Elaine Weyuker

University Distinguished Professor, University of Central Florida

University Distinguished Professor| University of Central Florida

Address

What I Do

I am a (part-time) Distinguished University Professor at the University of Central Florida. In that capacity I collaborate with and mentor more junior faculty members and graduate students. I also held a similar position at Mälardalens University in Sweden from 2013 - 2020.

Before joining UCF and Mälardalens University, I conducted research at AT&T labs, specializing in software testing and metrics - the goal is to develop ways of assuring the dependability and performance of software. AT&T had many hundreds of million lines of software that do everything from running the telephone network to handling billing, and most of these systems run continuously. It is a real challenge to develop techniques to make sure that it all works correctly and efficiently!

For 18 years after receiving my PhD, I was a professor at New York University before I moved to AT&T Bell Labs.
School Days

Bronx High School of Science; B.S. in Mathematics from State University of New York in Binghamton; Ph.D. in computer science from Rutgers University
Best Part

I was a professor at New York University for 18 years before I moved to AT&T. Although I was happy at NYU, I have been even happier at AT&T since I have access to AT&T's large software systems and get to try out my ideas on these systems.
Challenges

The biggest challenge I face in my career involves the relatively small numbers of women I meet at most professional events. I have endured some sexism, and it sometimes took all the courage I could muster to speak up when people made inappropriate assumptions based on gender, but it was important, and I am glad that I have tried to make things better for women in the field.
My Family

I have a teenage daughter who is lots of fun (usually) who has accompanied me to every conference and workshop I've attended since she was born.
Additional Thoughts

I conduct research at AT&T labs, specializing in software testing and metrics - the goal is to develop ways of assuring the dependability and performance of software.
Hobbies

I love to swim, bike, and hike. I also knit and design sweaters.

I grew up in the Bronx, New York, attending public schools. Luckily, after successfully completing an entrance exam, I attended the Bronx High School of Science, where about one-fourth of the students were female. After high school, I went to the State University of New York in Binghamton, where I majored in mathematics. I graduated after 3 1/2 years and worked for eight months as a computer programmer for Texaco. I had never even seen a computer before joining Texaco so I spent some of that time teaching myself to program. I went to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, which was one of the few schools in the country to offer a degree in computer science at that time. At Penn, there were several hundred male students and only a handful of women students. It was very isolating. After completing my master's degree, I took a job as a systems engineer at IBM. After a year, I started teaching at a small college in the City University of New York. I was the entire Computer Science department, and got to teach many different subjects. After six years, I returned to get a Ph.D. at Rutgers University. After completing my dissertation on the Theory of Computation, I became a professor at New York University. Although my first publications were in theory, I soon changed my research focus to software engineering, and specifically software testing. Most of my research has focused on making software highly reliable and dependable. It is a real challenge to develop techniques to make sure that it all works correctly and efficiently! I have now published about 170 papers in journals and refereed conference proceedings. After 18 years at NYU, I moved to AT&T so I could have access to AT&T's large software systems and get to try out my ideas on these systems. I have been very lucky all of my life. I got lots of encouragement from my parents and teachers. I had scholarships and fellowships to help pay my way throughout school. The biggest challenge I face in my career involves the relatively small numbers of women I meet at most professional events. I have endured some sexism, and it sometimes took all the courage I could muster to speak up when people made inappropriate assumptions based on gender, but it was important, and I am glad that I have tried to make things better for women in the field. I have mentored a number of women starting out in their careers, and I have found it very rewarding. The biggest professional accomplishments have been being named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE, and an AT&T Fellow, and especially being made a member of the National Academy of Engineering. I have also won several major awards. I chaired the ACM Women's Council from 2004 - 2012 with a mission to encourage girls and women to study/work in computing. I love to swim, bike, and hike. I also knit and design sweaters. I have a daughter who has a PhD in Cognitive Science. She is a researcher at IBM specializing in Alzheimer's research. My Mom, also in the photo, was a Phi Beta Kappa mathematics major who graduated from college in 1936! The last person in the photo is my husband who I met in graduate school. He also has a PhD in Computer Science is is often my primary research collaborator.