Lori Clarke, professor and chair of the School of Computer Science, retired this month after forty years at UMass Amherst.
Dr. Clarke is co-director of the University's Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER) where her research focuses on testing, verification and requirements engineering for distributed systems. She recently has been concerned with improving the safety of life-critical, human-intensive systems, such as medical procedures
Clarke's work as a researcher and member of the faculty has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2012 ACM Special Interest Group on Software Engineering (SIGSOFT) Outstanding Research Award, a lifetime career award, and the 2011 University of Massachusetts Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activity Award.
During her four years as chair, Clarke oversaw rapid growth in undergraduate enrollment and led strategic planning efforts that resulted in the school receiving college designation this spring.
"Lori joined the department a relatively short time after it was founded, when computer science was still a small field," said Bruce Croft, interim dean of the new College of Information and Computing Sciences. "Her work and leadership over the past forty years have been a key part of establishing computer science within the University and have played a big role in the advancement of the field as a whole."
Clarke will continue to be involved in research and in efforts to increase participation of underrepresented groups in computer science. She serves as a board member of the Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W). She will also continue to advise UMass CS Women, a group she founded twenty-five years ago to support and serve women computer science faculty and students.
A campus celebration honoring her contributions to the University was held on May 29.