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View from the top: Dr C Dianne Martin, George Washington University
She’s helped put men on the moon and is an award winning professor of Computer Science. QS Topgradschool.com speaks to Dr Dianne Martin at George Washington University.
Set in amongst the White House, the US State Department and the World Bank, not to mention some of the world’s best museums and galleries, it’s easy to see why the George Washington University attracts students from all over the world.
Founded by Baptist clergyman as a legacy to the intentions of George Washington to see a national university established in the country’s capital, The George Washington University was established in 1873 and moved to its current location in 1918.
One of nine academic units at The George Washington University, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is regarded as one of the leading centers of excellence in teaching and research in the field of the advancement of technology across all of its five constituent departments. As one of the first engineering colleges in the USA to admit women to its degree programs, The George Washington University (GWU) supports a wide range of research activities and is well known for developing strong links between government and industry.
Dr Dianne Martin is Professor of Computer Science and one of the outstanding academics in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. With a host of academic awards, including most recently the Association of Women in Computing Augusta Ada Lovelace Award, awarded to an outstanding woman in the computer field, and the Bender Outstanding Teaching Award from GWU, Dr Martin has a rich experience of both academic and professional life. One highlight of which is undoubtedly the three years she spent in industry with IBM as a programmer on the Apollo space project to put the men on the moon.
With characteristic modesty, Dr Martin sees her achievements from a different perspective: “I think I was just in the right place at the right time. Computers were just coming into their own when I graduated from college, but there were very few computer science majors. Computer companies like IBM sought math majors who could be trained to become programmers.” With her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and mathematics education from McDaniel College, Dr Martin was the ideal candidate.
Her first professional experience was formative: “I got my start at IBM where I learned how to program in assembly language and FORTRAN. As a result of that experience I enrolled in a masters program in computer science at the University of Maryland. As soon as I finished my masters degree, I started teaching at university level. A friend and I also became very interested in teaching children and then about computers. This led to a PhD in education and an appointment as an Assistant Professor in engineering at GWU.”
GWU has had a long tradition of attracting high quality graduate students from all over the world. This has been especially true in the School of Engineering and Applied Science where we have graduate students from 32 different countries enrolled in our masters and PhD programs.
Dr Martin has taught at GWU for 25 years. Over this period her interests in teaching and research have evolved and she has focused on a range of areas, including introducing computers into schools, preparing teachers to use technology, the development and evaluation of multimedia, computer ethics, and most recently, Internet policy. She believes her contact with international students has been particularly important: “Located in the US Capitol of Washington, DC, GWU has had a long tradition of attracting high quality graduate students from all over the world. This has been especially true in the School of Engineering and Applied Science where we have graduate students from 32 different countries enrolled in our masters and PhD programs. I have always found international students to bring new ideas and frames of reference to the computer science courses that I teach.
