Editing Lynn Conway (section)

==Post-transition career==
{{External image|title=|image1=[https://images.theconversation.com/files/601339/original/file-20240617-19-5llojz.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=2 Lynn Conway in her office at Xerox PARC in 1983] (Margaret Moulton). [[Xerox Alto]] is visible behind.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Mar |date=2024-06-19 |title=Lynn Conway was a trans woman in tech − and underappreciated for decades after she helped launch the computing revolution |url=https://theconversation.com/lynn-conway-was-a-trans-woman-in-tech-and-underappreciated-for-decades-after-she-helped-launch-the-computing-revolution-232464 |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref>|float=right}}
Upon completing her [[gender transition]] in 1968, Conway took a new name and identity and restarted her career in [[Passing (gender)#Stealth|stealth-mode]] as a contract programmer at [[Computer Applications, Inc.]] She then worked as a digital system designer and computer architect at [[Memorex]] from 1969 to 1972.<ref name=hiltzik/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Retrospective3.html |title=Lynn Conway's Retrospective PART III: Starting Over |publisher=Ai.eecs.umich.edu |date=May 12, 1960 |access-date=December 5, 2013 |archive-date=November 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141126093647/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Retrospective3.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Conway joined [[Xerox PARC]] in 1973, where she led the "[[Large Scale Integration|LSI]] Systems" group under [[Bert Sutherland]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Adele J. |last=Goldberg |date=September 1980 |title=About This Issue... |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=conway+lsi-systems-group&btnG=Search |journal=[[ACM Computing Surveys]] |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=257–258 |doi=10.1145/356819.356820 |s2cid=27661653 |issn=0360-0300 |doi-access=free |access-date=May 8, 2016 |archive-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108004413/http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=conway+lsi-systems-group&btnG=Search |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Rob |last1=Walker |first2=Nancy |last2=Tersini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XA9Zx1bMH-oC&q=lynn-conway+parc+sutherland&pg=PT206 |title=Silicon Destiny: The Story of Application Specific Integrated Circuits and LSI Logic Corporation |publisher=Walker Research Associates |year=1992 |isbn=0-9632654-0-7}}</ref> When in PARC, Conway founded the [[Multi-project wafer service|multiproject wafers]] (MPW) technology.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aaas.org/sense-wonder-motivates-vlsi-chip-revolutionary-lynn-conway |title=Sense of Wonder Motivates VLSI Chip Revolutionary, Lynn Conway |website=American Association for the Advancement of Science |language=en |access-date=March 20, 2020 |archive-date=March 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320054236/https://www.aaas.org/sense-wonder-motivates-vlsi-chip-revolutionary-lynn-conway |url-status=live }}</ref> Collaborating with [[Ivan Sutherland]] and [[Carver Mead]] on [[very-large-scale integration]] (VLSI) design methodology, she co-authored ''Introduction to VLSI Systems'', a groundbreaking work that would soon become a standard textbook in chip design, used in nearly 120 universities by 1983.<ref>{{cite web |last=Conway |first=Lynn |date=December 31, 2012 |title=The 'Sutherland Letter' of 1976 |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/BackgroundContext/Sutherland_Letter.html |access-date=August 26, 2020 |archive-date=July 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713193817/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/BackgroundContext/Sutherland_Letter.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html |title=Impact of the Mead-Conway VLSI Design Methodology and of the MOSIS Service |website=ai.eecs.umich.edu |access-date=March 13, 2020 |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218162433/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="sciam002">{{cite web |url=http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=D1E5F66F-2A45-4BF9-BE9E-001B49F7F67 |title=Profile: Lynn Conway—Completing the Circuit |last=Wallich |first=Paul |website=Scientific American |date=December 2000 |access-date=April 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028031127/http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=D1E5F66F-2A45-4BF9-BE9E-001B49F7F67 |archive-date=October 28, 2006}}</ref><ref name="compworld002">{{cite web |url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9046420 |title=Unsung innovators: Lynn Conway and Carver Mead: They literally wrote the book on chip design |last=Smith |first=Gina |date=December 3, 2007 |website=Computerworld |access-date=April 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226130335/http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9046420 |archive-date=December 26, 2008}}</ref> With over 70,000 copies sold, and the new integration of her MPC79/[[MOSIS]] innovations, the Mead and Conway revolution became part of VLSI design.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Chris |title=Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology |publisher=Scribner |year=2022 |pages=136–137, 140, 166, 378}}</ref>

In 1978, Conway served as a visiting associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at [[MIT]], teaching a now-famous VLSI design course based on a Mead–Conway text draft.<ref name=hiltzik/> The course validated the new design methods and textbook and established the syllabus and instructor's guidebook used in later courses worldwide.<ref>[https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/InstGuide/InstGuide.pdf ''The MIT'78 VLSI System Design Course: A Guidebook for the Instructor of VLSI System Design''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205052621/https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/InstGuide/InstGuide.pdf |date=December 5, 2022 }}, Lynn Conway, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, August 12, 1979.</ref><ref name=penfield>Paul Penfield [http://issuu.com/miteecs/docs/connector2014_acc15802878d20 "The VLSI Revolution at MIT" by Paul Penfield] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809200331/http://issuu.com/miteecs/docs/connector2014_acc15802878d20 |date=August 9, 2014 }} ''2014 MIT EECS Connector'', Spring 2014, pp. 11–13.</ref>

Among Conway's contributions was the invention of dimensionless, scalable [[Design rule checking|design rules]] that greatly simplified chip design and design tools,<ref name=comsocpioneeraward/><ref name=kilbane/><ref>{{cite book |title=Design Rules: The Power of Modularity |author=Carliss Y. Baldwin and Kim B. Clark |year=2000 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0-262-02466-7}}</ref> and invention of a new form of internet-based infrastructure for [[rapid prototyping]] and short-run fabrication of large numbers of chip designs.<ref name=comsocpioneeraward/><ref name=NRC1999>National Research Council (1999), ''Funding a Revolution: Government Support for Computing Research'', National Academy Press ([https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/FundingaRevolution.html#anchor200964 excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217150928/https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/FundingaRevolution.html#anchor200964 |date=February 17, 2023 }})</ref> They aimed to address the escalating complexity of chip design, as traditional methods struggled to keep pace with [[Moore's law]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lynn Conway |url=https://interfaces.che.wisc.edu/lynn-conway/ |website=Gebbie Lab |access-date=April 24, 2024 |date=January 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425001048/https://interfaces.che.wisc.edu/lynn-conway/ |archive-date=April 25, 2024}}</ref> The new infrastructure was institutionalized as the Metal Oxide Semiconductor Implementation Service ([[MOSIS]]) system in 1981. Mead and Conway received ''[[Electronics (magazine)|Electronics]]'' magazine's annual award of achievement in 1981.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html |title=Impact of the Mead-Conway VLSI Design Methodology and of the MOSIS Service |website=ai.eecs.umich.edu |access-date=March 22, 2020 |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218162433/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"The MOSIS Service – More than 50,000 designs in 25 years of operation", http://www.mosis.com/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822001846/http://www.mosis.com/ |date=August 22, 2008 }}, 2008</ref> VLSI researcher Charles Seitz commented that "MOSIS represented the first period since the pioneering work of Eckert and Mauchley on the [[ENIAC]] in the late 1940s that universities and small companies had access to state-of-the-art digital technology."<ref name=NRC1999/>

The impact and research methods underlying the development of the Mead–Conway VLSI design methodology and the MOSIS prototype are detailed in a 1981 Xerox report,<ref>[https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/MPCAdv/MPCAdv.pdf ''THE MPC Adventures: Experiences with the Generation of VLSI Design and Implementation Methodologies''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109104047/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/MPCAdv/MPCAdv.pdf |date=January 9, 2023 }}, Lynn Conway, Xerox PARC Technical Report VLSI-81-2, January 19, 1981.</ref> the Euromicro Journal,<ref name=MPCAdv>[https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/MPCAdv/MPCAdv-MM-TEJ.pdf ''THE MPC Adventures: Experiences with the Generation of VLSI Design and Implementation Methodologies''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506160639/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/MPCAdv/MPCAdv-MM-TEJ.pdf |date=May 6, 2023 }}, by Lynn Conway, Microprocessing and Microprogramming – The Euromicro Journal, Vol. 10, No. 4, November 1982, pp 209–228.</ref> and several historical overviews of computing.<ref name=NRC1999/><ref name=sandtfedfund>[http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=5040 ''Allocating Federal Funds for Science and Technology''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017172701/http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=5040 |date=October 17, 2012 }}, by Committee on Criteria for Federal Support of Research and Development, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1995, page 75.</ref><ref name=sandtfedfundfigureII13>{{cite web |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html#Figure.II.13 |title=''Figure II.13: Technological Developments in Computing", in Allocating Federal Funds for Science and Technology, National Academy Press, Washington, DC 1995, page 75.'' |publisher=Ai.eecs.umich.edu |date=May 7, 1999 |access-date=December 5, 2013 |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218162433/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html#Figure.II.13 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=evolvinghpc>[http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4948.html ''Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to Support the Nation's Information Infrastructure''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821180908/http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4948.html |date=August 21, 2008 }}, by Committee to Study High Performance Computing and Communications: Status of a Major Initiative, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1995, page 20.</ref><ref name=evolvinghpcfig1point2>{{cite web |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html#Figure.1.2 |title=''Figure 1.2: Government-sponsored computing research and development stimulates creation of innovative ideas and industries", in Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to Support the Nation's Information Infrastructure, National Academy Press, 1995, page 20.'' |publisher=Ai.eecs.umich.edu |date=May 7, 1999 |access-date=December 5, 2013 |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218162433/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Impact/Impact.html#Figure.1.2 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Feinstein |first=Jonathan S. |title=Creativity in Large-Scale Contexts |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2023 |pages=196–199, 266–270, 299–304}}</ref><ref name="VLSIArchive">''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120509201451/http://www.edn.com/blog/EDA_Graffiti/35566-Guest_blog_Lynn_Conway.php The VLSI Archive]'' {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20130208045553/http://www.edn.com/blog/920000692/post/760045076.html |date=February 8, 2013}}, by Lynn Conway, Electronic Design News, June 3, 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=VLSI Archive: An online archive of documents and artifacts from the Mead-Conway VLSI design revolution |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/VLSIarchive.html |url-status=live |access-date=December 5, 2013 |publisher=Ai.eecs.umich.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208161339/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/VLSI/VLSIarchive.html |archive-date=December 8, 2007}}</ref> Mead-Conway's methods also came under ethnographic study in 1980 by PARC anthropologist [[Lucy Suchman]], who published her interviews with Conway in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |last=Suchman |first=Lucy |date=March 1, 2021 |title=A Sociotechnical Exchange, Redux |url=https://www.4sonline.org/a-sociotechnical-exchange-redux/ |url-status=live |website=Backchannels {{!}} Reflections |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304182920/https://www.4sonline.org/a-sociotechnical-exchange-redux/ |archive-date=March 4, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Conway |first1=Lynn |last2=Suchman |first2=Lucy |date=February 28, 2021 |title=Conway-Suchman conversation |url=https://conwaysuchman-conv.pubpub.org/pub/93808pq4/release/4 |journal=Conway Suchman Conversation |access-date=April 25, 2021 |archive-date=April 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425144931/https://conwaysuchman-conv.pubpub.org/pub/93808pq4/release/4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1983, Conway left Xerox to join [[DARPA]], where she was a key architect of the [[United States Department of Defense]]'s [[Strategic Computing Initiative]].<ref name=kilbane>{{cite magazine |last=Kilbane |first=Doris |date=October 20, 2003  |title=Lynn Conway: A Trailblazer On Professional, Personal Levels |department=Products > News |magazine=[[Electronic Design (magazine)|Electronic Design]] |url=https://www.electronicdesign.com/news/products/article/21795291/lynn-conway-a-trailblazer-on-professional-personal-levels |access-date=February 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608190427/http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?AD=1&ArticleID=5833 |archive-date=June 8, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=davis>Dwight B. Davis [https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/CSE/SCI/HighTechnology4-85.pdf "Assessing the Stragetic Computing Initiative," by Dwight B. Davis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127172215/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/CSE/SCI/HighTechnology4-85.pdf |date=January 27, 2023 }} ''High Technology'', Vol. 5, No. 4, April 1985.</ref> In a contemporary ''[[USA Today]]'' article about Conway's joining DARPA, Mark Stefik, a Xerox scientist who worked with her, said "Lynn would like to live five lives in the course of one life".<ref name=Osborn>{{cite web |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Memoirs/DARPA/USA_Today_6-07-83.pdf |title=Hi-tech researcher chips in to develop smart computer |first=Michelle |last=Osborn |publisher=USA Today |date=June 7, 1983 |access-date=April 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420032946/https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Memoirs/DARPA/USA_Today_6-07-83.pdf |archive-date=April 20, 2014}}</ref> Douglas Fairbairn, a former Xerox associate, said "She figures out a way so that everybody wins."<ref name=Osborn/> In ''The Net Effect'', sociologist Thomas Streeter wrote that Conway’s decision to join DARPA reflected her rejection of [[Anti-war movement|antiwar]] [[Liberalism in the United States|liberalism]].<ref name="Streeter2013">[http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/Net_Effect/ "The Net Effect, Romanticism, Capitalism, and the Internet"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314044821/http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/Net_Effect/|date=March 14, 2015}}, Thomas Steeter, New York University Press, 2011, p, 101.</ref>

Conway joined the [[University of Michigan]] in 1985 as professor of [[electrical engineering]] and [[computer science]] and associate dean of engineering. There, she specialized in [[visual communication]]s and designing [[control system]]s for hybrid [[internet]] and [[Cable Internet access|broadband-cable]] [[user interface]]s.<ref name="kilbane" /> She retired from active teaching and research in 1998 as [[Professor emeritus#Other designations|professor emerita]] at Michigan.<ref name="emerita">{{cite web |url=https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Awards/Emerita.html |title=Lynn Conway awarded Emerita status at the University of Michigan |date=December 31, 1998 |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=April 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031205144225/https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Awards/Emerita.html |archive-date=December 5, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Nicole Casal |date=June 11, 2024 |title=The legacy of Lynn Conway, chip design pioneer and transgender-rights advocate |url=https://news.engin.umich.edu/2024/06/the-legacy-of-lynn-conway-chip-design-pioneer-and-transgender-rights-advocate/ |access-date=June 12, 2024 |website=Michigan Engineering News |language=en-US}}</ref>