Contact info: Office of Dean of Science, UBC 6270 University Boulevard Biological Sciences Room 1505 Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Phone: (604) 822-3337 Fax: (604) 822-0677 E-mail: klawe@interchg.ubc.ca

Maria Klawe is currently the Dean of Science at the University of British Columbia, having served as Head of the Department of Computer Science from 1988 to February 19 and Vice-President of Student & Academic Services from February1995 to November 1998. Her responsibilities as the Dean of Science are the leadership of the Faculty of Science. Maria also holds the NSERC-IBM Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, one of five regional chairs across Canada. Maria's chair is responsible for British Columbia and the Yukon, and emphasizes increasing the participation of women in information technology careers.

Prior to joining UBC, Maria spent eight years with IBM Research in California, and two years at the University of Toronto. She received her Ph.D. (1977) and B.Sc. (1973) in Mathematics from the University of Alberta. She has made significant research contributions in several areas of mathematics and computer science including functional analysis, discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science, and interactive-multimedia for mathematics education. She is the founder and director of the Electronic Games for Education in Math and Science (E-GEMS) project, a large-scale collaborative project involving computer scientists, mathematics educators, teachers, children and professional game developers. She has also served on many boards and advisory councils, including the Board of Trustees of the American Mathematical Society (chair 1995-96), the Computing Research Association (vice-chair 93-95), and the BC Premier's Advisory Council on Science and Technology (93-present). Maria was elected as a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery in 1995, and received the Vancouver YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Science and Technology in 1997.

Maria recently won the CNMA "New Media Educator of the Year" award.

Maria has won the Science Council of BC's Science and Technology Champion of the Year Award for her role in increasing the participation of women in information technology (IT) careers in BC, and for her significant research contributions in math and computer science. Yay Maria!

Maria as Dean of Science
Maria as a Computer Science Professor

Personal You:

1. Born in the year of the: Rabbit
2. Horoscope sign: Cancer
3. Last (or current) book read: A Suitable Boy (Vikram Seth)
4. Favourite movie(s)and reason why: Mrs. Doubtfire (I love Robin Williams)
5. Where will you be in 5 years? Exhausted
6. Name 3 things that people wouldn't ordinarily know about you:
   1. I dropped out of university in the middle of my undergraduate degree
   2. I died my hair pink for halloween
   3. I'm going to play Final Fantasy VII for my entire Christmas vacation

The Things We REALLY Want to Know About:

1. Which cartoon character do youi most strongly identify with? Lisa Simpson
2. If you could be a chemical (an element or a compound), what would you be? Mercury
3. What song title would best summarize your SWIFT experience so far? Fumbling towards Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
4. If you were stranded on a deserted tropical island, what 3 things would you most want to have with you?
   1. My guitar
   2. My paints
   3. My laptop
5. Why is the sky blue? In Vancouver the sky is grey
6. Whose fan club do you belong to? Janek & Sasha's!

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Last Updated: June 30, 1999