Muffy Calder

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix = Dame

| name = Muffy Calder

| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE|FREng|FRSE|FBCS|FIEE}}

| birth_name = Muffy Thomas

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| image = Muffy Calder.jpg

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| alt = Colour photograph of Muffy Calder

| caption = Calder at the University of St Andrews in 2013

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1958|5|21}}

| birth_place = Shawinigan, Quebec{{cite journal |title=CALDER, Prof. Muffy |journal=Who's Who 2019, A & C Black, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2019; Online Edn, Oxford University Press |doi = 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U256072}}{{subscription or libraries}}

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| fields = formal methods

| workplaces = University of Glasgow
University of Stirling
University of St Andrews
University of Edinburgh

| alma_mater = University of Stirling (BSc)
University of St Andrews (PhD)

| thesis_title = The imperative implementation of algebraic data types

| thesis_url = http://library.st-andrews.ac.uk/record=b1243240~S5

| thesis_year = 1988

| doctoral_advisor = Roy Dyckhoff{{MathGenealogy |name=Muffy Calder}}

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| notable_students =

| known_for = feature interaction problem
Chief Scientific Advisor for Scotland

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| awards = FRSE (2000)
FIEE (2002)
FBCS (2002)

OBE (2011)
FREng (2013){{cite web|title=List of Fellows|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows}}
DSc (2024)

| signature =

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| website = {{URL|http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~muffy}}

| footnotes =

| spouse = David James Calder (1998-present)

| children =

}}

Dame Muffy Calder (née Thomas; born 21 May 1958) is a Canadian-born British computer scientist, Vice-Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering, and Professor of Formal Methods at the University of Glasgow. From 2012 to 2015 she was Chief Scientific Advisor{{cite web|title=Office of the Chief Scientific Advisor|publisher=Scottish Government|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/People/Directorates/ChiefScientificAdvisor|access-date=17 March 2013}} to the Scottish Government.{{Scopus|id=35607955800}}{{DBLP|name=Muffy Calder}}{{ACM Portal|name=Muffy Calder}}{{AcademicSearch|2241826}}{{Cite book | last1 = Calder | first1 = M. | last2 = Vyshemirsky | first2 = V. | last3 = Gilbert | first3 = D. | last4 = Orton | first4 = R. | chapter = Analysis of Signalling Pathways Using Continuous Time Markov Chains | doi = 10.1007/11880646_3 | title = Transactions on Computational Systems Biology VI | series = Lecture Notes in Computer Science | volume = 4220 | pages = 44 | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-3-540-45779-4 | chapter-url = http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/3199/1/prismpaper.pdf }}

Biography

Calder was born Muffy Thomas on 21 May 1958 in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada to Carmen and Lois (Hallen) van Thomas. She graduated with a BSc degree in computer science from the University of Stirling,{{cite web|title=New Chief Scientific Adviser|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2012/02/scientific-adviser14022012|publisher=Scottish Government|date=14 February 2012}} and completed a PhD in computational science at the University of St Andrews in 1987 under the supervision of Roy Dyckhoff.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Muffy|last=Thomas |title=The imperative implementation of algebraic data types |publisher=University of St Andrews |date=1988 |url=http://library.st-andrews.ac.uk/record=b1243240~S5|author-link=Muffy Calder}} She published widely under the surname Thomas prior to her marriage to David Calder in 1998.

She has worked at the University of Glasgow since 1988, and was Dean of Research in the College of Science and Engineering until 2012.{{cite web|title=Royal Academy of Engineering New Fellows 2013|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about/fellowship/newfellows|access-date=17 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322013759/http://www.raeng.org.uk/about/fellowship/newfellows|archive-date=22 March 2014|url-status=dead}} She became Chief Scientific Adviser to the Scottish Government on 1 March 2012. Previously Calder has served as Chair of the UK Computing Research Committee and Chair of the British Computer Society Academy of Computing Research Committee. She became Vice-Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering in 2015.{{cite press release|url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2014/june/headline_339233_en.html |title=Professor Muffy Calder to lead the College of Science and Engineering|publisher=University of Glasgow |date=12 June 2014 |access-date=16 January 2018}} In 2015 she was appointed to the Council of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.{{cite press release|work=EPSRC news|url=https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/councilappointments15/ |title=Johnson announces new council members and re-appointment |publisher=Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council |date=9 June 2015 |access-date=16 January 2018}}

Research

Calder summarises her research interests as "mathematical modelling and automated reasoning for concurrent, communicating systems".{{cite web|title=Glasgow Computing Staff Page: Muffy Calder|url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/computing/staff/muffycalder/|publisher=University of Glasgow|access-date=20 March 2013}} Calder published an influential overview on the feature interaction problem,{{Cite journal | last1 = Calder | first1 = M. | author-link1 = Muffy Calder| last2 = Kolberg | first2 = M. | last3 = Magill | first3 = E. H. | last4 = Reiff-Marganiec | first4 = S. | title = Feature interaction: A critical review and considered forecast | doi = 10.1016/S1389-1286(02)00352-3 | journal = Computer Networks | volume = 41 | pages = 115–141 | year = 2003 |url = http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~muffy/papers/calder-kolberg-magill-reiff.pdf| citeseerx = 10.1.1.65.9572 | s2cid = 7049303 }} with more than 300 citations at Google Scholar.{{Google Scholar id |name=Muffy Calder}} Her research has extended to applying computer science methods to biochemical networks and cell signalling in bioinformatics, resulting in a number of papers.

Awards and recognition

Calder was appointed Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to computer science{{cite web|title=Professor Muffy Calder awarded OBE|url=http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/38573|publisher=BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT|access-date=17 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008080318/http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/38573|archive-date=8 October 2017|url-status=dead}} and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to research and education.{{London Gazette|issue=63135|supp=y|page=B8|date=10 October 2020}}

She holds fellowships{{cite web|title=List of Fellows|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows}} of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2000), the British Computer Society (2002), the Institution of Electrical Engineers (2002) and the Royal Academy of Engineering (2013).{{cite web|title=List of Fellows|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows}}{{cite web|title=Royal Academy of Engineering New Fellows 2013|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about/fellowship/newfellows.htm|access-date=17 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720005924/https://www.raeng.org.uk/about/fellowship/newfellows.htm|archive-date=20 July 2014|url-status=dead}}

In June 2024 Calder was awarded a DSc honoris causa by the University of St Andrews{{cite web|title=Honorary graduate: Professor Dame Muffy Calder|url=https://graduation.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2024/professor-dame-muffy-calder/}} in recognition of her contributions to computer science and her services to the wider scientific community.

Calder was listed as 21st most influential woman in Scotland, 2012, by The Herald.{{cite web|title=Scotland's Top 50 Influential Women 2012|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/content/scotlands-top-50-influential-women-15-22|work=The Herald|access-date=17 March 2013}}