Mary Lou Soffa

University of Pittsburgh | Charlottesville, VA | 2011

Mary Lou Soffa Portrait Photo

The official biography below was current at the time of the award. Awardees may choose to provide their latest biographical information on their profile page.

Professor Soffa has been highly successful in personally mentoring graduate students. Of Professor Soffa's 16 graduated Ph.D. students, 50 percent are women. Of her master's degree students, 24 (53 percent) are women, one is African American, and one is physically disabled. She currently advises six doctoral students including two women. Among her mentees is a Swedish female that was the first woman to receive a doctorate in computer science in Sweden. Among her graduates, eleven have received prestigious pre-doctoral fellowships, two are full professors, three are associate professors, two are assistant professors, and one has received the NSF Young Investigator Award. While serving as Dean of Graduate Studies, she implemented an innovative program to recruit underrepresented students that increased their number by 100 percent in four years.