Editing Barbara Simons

{{short description|American computer scientist}}
{{Distinguish|Barbara Simons (politician)|Barbara Simmons}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Barbara B. Simons
| image             = Barbara Simons 1.jpg
| alt               = Barbara Simons at a lectern
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age |1941|1|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| field             = [[Computer science]]
| alma_mater        = [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Richard M. Karp]]
| workplaces        = {{plainlist|* [[International Business Machines|IBM]]}}
| spouse            = {{marriage |[[Jim Simons]]|1959|1974|end=div}}
| nationality       = American
| known_for         = [[voting]] technology<br>election security<br>
[[information security]]
}}

'''Barbara Bluestein Simons''' (born January 26, 1941) is an American [[computer scientist]] and the former president of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM). She is a Ph.D. graduate of the [[University of California, Berkeley]] and spent her early career working as an IBM researcher. She is the founder and former co-chair of USACM, the ACM U.S. Public Policy Council. Her main areas of research are [[compiler optimization]], [[Scheduling (computing)|scheduling theory]] and [[Analysis of algorithms|algorithm analysis and design]].

Simons has worked for technology regulation since 2002, where she advocates for the end of electronic voting. She subsequently serves as the chairperson of the Verified Voting Foundation and coauthored a book on the flaws of electronic voting entitled ''Broken Ballots,'' with [[Douglas W. Jones]].

== Early life ==
Simons was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. In high school, she developed an interest for math and science while taking A.P. Math classes. She attended [[Wellesley College]] for a year, before moving to [[California]] in 1959 to resume her undergraduate education at [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]]. There, she married [[James Harris Simons]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/james-simons/|title=James Simons|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en}}</ref> At the beginning of her junior year she gave birth to a daughter, Liz, and dropped out of Berkeley shortly thereafter to become a mother and a housewife. In this time she decided to pursue a profession in Computer Programming, and began taking computer science classes part-time, before enrolling in graduate school at [[Stony Brook University]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/12/guardian-of-the-vote/544155/|title=Meet the Computer Scientist Championing Paper Ballots|last=Leovy|first=Jill|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-04-30|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> After a year of graduate school there, she and [[James Harris Simons]] divorced in 1974.<ref name=":5">Teitlebaum, R. (2008, January). The Code Breaker. ''Bloomberg Magazine''.</ref>

Simons transferred back to [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] for the remainder of graduate school, where she concentrated on studying [[Scheduling (computing)|scheduling theory]] and helped co-found the Women in Computer Science and Engineering club (WiCSE).<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://engineering.berkeley.edu/2018/03/qa-barbara-simons|title=Q&A with Barbara Simons|date=2018-03-16|work=Berkeley Engineering|access-date=2018-04-24|language=en}}</ref> In 1981, she received her Ph.D. in Computer Science. She received a Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from Berkeley's [[UC Berkeley College of Engineering|College of Engineering]].<ref name=":2" />

==Career==
'''<big>1981-1998: IBM</big>'''

After leaving the [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] in 1981, Simons began her career at Research Division of [[IBM]] in their Research Division in San Jose. There, she worked on [[compiler optimization]], [[Analysis of algorithms|algorithm analysis]], and [[clock synchronization]], which she won an IBM Research Division Award for.<ref name=":2" /> In 1992, she began working as a senior programmer in IBM's Applications Development Technology Institute and subsequently as a senior technology adviser for [[IBM Global Services]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://dougengelbart.org/colloquium/biographies/bio_simons.html#3|title=Doug Engelbart's Colloquium at Stanford {{!}} Biography: Barbara Simons|website=dougengelbart.org|access-date=2018-04-30}}</ref>

Over the course of her career at IBM, her interests shifted from research to the policy and regulation of technology.<ref name=":7" /> She took early retirement from IBM in 1998 after spending 17 years with the company.<ref name=":3">Abate, J. (2002, July 11). Oral-History: Barbara Simons. Retrieved April 20, 2018, from http://ethw.org/Oral-History:Barbara_Simons</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web|last=King Liu|first=Tsu-Jae|date=2019-10-11|title=Berkeley Talks transcript: Barbara Simons on election hacking and how to avoid it in 2020|url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/10/11/berkeley-talks-transcript-barbara-simons-election-hacking/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Berkeley News|language=en-US}}</ref>

<big>'''1993-2002: ACM'''</big>

After leaving IBM in 1998, Simons served as president of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM), the largest computing society in the world, until 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usacm.org|title=Home|last=Admin|first=MemberClicks|website=www.usacm.org|language=en-us|access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref> She joined ACM when her career focus shifted from computing research to the politics of technology legislation. Prior to becoming the ACM president, Simons founded ACM's US Public Policy Committee (USACM) in 1993. She co-chaired this committee along with the ACM Committee for Scientific Freedom and Human Rights for 9 years. As president, she co-chaired the ACM study of statewide databases of voters in 1999 under [[President Clinton]], called Voter Registration Databases 2000–2002.<ref name=":0">Paula Hawthorn and Barbara Simons (co-chairs), [http://usacm.acm.org/images/documents/vrd_report2.pdf Statewide Databases of Registered Voters: Study Of Accuracy, Privacy, Usability, Security, and Reliability Issues], U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery, Feb. 2006.</ref><ref name="techpolicy.acm.org">{{Cite web|url=https://techpolicy.acm.org/2005/09/barbara-simons-receives-uc-berkeley-life-achievement-award/|title=Association for Computing Machinery|website=techpolicy.acm.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref>  In 1999 she was elected secretary of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) as ACM President. In 2001 after her time as president, she received ACM's Outstanding Contribution Award. She is still a Fellow of ACM and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.<ref name="techpolicy.acm.org"/>

<big>'''2008–Present: The Verified Voting Foundation'''</big>

Since 2008, Simons has served on the board of directors of the Verified Voting Foundation, a non-partisan and non-profit organization that advocates for legislation to promote the safest and most transparent voting.<ref name=":4">United States, SFGOV. ''Election Commissions''.</ref> The group's goals are to ensure that states and municipalities across America adopt voting technology best practices.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-23|title=Update on Efforts to Ensure Accurate, Verifiable Elections|url=https://alltogether.swe.org/2020/01/update-on-efforts-to-ensure-accurate-verifiable-elections/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=All Together|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.verifiedvoting.org/about-vvo/|title=VerifiedVoting.org|date=2009-10-28|work=Verified Voting|access-date=2018-05-01|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005135433/https://www.verifiedvoting.org/about-vvo/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Other work ===
Simons helped found the Reentry Program for Women and Minorities at U.C. Berkeley in the Computer Science Department.<ref name=":4" /> She also serves on the boards of the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) and the Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in Information Technology (BFOIT), both which promote minorities to learn and work in computing.<ref name=":6" />

In 2005 Simons became the first woman ever to receive the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from the U.C. Berkeley's College of Engineering.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" />

She is a member of the board of directors at the U.C. Berkeley Engineering Fund, the [[Electronic Privacy Information Center]], and sits on the Advisory Boards of the [[Oxford Internet Institute]].<ref name=":3" />

==Voting technology policy==

After leaving IBM and serving as ACM president, Simons began working to reverse the dangers of using unverifiable technology in voting. In 2001 she participated in the National Workshop on Internet Voting under President Clinton, where she helped produce a report on Internet voting. She subsequently served on the President's Export Council's Subcommittee on Encryption, as well as on the Information Technology-Sector of the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion.<ref name=":3" /> Barbara held one of her first public outcries of unverifiable voting technology in 2003 because election officials in Silicon Valley wanted to switch to paperless machines. Now, Barbara serves as a board chair at Verified Voting.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|date=2018-05-09|title=Barbara Simons: Making votes count|url=https://engineering.berkeley.edu/barbara-simons-making-votes-count/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Berkeley Engineering|language=en-US}}</ref> She also co-chaired the ACM study of statewide databases of registered voters alongside [[Paula Hawthorn]].<ref name=":0" /> She participated on the Security Peer Review Group for the US [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]’s Internet voting project (SERVE) and co-authored the report that led to the cancellation of SERVE because of security concerns 2004.<ref>David Jefferson, [[Avi Rubin|Aviel D. Rubin]], Barbara Simons and [[David A. Wagner|David Wagner]], [http://servesecurityreport.org/paper.pdf A Security Analysis of the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104101113/http://www.servesecurityreport.org/paper.pdf |date=2011-11-04 }}, Jan. 20, 2004.</ref><ref>Press Release, [Pentagon Decides Against Internet Voting {{cite web|url=https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/id/27362/|title=Defense.gov News Article: Pentagon Decides Against Internet Voting This Year|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414162133/http://www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=27362|archive-date=2012-04-14|url-status=live|access-date=2012-01-04}}], American Forces Press Service, Feb. 6, 2004.</ref><ref name=":4" />

In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the Verified Voting Foundation, Simons has worked for legislation to remove paperless voting machines and published various work about it. She played a key role in changing the [[League of Women Voters]] support and use of paperless voting.<ref name=":1">[[Ronnie Dugger]], "How They Could Steal the Election This Time", ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]]'', p.13 August 16/23, 2004</ref>  Initially the League had seen electronic voting as better for disabled people, then endorsed [[voting machines]] that are "[[recount]]able" after Simons.<ref name=":1" /> In 2008 she was appointed by [[Harry Reid|Senator Harry Reid]] to the [[Election Assistance Commission|U.S Election Assistance Commission]] Board of Advisors, where she contributed to "[[Help America Vote Act]]" (HAVA).<ref name=":4" /> In 2009 she co-authored the League of Women Voters report on election auditing.<ref>Election Audits Task Force, [http://verifiedvoting.org/downloads/Report_ElectionAudits.pdf Report on Election Auditing], League of Women Voters of the United States, Jan. 2009.</ref> With fellow computer scientist [[Douglas W. Jones|Douglas Jones]], she co-authored a book about electronic voting machines in 2012, titled ''Broken Ballots: Will Your Vote Count?''.<ref>Douglas W. Jones and Barbara Simons, [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/B/bo13383590.html Broken Ballots], [[Stanford University Centers and Institutes#Center for the Study of Language and Information|Center for the Study of Language and Information]] / University of Chicago Press, 2012.  See also [http://brokenballots.com]</ref><ref name=":4" /> Following this, in July 2015 she published another report about electronic voting for the [[U.S. Vote Foundation]] entitled ''The Future of Voting: End-to-End Verifiable Internet Voting''.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2019-10-11 |title=Berkeley Talks transcript: Barbara Simons on election hacking and how to avoid it in 2020 |url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/10/11/berkeley-talks-transcript-barbara-simons-election-hacking/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=Berkeley News |language=en}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
*[[Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility|CPSR]] Norbert Wiener Award for Professional and Social Responsibility in Computing (1992)
*Featured by ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' in a special edition on women in science (1992)
*[[List of Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery|ACM Fellow]] (1993)
*[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] Fellow (1993)
*Named by ''Open Computing'' as one of the top 100 [[women in computing]]
*Selected by [[CNET]] as one of 26 [[Internet]] "Visionaries" (1995)
*[[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] Pioneer Award (1998)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-06-28|title=Pioneer Awards: Past Winners|url=https://www.eff.org/pioneer/past-winners|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Electronic Frontier Foundation|language=en}}</ref>
*U.C. Berkeley Computer Science Department Distinguished Alumnus Award in Computer Science and Engineering (2000)
*ACM Outstanding Contribution Award (2002)
*[[Computing Research Association]] Distinguished Service Award (2004)
*[[University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering]] Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award (2005)<ref name=":9" />
*U.C. Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Award (2005)<ref>{{Cite web|last=None|first=David|date=2005-09-15|title=Barbara Simons receives UC Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Award|url=https://techpolicy.acm.org/2005/09/barbara-simons-receives-uc-berkeley-life-achievement-award/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=techpolicy.acm.org}}</ref>
*U.S. Election Assistance Commission Board of Advisors (2008)
*WITI@UC Anthea Award (2019)<ref name=":8" />
*ACM Policy Award (2019) <ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-01|title=Barbara Simons Receives 2019 ACM Policy Award|url=https://www.acm.org/articles/bulletins/2020/july/acm-policy-award-2019|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)|language=en}}</ref>
*Award by Verified Voting Foundation, for her dedication to election integrity <ref>{{Cite web|date=2024-09-24|title=Barbara Simons Honored By Verified Voting|url=https://eecs.berkeley.edu/news/alumna-barbara-simons-honored-by-verified-voting/|access-date=2024-10-06|website=UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)|language=en}}</ref>

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Barbara}}
[[Category:1994 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:American women computer scientists]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Election technology people]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]