microsoft Research and the NAE.

She was a founding editor for a journal about new computer technologies. She also edited another journal about electronic design. She was an elected member of the boards for the CRA and the IEEE Computer Society. She also served as Vice President of the ACM. For a long time, she was on the board of CRA-W. This group helps women in computer research.

Personal Life

Mary Jane Irwin got married in July 1966. She and her husband have been married for over 55 years. They have one son, John, who is also a computer scientist. They also have two grandchildren named Kai and Milo.

Awards and Recognitions

Mary Jane Irwin has received many important awards for her work:

• 2021: The CRA A. Nico Habermann Award.
• She received an Honorary Doctorate from Chalmers University in Sweden.
• 2019: Phil Kaufman Award from the Electronic System Design Alliance and the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation.
• 2012: ASP-DAC Ten-Year Retrospective Most Influential Paper Award.
• 2010: The ACM Athena Lecturer Award from the ACM.
• 2009: Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• 2007: Anita Borg Technical Leadership Award.
• 2006: Computing Research Association (CRA) Distinguished Service Award.
• 2005: ACM Distinguished Service Award.
• 2004: Marie R. Pistilli Women in Electronic Design Automation Award.
• 2003: IEEE/CAS VLSI Transactions Best Paper of the Year Award.
• 2003: Inducted into the NAE.
• 1996: Named an ACM Fellow.
• 1994: Named an IEEE Fellow.