Computer science professor honored by women in tech group

By Steven Lundeberg on Oct. 3, 2023

Margaret Burnett, distinguished professor of computer science in the OSU College of Engineering, has won the AnitaB.org’s Technical Leadership Abie Award for 2023.

The organization says its Technical Leadership Abie Award is “our most prestigious award and celebrates a woman or non-binary technologist who led or developed a product, process, or innovation that made a notable impact on business or society.”

Burnett’s research focuses on the intersection of programming languages, human-computer interaction and software engineering. She studies visual programming languages and how programming language and software engineering research can be applied to support end-user programming.

Her work with the GenderMag method has allowed technologists to find and correct gender-inclusivity bugs in their software.

The mission of AnitaB.org, a nonprofit based in Belmont, California, is recruiting, retaining and advancing women in tech careers.

It annually hosts the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world’s largest gathering of women in computing. About 30,000 attend each year, Burnett said.

The event is named for a computer science pioneer who also rose to the rank of U.S. Navy rear admiral. Hopper died in 1992 at age 85.