| Intro | American computer scientist and former U.S. government official | ||
| Is | Computer scientist | ||
| From | United States of America | ||
| Type |
Technology Science |
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| Gender | female | ||
| Birth | Houston | ||
| Family |
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Anita K. Jones (born 1942) is an American computer scientist and former U.S. government official. She was Director, Defense Research and Engineering from 1993 to 1997.
Early life
Jones’ father, a petroleum engineer, encouraged her to devote herself to something. He taught her to play chess, helped her on geometry problems, and on weekends took her and her younger brother fishing for catfish, red snapper, and trout on Galveston Bay. Jones’ mother, who had trained as a ballerina and danced in several Hollywood films, taught her daughter a love of painting.
Anita graduated as valedictorian of her high school class in 1960.
Education
Jones received an A.B. from Rice University in Mathematics in 1964, a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1968, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1973.
Career
She remained at Carnegie Mellon as an assistant professor, with promotion to associate professor in 1978. With William A. Wulf, her husband, Jones was a founder and vice president of Tartan Laboratories, a compiler technology company, in 1981. She joined the faculty of the University of Virginia in 1989, where she is University Professor emerita (As of 2011).
Jones became the Director of Defense Research and Engineering for the U.S. Department of Defense in June 1993, a position in which she was responsible for the management of the science and technology program. Her responsibilities included the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and oversight of the Department of Defense laboratories, as well as being the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense for defense-related scientific and technical matters. She returned to the University of Virginia in 1997.
Jones received the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award from the Association of Women in Computing in 2004. She is also the recipient of the Computing Research Association’s Service Award, the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Award, and the Department of Defense Award for Distinguished Public Service. The U.S. Navy has named a seamount in the North Pacific Ocean (51° 25’ N and 159° 10’ W) for her.
Since 2004, Jones has been a member of the MIT Corporation. From 1988 to 1992, she was a trustee of the MITRE Corporation. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations.