Mor Harchol-Balter, Recipient of the Anna McCandless Chair

"Mor arrived here," said Jim Morris, dean of the School of Computer Science, "hit the ground running and has already launched an exciting program of research and education in computer system performance."

Mor Harchol-Balter Receives Anna McCandless Chair

Mor Harchol-Balter, assistant professor of computer science, has been awarded the Anna McCandless Chair, a three-year term career development professorship that provides funding for travel and sabbaticals, including partial costs of academic-year teaching and research and programs. The McCandless Chair Ceremony will be held in conjunction with H&SS on a date to be announced. The joint ceremony will honor the two McCandless Chairs: the Anna Loomis McCandless Chair and the Estella Loomis McCandless Chair. Jane McCafferty, assistant professor in the English Department, will receive the Estella Loomis McCandless Chair.

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Harchol-Balter received her doctorate in 1996, at which time Manuel Blum, professor of computer science and Turing Award winner, was the committee chair of her thesis entitled "Network Analysis Without Expoentiality Assumptions." Currently, her research interests include performance analysis and computer systems design, particularly distributed systems. Her research applications include Web servers, distributed Web servers, distributed supercomputing servers, networks of workstations, and communication networks.

"Mor arrived here," said Jim Morris, dean of the School of Computer Science, "hit the ground running and has already launched an exciting program of research and education in computer system performance."

Harchol-Balter teaches performance analysis and computer networks and also advises three Ph.D. students. A prolific researcher, she is the author of numerous papers published in various journals and conference proceedings. To learn more about Harchol-Balter, see Harchol-Balter's home page at www.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/.

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The Anna McCandless Chair is sponsored by the estate of Anna Loomis McCandless. McCandless was a 1919 graduate of Margaret Morrison Carnegie College and was known for her persistence and determination. A native of Pittsburgh, McCandless worked for a private investor and then Fidelity Trust Co. after graduating from Carnegie Tech. She was the first female member of the Board of Trustees in 1967 and was named a life trustee in 1973. She was the longest serving female trustee, having served on the board for 29 years. In 1963, McCandless received Carnegie Mellon's Alumni Service Award.