Jones Discusses Role of University in Changing World

CONTACT: Michael Cinelli
PHONE: (713) 831-4794

JONES DISCUSSES ROLE OF UNIVERSITY IN CHANGING WORLD

One of the roles of universities and colleges
is to prepare people to live in a rapidly changing world, said Anita
K. Jones ’64, director of defense research and engineering for the
Department of Defense.

“This is particularly evident for people in science and
engineering,” Jones said recently. “Knowledge is growing rapidly,
and engineers have to retrain themselves during their professional
life. Technology is accelerating change in the arts, humanities and
professional world as well; it affects all realms.”

Jones will address Rice University’s 83rd graduating class
during commencement ceremonies May 11 at 8:30 a.m. in the Academic
Quadrangle.

“On May 11, Dr. Jones will become the first Rice science alumnus
to speak at a Rice commencement, thus establishing yet another
`first’ for a scientist with a record that consists of a long string
of firsts, as well as other distinctions,” said Rice President
Malcolm Gillis. “We are immensely pleased that she has agreed to
speak to our seniors, advanced degree recipients and their
families.”

Jones said another role of colleges and universities is to”perform long-term exploration and discovery in the arts,
humanities, science and engineering, and the results of that
exploration is very important to society and to the future of the
nation.”

“Rice prepares people to want to achieve, to want to take on
challenges and to want to excel,” she said of her alma mater.

As director of defense research and engineering, Jones manages
the science and technology programs of DOD and oversees in-house
laboratories, university initiatives and the Advanced Research
Projects Agency. When Jones joined the Pentagon in 1993, she agreed
to serve in her position until the end of President Clinton’s first
term. After that she will return to teaching at the University of
Virginia, where she was chair of the computer science department and
taught computer science courses.

Jones’ previous government assignments have been in advisory
roles. She has served on many scientific advisory groups including
the Defense Science Board, the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board
and various panels of the National Research Council and National
Academy of Sciences.
In the private sector, she was chair of the external advisory
board of the Rice-Caltech Center for Research in Parallel
Computation and a member of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology’s Lincoln Laboratories Advisory Board. She was also a
trustee of the MITRE Corporation and was on the board of directors
of Science Applications International Corporation.

Jones has been honored with the Meritorious Civilian Service
Award from the United States Air Force and with membership in the
American Academy of Engineering. Rice University honored her last
year with a Distinguished Alumni Award. She has published about 35
technical articles and two books about computer software and
systems.
Jones was one of the few women majoring in mathematics at Rice
in the early 1960s. She went on to receive a master’s degree in
literature from the University of Texas. After working as a
programmer for IBM for a few years, she returned to school for a
Ph.D. in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. She co-founded a software company called Tartan Laboratories, where she
held various positions before taking a teaching position at the
University of Virginia.

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