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Dr. Valerie Taylor

Division Director, Mathematics and Computer Science
Argonne National Laboratory
BSEE 1985, MSEE 1986

“Purdue's ECE faculty focused on in-depth learning of concepts, while providing encouragement to pursue endeavors well beyond the classroom. The friends made during my studies at Purdue, along with the faculty who provided instruction in courses and with research, continue to have an impact on my career.”

Dr. Valerie Taylor is the Director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory.  Before joining Argonne, she was Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering and a Regents Professor and the Royce E. Wisenbaker Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University.

In 2003, she joined Texas A&M University as the Department Head of CSE, where she remained in that position until 2011.  Prior to joining Texas A&M, Dr. Taylor was a member of the faculty in the EECS Department at Northwestern University for eleven years.  Her research is in the area of high performance computing, with a focus on performance analysis and modeling of parallel, scientific applications. She is also the Executive Director of the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT).

Dr. Taylor is an IEEE Fellow, ACM Fellow, and has received numerous awards for distinguished research and leadership, including the 2001 IEEE Harriet B. Rigas Award for a woman with significant contributions in engineering education, the 2002 Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni from the University of California at Berkeley, the 2002 CRA Nico Habermann Award for increasing the diversity in computing, and the 2005 Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing.

Dr. Taylor earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1985 and 1986, respectively, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991.