Valerie Taylor (computer scientist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Valerie E. Taylor
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| Born | May 24, 1963 |
| Education | Purdue University, B.S., computer and electrical engineering 1985; M.S., electrical engineering, 1986; University of California at Berkeley, Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and computer science, 1991 |
| Known for | Work in high performance computing |
| Awards | Pathbreaker Award from the Women in Leadership at Northwestern University Hewlett Packard Harriett B. Rigas Education Award A. Nico Habermann Award Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecture; Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1782: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). (Q21020802) MOBE Influencers and Innovators of the Internet and Technology |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Texas A&M University, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Northwestern University, professor of electrical and computer engineering |
Valerie Elaine Taylor, born on May 24, 1963, is an American computer scientist. She is the director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. Her research helps us understand how computers perform, how much power they use, and how they can stay strong against problems. She is well-known for her work on "Prophesy." This is a special computer system that gathers and studies data. It helps predict how well different computer programs will run on very powerful, or "parallel," computer systems.
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Who is Valerie Taylor?
Valerie Elaine Taylor is a leading figure in the world of computer science. She has dedicated her career to making computers work better and faster. She also helps more people get involved in technology. Her journey shows how curiosity and hard work can lead to amazing discoveries.
Her Early Life and Education
Valerie Taylor was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 24, 1963. Her father, Willie Taylor, was an electrical engineer. He often took his children to work with him on Saturdays. This early experience, building circuit boards and reading technical drawings, sparked Valerie's interest in science.
During high school, Valerie spent her Saturdays at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She also attended special summer programs focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). She earned her first two degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University. She received her bachelor's degree in 1985 and her master's degree in 1986.
In 1991, Valerie earned her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Her advanced degree was in electrical engineering and computer science. Her advisor was David Messerschmitt. She even holds a patent for her ideas about how computers handle certain types of information.
Important Work and Leadership
Soon after getting her PhD in 1993, Dr. Taylor received a special award called the NSF National Young Investigator Award. This award recognized her promising research. She then worked as a professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Northwestern University for 11 years.
From 2003 to 2011, she joined Texas A&M University. There, she led the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. She focused on High Performance Computing, which means making very fast and powerful computers. She also served as a senior leader in the College of Engineering. She started a program to connect university researchers with companies.
While working at Northwestern and Texas A&M, Dr. Taylor also collaborated with Argonne National Laboratory. She even spent a summer working there in 2011. Since July 3, 2017, she has been the director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne. At Argonne, she helped write an important report for the U.S. Department of Energy. This report was about how AI can be used for science.
Helping Others in Tech
Dr. Taylor is also the CEO and President of the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT). This organization works to help more people from diverse backgrounds join the technology workforce in the United States. CMD-IT hosts an annual Tapia Conference. This event brings together computer scientists from different communities. They share their research, find mentors, and connect with others in their field.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy provided nearly $54 million to fund ten new projects. These projects focus on designing and producing tiny electronic parts called microelectronics. Dr. Taylor was chosen to lead one of these important projects at the Argonne National Laboratory.
Awards and Special Honors
Dr. Taylor has received many awards for her excellent research, leadership, and efforts to make computing more diverse. She has written or helped write over 100 research papers. These papers mainly focus on how to analyze and predict the performance of parallel scientific computer programs.
She is a respected member of the IEEE. In 2013, she was named an IEEE Fellow. This honor recognized her contributions to making parallel computing applications work better. In 2016, she became a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. This award celebrated her leadership in helping more people get involved in computing. In 2019, she received the Argonne Distinguished Fellow award. This is a very high honor, given to only a small percentage of researchers at the facility.
Her other awards include:
- Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing
- Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni Award from the University of California, Berkeley
- Pathbreaker Award from the Women in Leadership at Northwestern University
- Hewlett-Packard Harriet B. Rigas Education Award
- Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer
- A. Nico Habermann Award
- AccessComputing Capacity Building Award
