Two CSE Faculty selected for 2015-16 College of Engineering Awards

Congratulations to the following CSE Faculty recipients of 2015-16 College of Engineering Awards.

Valeria Bertacco – Herbert Kopf Service Excellence Award

Prof. Valeria Bertacco is a noted researcher in the area of computer architecture and is Director of the Department’s Computer Engineering (CE) Lab. For the past six years, she has made numerous contributions of time, effort, and equipment in support of the ECE program at Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAIT) in Ethiopia, which has included curriculum development and classroom teaching. She has been part of a U-M delegation that has broadened this relationship and formalized a research exchange program designed to increase collaboration between U-M and AAIT.

Prof. Bertacco is the faculty advisor for the Ensemble of CSE Ladies (ECSEL), a student group for graduate women in CSE, and has initiated other programs aimed at increasing the participation of women in computer science, including one – spearheaded together with Dr. Mary Lou Dorf – funded by a U-M Third Century Grant.

Prof. Bertacco received her MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1998 and 2003 and a Computer Engineering degree summa cum laude from the University of Padova, Italy in 1995.She is an ACM Distinguished Scientist. Her service to the University was recognized with a U-M Faculty Recognition Award in 2014.

Mary Lou Dorf – Thomas M. Sawyer, Jr. Teaching Award

Dr. Mary Lou Dorf has been teaching Computer Science at Michigan since 2002. She is passionate about helping more undergraduate students to understand the potential for computer science and to become more confident with coding and employing computational techniques. Prof. Dorf has a special interest in expanding the opportunities for women in computer science and has undertaken a number of projects in this area, including one – spearheaded together with Prof. Valeria Bertacco – funded by a U-M Third Century Grant.

Dr. Dorf led an effort to reintroduce the Computer Science program to LSA students in 2012, which led to a rebound in CS-LSA enrollments beginning in 2013. She currently teaches over 700 students in EECS 183, Elementary Programming Concepts, an introductory course for non-CS majors in LSA that she has recently redesigned.