Lenore Blum

Lenore Blum is a Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science, Emerita at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU); formerly Professor-in-Residence in EECS at University of California, Berkeley; and Visiting Chair Professor, Peking University.

Blum’s research, from her early work in model theory and differential fields (logic and algebra) to her work in developing a theory of computation and complexity over the real numbers (mathematics and computer science), to her more recent work on developing a formal machine model for consciousness (cognitive neuroscience and theoretical computer science) has focused on merging seemingly unrelated areas. 

Blum has served the professional community in numerous capacities, including as President of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), Vice President of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), Chair of the Mathematics Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and member of the MIT Mathematics Visiting Committee. She has taught at the University of California at Berkeley, was a Senior Researcher at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI), and was Deputy Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), both also in Berkeley. Currently, she is President of the Association for Mathematical Consciousness Science (AMCS). She is a Fellow of the AAAS and an Inaugural Fellow of both the AMS and the AWM.

She was co-PI and co-Director of the NSF seeded ALADDIN Center (for ALgorithmic ADaptation Dissemination and INtegration) at CMU; and Founding Director of Project Olympus, a CMU innovation center that works with faculty and students to bridge the gap between cutting-edge university research/innovation and economy-promoting commercialization for the benefit of our communities. 

Blum is internationally known for her work in increasing the participation of girls and women in STEM fields. She was a founder of the Association for Women in Mathematics (and its third president after Mary Gray and Alice Schafer), and founding Co-Director (with Nancy Kreinberg) of the Math/Science Network and its flagship Expanding Your Horizons conferences for middle and high-school girls. At CMU, she founded the Women@SCS program and is proud that, for a number of years, CMU has had gender parity in its undergraduate CS program. At CMU she also founded the CS4HS program for high school teachers, now sponsored worldwide by Google.